Has There Been an Increase in Demand For More Maternity Wear?

By Josie Gudgeon

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that our bodies change throughout periods of time in our lives. Although I may not be at this stage of my life because I have chosen to go to university and get my degree. However, I am surrounded by so many family and friends at the moment who are outlining these issues. During the time period of a women’s pregnancy, they are faced with having to buy a whole new wardrobe of maternity wear to compensate for their baby bump.

How our opinions towards maternity wear have changed:

Looking back at the heritage of maternity wear in years leading up to the 20th century many women were unable to buy new clothing throughout their pregnancies, so instead would alter garments they already owned. Lane Bryant changed that in the early 1900s for the middle and upper-class people. It is thought that the first maternity gown was created in 1904 as well as the first ready-to-wear maternity clothes in 1911.

In the past maternity wear had the purpose of hiding the bump irrespective of the fitting. However, in recent times, women have become more open to the showing off their bump and ensuring everything is a perfect fit. Today maternity wear is considered part of fashion as well and why shouldn’t it be?  This has led to a growth in demand for maternity wear across the market.

Factors for the growth in demand for maternity wear:

Factors such as increasing numbers of pregnant working women is a key factor responsible for this growth. This shows how the high purchasing power of women has led them to spend considerable amounts of money on maternity wear. As women are now earning their own incomes they take it upon themselves to feel the importance of lavishing themselves in nice clothing. Also, the working world often constitutes a smart look. Therefore, pregnant women need to spend more money on correctly fitting clothing that looks smart as they work during their pregnancy.

We also have to take into account the transition in the lifestyle of women in terms of their shopping habits, as this is another major factor concerning the growth of this market. The fast fashion industry is massive. The demand for new trends is rapidly changing and increasing at such a fast pace. This again follows through into pregnancy and a lot of people are continuing their stylish persona when pregnant. I feel a lot of this fashion influence has come from celebrities that are driving trends and styles of maternity wear. Particularly here in the UK with the stylish maternity wears of Kate Middleton over the past decade, which has really influenced peoples maternity wear choices. Kate Middleton has somehow proven that pregnancy often makes her more stylish. Which for many women pregnancy can be very uncomfortable, to compensate for this maternity wear should be comfortable. However, for Kate Middleton and women influenced by her fashion they often wear highly tailored clothing.

Maternity wear is generally designed to be loose, a suitable cut with stretchable fabric such as elastane and spandex. This allows the consumer extra comfort and many women wear maternity clothes until they have lost weight after pregnancy. Making the demand higher due to a longer gestation period. The maternity wear segment offers product types such as dresses, jeans, lingerie, gym wear, etc.

Daywear is such a large segment across the market from workwear, occasion wear and gym wear. There is such a large variety of clothing in our wardrobes. A high percentage of pregnant women will be demanding new clothing for all segments of the market. Even if a woman did not attend the gym beforehand often women take up yoga when pregnant as they feel it is beneficial for pregnancy and labour. Therefore, resulting in an increase in demand for maternity gym wear.

Trend wise, women prefer maternity clothing that is close fitting to their shape and often the garments e.g. t-shirts have slogans on them that is suggestive of their pregnancy. With Slogans such as “I rock this bump”, “Baby Loading…” and “Coming Soon…” all the slogans are labelled across the T-shirt in the position at which the baby bump would lie. This shows how it is becoming more common to show off your bump and the pregnancy.

In recent years, the pregnancy age range has widened there is a much higher percentage of women deferring pregnancy till their late twenties early thirties in order to gain degree-level qualifications. However, to counteract that there is a growing number of teenage pregnancies as well. This has seen a modification in the maternity clothing that is available on the market. Most shopping retailers offer a maternity range which can be bought on high street stores or online, as there is such large age range within pregnancy now a lot more styles and designs of garments are on offer in the maternity section to appeal to all ends of the market. This ensures a much greater percentage of sales and also an increase in the production of maternity wear, making maternity clothing accountable in the fast fashion industry. 

Huddersfield’s high street Maternity wear:

Due to another troubled retailer having to close down in the Huddersfield area. The loss of Huddersfield’s Mothercare store on Great Northern Retail Park again outlined why we need to support our high street. The high street is at risk of becoming another casualty of technology advancement in modern life. 

Subsequently, this eliminated the maternity wear available in Huddersfield. Mothercare was only shops that were on offer in Huddersfield that provided a good variety of maternity wear. Shops such as Matalan and New look all advertise having a maternity section. However, after visiting all of the Huddersfield high street stores it is seeming to appear absent, staff say the maternity wear can be found on their online store websites.   

So, there is no wonder that in a town like Huddersfield people are turning to online websites to get their maternity fashion as there are no high-street shops actually stocking maternity clothing. Maternity wear is something that needs to be comfortable and well-fitting. Therefore, being able to try the clothing on in the shop would make perfect sense. Maybe the high street is becoming such a casualty because it is simply stocking the wrong stuff and appealing to the wrong markets.  

Overall all I feel the maternity market is massively increasing, as a result of people embracing their pregnancy and styling fashion trends around there bump. I feel that Huddersfield is really losing out on their high-street market brands by not offering maternity wear on any of their shop floors.