This time around I’m renting maternity clothes (and am loving it)!

One of the things I’m doing differently this pregnancy, compared to my other two, is renting maternity clothes.

Renting maternity clothes with Le Tote

Let me back up. During my first pregnancy, I mainly wore non-maternity clothes, with a very few exceptions. This worked because we lived in Chicago and I was due with my first little one in July, so the last few months I was able to wear long skirts and maxi dresses with maternity tank tops. My bump didn’t really ‘pop’ until the third trimester, so I was able to wear non-maternity clothes for a really long time.

In my second pregnancy (which I thought would be my last one – whoops), I was in Seattle, and I had about two pairs of maternity jeans and five shirts from my first pregnancy, and would basically just rotate outfits. It was not very fun or flattering, but I didn’t want to invest in clothes that I wasn’t going to wear again. I did, use Stitch Fix to get some nicer maternity items that I wore all of the time, but I think those were the only things I purchased new.

Now that I’m pregnant for a third time, I have decided that I need want cuter maternity clothes. I actually have a lot of maternity items because a few friends gifted me bags and bags of them. (This is the perk of already having such a great mom community – free stuff! There’s always someone getting rid of something kid-related!) So anyways, I have a lot of maternity clothes but they’re mainly practical, basic pieces. However, I decided to try renting a box of maternity clothes from Le Tote, and am so glad I did! I rented a box in January and loved it so much that I ordered another box in February. I love the clothes I got (again) so I’ll be ordering my last box in March, which I’ll return right after the baby is born.

My thoughts on renting maternity clothes, and which service I like the best!

What I love about renting maternity clothes from Le Tote:

+ It’s a better value than buying new clothes.

I do not want to pay for an entirely new wardrobe of maternity basics, and I certainly don’t want to spend over $100 on a single piece of maternity clothing. This way I can wear the maternity basics I already have and wear the ‘nicer’ clothes from Le Tote when I have a night out or just want to look a little more put-together. Plus, there’s always the option to buy an article of clothing that arrives in the tote – usually for a much discounted price.

+ I don’t need to hang on to the clothes when I’m done.

I wear the clothes for a month, and then I send them back. They don’t have to stay in my closet or in a box under my bed or in a crawl space, and I don’t need to think about whether to sell them or give them away once this baby is born. I love the idea of wearing clothes and then sending them on their way once they’ve served their purpose. Plus, like I mentioned before, I can always decide to keep them if I really love something that much.

+ The options of what to rent are more trendy than what I would normally buy for myself.

Even if I was planning on getting pregnant again, the maternity clothes that are trendy now probably wouldn’t be trendy by the time the next kiddo came along. I think renting clothes is a great way to try a new style without really investing in it. I am too cheap to be trendy when it comes to clothes, so I tend to buy a lot of classic pieces. However, when ordering my Le Tote boxes I feel like I can order pieces that I know I only want to wear a few times.

+ I can rent seasonally appropriate clothing.

This month I ordered mostly sweaters, but next month I plan to rent some ‘springy,’ floral items. If we had planned a warmer weather vacation, I could have rented a whole box of dresses and shorts, without needing to buy them especially for a trip. If I had ordered a box in December (ugh – I should have! I forgot about it until January!) I would have rented some nicer dresses or tops for holiday parties. I think the boxes are especially useful if you live somewhere with more drastic temperature changes, which the PNW doesn’t really have.

Renting maternity clothes with Le Tote

What I didn’t love about renting maternity clothes from Le Tote:

+ The price.

I think  it costs about $80 to rent 5 items for a month, which is definitely more than I’d like to spend, but since I’m only doing it for three months, I’m okay with spending the money. I still think it’s a great value, but I could also have decided to wear what I already had in my closet. Would I be as cute? No. Would it be as fun? No. But this is definitely money that I don’t need to be spending at all.

+ The limited selection.

There are some pieces I saw and couldn’t wait to order, but if I was renting totes for a longer period of time, I’d have to add more non-maternity pieces in (like cardigans or items to layer) or accessories to make it worth it. I just don’t think there are enough clothes that I personally wanted to spend money on to rent maternity boxes for more than a few months. I may, however, check out their non-maternity selection and occasionally rent ‘normal’ clothes in the future. Definitely not every single month, though.

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Having done both Stitch Fix (use my referral link to get $25 off your first box) and Le Tote (use my referral link to get a free box o’ clothes) for maternity clothes, I can honestly say I liked both for different reasons. Although, I’m not sure how the comparison is because I used Stitch Fix a whole 3 years ago (Look at how short my hair was! I don’t know why I decided to chop it off, but I blame the hormones)! But anyways…

I absolutely loved Stitch Fix for finding a few basics that I wore all of the time. I loved the jeans and tank tops I received, especially. I loved the quality and I appreciated having some higher end maternity clothes. The tank tops lasted throughout my entire pregnancy, so they were worth the investment. I sold them before this pregnancy and am still kicking myself for that decision!

Renting maternity clothes with Le Tote

Le Tote is a better option for me this time around, in my opinion, because I was given so many hand-me-downs of maternity basics that I really just wanted to have a few fun things to wear when I go out. Plus, I am trying to get rid of things in my closet, not add more!

I think both services are great, but for maternity clothes, I’d recommend renting a box from Le Tote if you already have quality maternity pieces in your wardrobe.

Hmmm now this blog post turned into a Stitch Fix vs Le Tote thing, which I didn’t mean to happen – but too late now! This wasn’t a sponsored post, but please use my referral links to get a discount and so I get a little money to spend, too!

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