But as I can't fit into any of my other clothes, no thanks to my expanding waist and boobs (yes, they are double the size!), I could only resign to wearing the same dresses again and again as long as I can still fit into them.
From experience, I knew that at different stages of pregnancy, you would be able to only wear a certain number of clothes. So pulling out my old maternity clothes is not the solution as I knew I should be keeping those for later when even my regular "baggy" clothes can't fit. I also did not want to buy expensive maternity wear only to not be able to wear them any more 4-5 months later. I tried buying cheap maternity wear online but those turned out to be really uncomfortable and did not fit right.
That was when I was introduced to Maternity Exchange's Rental Concept!
The different rental packages that they offer allowed pregnant mothers to try out and rent clothes from the store instead of buying it so that you can have the luxury of wearing different clothes throughout the different stages of your pregnancy at a fraction of the cost to purchase them. It's also more environmentally-friendly and you won't have piles of maternity wear that you don't need any more cluttering up your house after the baby is born.
And after wearing the clothes for a month, if you want a change in your wardrobe, return it! If you like it so much that you can't bear to part with it, buy it! It's that simple =)
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| Photo credit: Maternity Exchange Click here for more information |
You can can buy the item you rented by paying the difference between the rental price and purchase price (e.g. if a dress costs $43 to rent and $119 to buy, you top up the $76 to keep it).
As the rental options are only available at their physical store at Marina Square, I headed down one Saturday afternoon to check it out.
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| Photo credit: Maternity Exchange |
The range of fashion clothing available in-store is wider than the online store. Although the clothes were relatively pricey, the quality was apparent as all of the clothes I tried on were comfortable and made of good material. You really get what you pay for!
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| Dresses that I tried on (Ended up renting the dress on the left and not the right simply because, yes, I looked fat in the one on the right..) |
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| Left: Red blouse with white stripes (doubles as a nursing top) paired with a black pencil skirt Right: Blue criss-cross blouse (doubles as a nursing top) paired with khaki pants |
No prizes for guessing which outfits I chose!
Of course I chose the red top which fits me to a tee and shows off my growing belly, the black pencil skirt that gave me such a nice behind that I got a lot of compliments from many of my colleagues and the flowy blue blouse that was easy to wear.
To think that I had initially wanted to get all dresses because I thought those were the only clothes I can fit into!
After wearing the clothes for a few weeks now, I have fallen so much in love with my blouses, which are so comfortable and fit so nicely, that I will likely be keeping them so that I can wear them when I'm nursing, which totally kills 2 birds with 1 stone! =)
Besides maternity wear, Maternity Exchange also carries nursing clothes/bra, maternity support and postpartum shapewear, maternity swimwear, accessories, baby carriers, diaper bags and even non-toxic nail polish for kids!
Definitely a one-stop shop for all your maternity and baby needs!
Maternity Exchange is located at 6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square, #03-108, Singapore 039594.
Tel: +65 6100-EXCH (6100-3924), online store: http://www.maternityexchange.sg/
Disclosure: A complimentary rental package was received from Maternity Exchange Singapore for the purposes of this review. No monetary compensation was received; all opinions are my own.
