I have a love-hate relationship with maternity clothes. On one hand, I love them because they make me feel comfortable as my bump grows, without anything getting in the way of my breathing or baby’s movement. On the other hand, I’ve really struggled finding items that are my style—which I admit is very particular—or don’t cost a ton of money.
During my first pregnancy I bought a bunch of basic pregnancy outfits and tried to include some of my non-maternity favorites in the mix. Sometimes it worked, sometimes in the middle of a work day I had to run to the bathroom to unzip my high waisted skirt because it was too much to handle. By the time baby came, I realized I had spent a ton of money on clothing that I barely wore, and passed them on to other pregnant friends (some items still with tags on.)
Why I decided to opt for maternity clothes rental
With my second pregnancy, I decided I needed to be comfortable above all, but also not spend a ton of money on fast pregnancy fashion because these months go super fast and I’m trying to be more environmentally conscious. I had tried clothing subscription services before (hello wedding season!) and loved being able to wear different outfits I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. After doing some research, I found three subscriptions that offer maternity rental clothes. I tried them out in an attempt to dress better while sporting a huge bump and to save money and keep my closet decluttered. The best part of doing a maternity clothes rental was that if I really loved something, I had the chance to purchase it at a super discounted price.
Here are the three places I tried that offer maternity rental clothes:
About the service: Armoire offers three tiers ranging from $89-$249 dollars a month. Once you sign up, you take a style quiz by picking from a group of eight photos of the looks you like the most. Once you are done defining your style, you give your current sizing and then tell your stylist what you are looking for. You get between four and seven pieces at a time that you can wear as many times as you want, then return and get new items to wear.
More to know: Unlike other clothing services, you cannot pick from an endless list of clothes what you’d like to receive in your shipment. Instead, you have to go through a stylist who sends picks for you. To be honest, I found this a little annoying since I kept asking for rompers and pants, but kept getting blouses and dresses in my orders. So it did take some back and forth until my stylist sent me things I actually wanted to wear.
My thoughts: I received a mix of maternity and non-maternity clothes that were all bump friendly. The quality of all of them was great and some came with tags, which meant I was the first one ever wearing that piece of clothing.
About the service: This subscription is priced at $98 per month for six pieces at a time. The difference between Nuuly and other services is that you cannot return items to get new ones during the month—you return all of them at the same time and get six new ones the next month. This was a bit of a learning curve for me as I was used to sending back things that didn’t fit or I didn’t like to maximize my month of rental.
More to know: This service provides clothes from more edgy brands, like Urban Outfitters, Reebok and DL1961, which actually made it my favorite service because it was super aligned with my style. They offer both maternity and non-maternity clothes, so I was able to get super cool dresses in a bigger size than my regular size to wear with my growing bump.
My thoughts: Their maternity catalog is pretty limited, however they have super unique items as well as beloved maternity brands like Hatch, Ingrid + Isabel, Bumpsuit, and ripe. One of the pieces I requested was already rented by the time my order was placed and they sent me something totally different to what I wanted. I understand the effort to make sure I was getting the full six items in my order but it was a non-maternity summer dress that didn’t work with my bump.
About the service: Rent the Runway offers three tiers ranging from five to twenty pieces per month. You can keep items out as long as you wish but give up a slot in your line up should you decided to keep something while swapping others.
More to know: They have the biggest catalogue of maternity clothes and brands, including Hatch. Like Nuuly, you get to pick what you want from their options. It can be a little overwhelming since you scroll through pages and pages of really good quality stuff so I recommend going into it with something in mind (do you need jeans or a party dress?).
My thoughts: Because the service is so popular, I got some clothes that were super worn already and even damaged. I returned those immediately and got new items, but you really never know in what condition they are going to be in, despite the service trying to keep super worn clothes out of their rental catalogue.
A version of this story was published January 24, 2020. It has been updated.
