Friday, September 11, 2009

Brief Guide to TALL Maternity Clothes...

This post could also be named, "A Brief Guide to Maternity Clothes for Tall Women Who Don’t Want to Spend a Fortune."

I am tall, and also have quite long legs. My legs are so long, that once (before I was pregnant) when I asked a sales associate at Macy’s if they had any dress pants in my inseam, she laughed at me. Most pants came with a standard 32 inch inseam to 33 inch inseam, or maybe a 34 inch inseam if I was able to find a “long”. Because of this, I was essentially only able to order pants with a 36 inch inseam online from the “tall” section of various stores such as Gap and Old Navy.
When I became pregnant, I was happy to see that many different retailers including JC Penney, Old Navy, Gap, and Motherhood Maternity carried maternity pants in “long” or “tall” sizes. However, I quickly became disappointed to discover that when it comes to maternity, “long” and “tall” didn’t mean what they once did pre-pregnancy.

What I quickly discovered was that in maternity clothes, a regular length inseam varies from between 30 inches, to 32 inches if I was lucky. Apparently, clothing manufacturers believe that women shrink in height during pregnancy. In maternity sizing, a “long” or “tall” inseam typically means 33 inches, very occasionally 34 inches.

Now, you can certainly find 36 inch inseams from brands like Paige Premium Denim or Rock and Republic, but I just can't afford to shell out $150 on a pair of maternity pants. I don't plan to be pregnant for 12 years of my life people! Plus, I need dress pants for work, not just jeans.

To date, I’ve found the following websites that offer maternity pants in a 36 inch inseam or longer at fairly reasonable prices. Hopefully this will help someone else out!

Tall Girl Shop (http://www.tallgirlshop.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=maternity): They have 2 or 3 options for black dress pants online, though they’re often out of stock in one or more sizes. Consequently, I’ve never actually been able to purchase any! I’ve been told that they have a great selection in store, but there is not one single Tall Girl Shop store in Oregon, so I haven’t been able to verify. Definitely worth a shot, though be forewarned that I’ve been told they run small.

RG Maternity (http://rgmaternity.com/): This online site has several pairs of pants AND several options for tall shirts online. This is the only place to date, that I've found maternity shirts in long lengths. They’re fairly spendy, but I’ve occasionally found a pair on sale. I have ordered a pair, but haven’t received them yet to be able to review the quality or fit. What I do like, is that they say their pants often actually run LONGER than 36 inches so that they can actually be put in the dryer!!! Pay attention to the sizing charts, because they don’t totally line up with other stores like Motherhood Maternity, so you may not be the size you’re expecting.

Mommy Long Legs (http://www.mommylonglegs.com/): This is a brand new online site that offers pants right now, but looks to eventually offer shirts as well. They only have a few options for pants, and the sizing appears to vary greatly between the pants offered. I’ve been told that this site runs very, very small in terms of sizing.

Mom’s Maternity (http://www.momsmaternity.com/): This site currently offers one pair of pants in a 37 inch inseam. They don’t seem to have many sizes in stock at any given time, but they DO have plus sizes in the 37 inch inseam, which is nice if that's what you're looking for (I imagine finding plus sized maternity with a 36 inch inseam is almost impossible!).

3 comments:

  1. Great Post! I will definitely bookmark this! It sucks that a lot of times you can only find the lengths you need in the really expensive clothing lines. I just cannot bring myself to spend over $60 on a pair of jeans. I can't do it. It's just not in me.

    Also, I never thought about plus size and tall. Especially since a lot of places don't carry past a 12in pants and sometimes that 12 is really a 10. I have that problem sometimes. I'll try a new store only to find that their sizes run small and find that I can't do a 12, but they don't carry a 14. Those stores really make you feel great about yourself, let me tell ya!

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  2. Very useful post but I'm only 5'4...usually the regular jeans are too long for me! I have to look for petite which I have to remind people that petite means short not skinny!

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  3. This is the post with which I can relate myself. As I am also tall and have long long legs. I really liked your post

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