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Rant about maternity clothes stores

Excuse my rant but I have been thoroughly dicked about by Next, New Look and M&S, and generally find it really hard to get decent basics from the high street.

I work 5 mins from Oxford Street and live in central London so you'd think shopping would be fine. Lots f big stores (H&M, Gap, TopShop, New Look, Dorothy P, M&S) saying they do maternity - great. In truth, several of these blow so if you're thinking of shopping on Oxford St, read on!

New Look's website will direct you to their store near Marble Arch saying there's maternity range there. When you get there, you'll be told they've moved their maternity range to Moorgate (East/City).

Staff at my local M&S said their store on Oxford St had maternity. I go to the big one on Oxford St, nope - nothing. It's their store at Marble Arch. Trog over there and it's called their 'limited collection'... limited cos it's woeful - unless you can go to work in joggers or jeans you're stuffed. Also everything more smart had a couple of 14s and then leapt to 18s.

Finally, and the ultimate insult - Next. Learning from my mistakes I go online - gives stores but no specifics about maternity. Called their customer services, checked postcode and address of store with maternity stuff (500 Oxford St). Get there... "oh no, loads of women come here asking for Maternity - it's the one on Oxford Street" :x You're on Oxford Street!! "Oh, it's the other one on Oxford Street, by Oxford Circus"... went all the way over there to find another woeful collection, but they had a pair of size 12 work trousers that will do, though were long so need taking up.

I know I could get things on the internet but I like to try stuff on and being in c. London it really shouldn't be this hard.

Good stores are: Topshop on Oxford Circus, H&M on Regent St, Dorothy Perkins at Bond St tube. The rest BLOW!!!! Why do they say they do maternity if they only do it half-arsed in a minority of stores?!?! I have given feedback to Next and New Look, though don't know if they

I might try Blooming Marvellous in Fulham, but I was hoping to get this covered by inexpensive stores within a bus journey. Rant over image

Replies

  • Hi hun I completely agree with you on the maternity ranges in stores and you would think London of all places would have a reasonable collection but no!

    I will say one place that shocked me as having a pretty good range of styles and sizes was Peacocks and being Peacocks was very reasonable in prices too. Not sure if you have a store close but is worth checking out if you have I only stumbled upon it by chance as I didnt even know they did Maternity. I got 7 tops in the January sales from there at ??2 each reduced from either ??10 or ??15 so was extremely pleased.

    If you shop online too I use funmum.com they are a little expensive but have a lovely range and I normally buy my trousers on there as I need petite(I am really short) as most shops do not do petite maternity in fact I am sure they think you get taller in pregnancy!

    Hope this helps xx
  • lmao my goodness what a hullabaloo! it seems that its better to get clothes from big outlets on the outshkirts of town i stuggle finding clothes in size 18 lol i don't driveand the only maternity wear here is in the very small mother care which is a small 3 rail thing lol not guarenteed to be my size as lots of women are my size and they go quickly image
  • Urgh - mothercare clothes depressed the heck out of me! The quality looked pretty duff too - lots of stray threads.

    Thanks Madnbella - I'll try funmum. I've found if anything I've shrunk since pregnancy as I'm no longer wearing the towering heels to compensate being a shortstop!

    By the way, have just checked New Look website and it's still directing pregnant women to their store on Oxford St with false promises of a maternity range - the scoundrels!
  • I have found the maternitywear selections crap!! Have up til now been pretty lucky....work trousers & combats from M&S and a couple of pairs of jeans off ebay! But am getting too big for my stretchy non-maternity tops now, so that'll be fun looking!!!
    I'm not a great fan of 2nd hand things, but have been scowering ebay and there are some bargains to be had & it saves a fortune! Lots of ladies selling their things in bundles for fractions of the price!
    Why is it sooooo difficult?!?!?!!?
    Sarah xx
  • If anyone has a branch of JoJo Maman Bebe near by ( I know that there aren't that many around), then get down there in the sale - some right bargains to be had!!!
  • im soooo glad im not the only one! i went shopping in my local town to be told i needed to go to chester (this was by a number of different stores) only for me then to be told i really need to go to manchester! which judging from ladygwen im glad i gave up!
    have managed to cobble together some clothes from new look and DP but its been so traumatic......and as you say the choice is dire, unless you happen to live in black and white, or grey of course! im so hoping the spring/summer clothes will come in soon.......
    i even went shopping in bristol the other weekend and that wasnt much better either (although apparently i should have gone to cribbs!) doh!
  • totally agree! In fact I've posted on here before ranting about how difficult it was to get a warm maternity coat (gave up on that in the end & am wearing hubby's north face jacket. I look more like an inflatable tyre than pregnant, but am at least warm!)
    I really didn't realise it would be so difficult getting maternity stuff until I got pregnant. I live in Macclesfield where all I have is Mothercare. Ok for basics, but not much range. And I agree with the comment about the quality - a lot of the tops had loose threads. I went to M&S thinking they'd be good but was fuming at the fact this massive store had one cr*ppy rack of clothes. Manchester is a bit better, but why do you have to go all the way to the main cities just to get maternity clothes!! My favourite was Blooming Marvellous - I got most of my stuff from there, but it is pricey. I think I then used H&M & Next mostly. I got a load of tops from Next in the sale for about ??7 each (and got loads of compliments on them!), but again had to trog all the way into Manchester for that.

    I also recently got annoyed at sales assistant in Next (poor love). All I wanted was to see the nursery range of bedding etc, rather than look at it in the catalogue. Was told only a few stores do this, so again - another trip to the big smoke..... aargh. Can't do with all this rushing around when you're 30 weeks gone!

    There's definitely a gap in the market if someone wants to set up a maternity clothes store and have it on every high street!
  • I'm having trouble getting a nice outfit for a wedding. I have looked online but they are so expensive! and I wont get much wear out of anything too posh. The clothes in stores are very basic and anything too baggy just makes me look huge. Another thing is alot of the gorgeous dresses are strapless!!! I may be size 10 but I have huge heavy boobs and cant get a strapless maternity bra!!
  • I needed a posh dress and had same problem. I got a black wrap dress from Blooming Marvellous in the end which I dressed up with a scarf. They looked like they had some nice skirts/dresses in there if you wanted to try them. Dress was about ??40 so not too bad.
  • So so so agree with what the rest of you have said, the selection in most shops is rubbish (if indeed they do maternity clothes at all). I live in Leeds, a big city with loads of shops, & I've struggled to find stuff.
  • hi darling i completely agree with you. these places seem to have realy bad maternit ranges. i used to work for next and obviously because of the low interest in our store they removed it. they had recidoulous targeting per square metre and if the section didnt pay their way it was gone. not that it was much to shout about anyway. ive givn up on m&s and Next i went asda to get my shopping last week and came home with two new suit trousers from their maternity range. They were 12.00 each and the most comfy pair i have worn in a long time..
  • I have bought limited maternity clothes as i can't find anything i really like and have been lucky enough to fit into size 12 jeans. I bought some lovely trousers from Blooming Marvellous and they are really comfy and for tops bought some normal (but a bigger size) tops from Marks & Spencer that fit really well.

    Fingers crossed i can avoid buying too many maternity clothes as they are rubbish. Think Blooming Marvellous is the best i have found so am lucky as one in St Albans.
  • You think that the range of maternity clothes is bad? Try needing a 33 inch inside leg. The only place that I have been able to buy anything except jeans is Next. Everybody else seems to think that when you get pregnant your legs shrink so that standard length will fit! On a happier note H&M Mama is brilliant, they have loads of really nice stuff and its not too expensive.
    Fraus, have you tried H&M in the Leeds shoppping plaza? The maternity is downstairs with the kids stuff but they have a really good range.
  • I always feel really old when I go in TopShop! Fortunately I don't work so I can get away with living in jeans most of the time!
  • Hi
    i really struggled to find maternity clothes over the past few weeks but then a think that it 'might' have something to do with the change of seasons as i had a look about the non maternity clothes and they were all rubbish too!
    I agree Next is terrible, i can't buy anythng without trying it on as i must be an odd shape and stuff never fits. But... Metrocentre New Look now has some fab things in from comfy trackies to smart work and going out clothes.
    I've also found ebay really useful as there are a lot of people selling bundles of clothes so yes some of it may be a bit worn but you can get a stack of clothes that someone else put the time into finding! also there are a lot of brand new things on there too. If i doesn't fit then just stick it back on and sell it again.
    also Dorothy Perkins has some nice things and the smart clothes are basically a replica of the non maternity range just madeto fit nicer. They are a bit limited though, i bought the stuff i liked and there isn't much choice but it's nice quality.

    xxx
  • I completely agree with you all. I saw maternity clothes in my local Next a few weeks ago, still fitting into my normal clothes I thought "great, I will go back in a few weeks when I need them" . Well the time has come that I no longer fit into any of my pre-pregnancy trousers (was a bit of a shock as have been off work for a week and been living in jogging bottoms so didn't notice I had grown so much in 1 week!) I went back to Next today only to finds no maternity clothes and be told that the nearest Next that now does them is 50 miles away!
    Aaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!
  • Grrrrr! Maternity clothes shopping is so depressing! The best places I've found is Next (for jeans as they have a decent inside leg), TopShop (even though I feel ancient when I go in) and H and M, Was pleasently suprised by Peacocks maternity range, but only for basic t shirts but can't grumble at ??4 a pop! Thank heavens for the internet!

    Loving Mamas and Papas clothes, Funmum, JoJo Maman Bebe and Blooming Marvellous. They're a bit pricer but if you team a few nice bits from there and layer them with a Peacocks special or two then you've got yourself lots of oufits! The transitional season stage at hte mo is a bit difficult to dress for- just pleased I wear a uniform for work, casual clothes are hard enough but work clothes must be really tricky and expensive.

    Think may open a maternity clothes shop as a new career move!
  • Sorry to butt in here, i am from ttc board!

    I just wanted to say i work at H&M and it's fab lots of you have found the Mama department good - funnily enough it must be quite trendy too cos we're always selling Mama stuff to unsuspecting shoppers who just think the tops are long bodied or floaty :lol: xxx
  • in swindon we have several next stores and only one does a mat range, but it's rubbish. Our Newlook has a small range, as does H and M and peacocks. I haven't tried Topshop as a : it's upstairs and can't get the buggies to the life and B: they look at me funny as I need a 12/14 and I think they think thats still too big C: i've just come down from a 26 and i make me very self conscious being in there.

    DP have a small range but they seem too young for me, and i'm only 27.

    I get most of mine from ebay and have got some really nice stuff, so far.
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