Owner of Lifecycles Maternity, Danielle Rackson, talks about her maternity clothes rental company.
I recently came across this blog and thought it was a great community supporting mothers. I want to share the story of my company because I want all mothers to know that now is as good a time as any to pursue your dream – mine was owning my own business so I could have flexibility to spend time with my children as they grow – but also because I think that some of you could benefit from the services my company, Lifecycles Maternity, offers. A quick overview of what we do: We are a maternity clothing rental service that lets women rent basically their whole wardrobe for a flat monthly fee. We ship the clothes directly to your home and take them back whenever you feel you’re ready to return to your pre-pregnancy wardrobe.
In 2017, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child. We were excited to begin to prepare for our new addition. One morning I got up and tried to pull on a pair of jeans only to find that I could not button them. It seemed overnight that I had outgrown a lot of my normal pants and we realized that in our excitement, we had overlooked a fairly large part of pregnancy – maternity clothes. We had prepared for the costs around having a child, such as the doctors appointments, birthing classes and the baby gear, but hadn’t taken into account the cost of maternity clothes – an area we knew nothing about. That first shopping trip was quite the wake-up call and where this adventure began.
The thought was that we could just get by on hand-me-downs, and while those helped, it just wasn’t enough. We quickly realized there was no way to completely avoid buying clothing. Because we had not spent much time thinking about the costs of maternity clothes, you could imagine our shock as we scuffled from store to store and site to site looking for something to fit both on my body and within our budget. While building a wardrobe and watching the costs add up and up, we were astounded by the maternity market. The big box chains where we expected prices to be manageable had absolutely no variety and it cost around $100 to build a single outfit. Online stores and smaller boutiques offered a better selection, but at a much higher price. I like to be at least somewhat fashionable and understand spending a decent amount on nice clothing, but this was crazy considering these clothes were only meant to cover such a small window in my life. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was going to need to spend so much on clothes that, in a few short months, I wouldn’t need again any time soon. I wondered if storing them was even worth it – would they even fit me a few years down the line?
As we talked with other friends, co-workers, and family members we realized this was a shared issue with so many people. We became very curious as to how to solve this problem for us, and others like us that desire to dress fashionably, comfortably and without breaking the bank. My husband asked, how great would it be to just be able to borrow what we needed and then send it all back when we no longer needed it? I hate to admit when he’s right, but it was a good idea.
While we were on the search for a clothing solution there was another issue that was weighing quite heavily on me through the pregnancy. The thought of having to go back to work after our son was born was creating a tremendous amount of anxiety within me. As my husband and I talked it out more and more we started to realize that our two biggest problems could actually be a terrific solution. This is where our journey as family business owners started and Lifecycles Maternity was born. We wanted to make life manageable for other women by making maternity wardrobes affordable, accessible and not cluttering closets between pregnancies while making our life manageable as well – a win-win!
So, after a few iterations of what we wanted to offer, some time working with a great website team at The Intersoft Group and many arguments in between feedings for an always ravenous child, we finally nailed down just what we wanted to do. The concept is simple: Borrow what you need, return it when you’re finished and pay a fraction of the cost to buy the clothes outright. We charge a monthly fee of $49.99 to access our entire inventory and let you rent up to 7 outfits at a time. Rather than buying new clothes every time you’re tired of what you’re wearing, you can swap the outfits for something else we have in inventory keeping your wardrobe fresh! The bonus for the ladies is you can order these without leaving your home as everything is done from our online site www.lifecyclesmaternity.com.
Our family and our business continues to grow as our son is getting bigger, and we also recently welcomed a new baby girl to the family. We are extremely passionate about helping other ladies that are finding the similar issues that I did. Like any new business our biggest challenge is getting the word out there, and we are so completely appreciative of Elisabeth for the opportunity to share our journey with you all. We hope you take a moment to check us out and give us the opportunity to help take some of the growing pains out of your pregnancy so you can focus on the important things – you and your baby. We’d also love to hear your feedback about what your dream is!
