How does For The Creators Maternity Rental Wear Work?

Renting maternity clothing isn’t the ordinary way to shop – but we want to change that. Pregnancy and post-partum is a beautiful journey, but it’s common for mothers to feel that they lose their personal style and sense of self during this time.

Renting maternity clothes and breastfeeding clothes allows you to retain your own style or try out new styles that suit your changing body, all while saving money and the planet. Sounds good, right?

However, we’ve found that one of the main barriers to renting clothing for expectant or new mothers is that they don’t really know how it all works.

We get it. Renting clothes is not the norm (although we hope it is one day), and you understandably have many questions.

That’s why in this blog, we’re exploring the common challenges that prompted us to start For The Creators, and how it all works if you want to rent maternity clothes or breastfeeding wear.

Ps. we offer buy new, pre-loved and rental clothes. This blog is specifically focussing on how our rental platform works.

Why did I set up For The Creators?

When I (Lyndsay, founder of For The Creators) was post-partum, I struggled to find sustainable maternity and breastfeeding-friendly clothes that didn’t cost the earth (both literally and figuratively).

I was forced to turn to fast fashion to find affordable clothing that worked with my personal style, something that didn’t sit well with my eco-conscious values.

Believe it or not, fashion is one of the biggest climate culprits, and this is only amplified during maternity.

Research by Isabella Oliver found that, on average, women buy 21 new pieces of clothing during maternity – costing them approximately £700. These are clothes that are worn for a couple of months during pregnancy, then never again – impacting the planet and your bank balance.

In addition, most pregnant women report that shopping for maternity clothing is a highly frustrating and time-consuming process, with no single online destination available. Convenience and accessibility are critical, especially for new and expectant mothers whose time is precious.

How does For the Creators solve these problems?

These challenges were something that we aimed to solve with the inception of For The Creators.

It’s a single-destination rental and pre-loved platform that offers access to the best high-end, high-street staples and occasion wear.

It solves the three main challenges that we found with maternity and post-partum clothing:

• It’s good for the environment (extends the life of clothing)
• It offers one place to source clothing from multiple brands
• It helps you maintain your personal style without spending loads

Ultimately, it’s a cheaper way to gain easy access to quality maternity and breastfeeding clothing that helps to save you money and the planet.

How does For The Creators, maternity rental work?

So, how does it work?

Renting clothing is new for many people, so you might have some questions about how it all works.

The first thing to know is that For The Creators is set up to be as simple and convenient for you as standard online shopping (but without the price tag or cost to the planet).

We know that as a pregnant or new mum, you’re short of time, so we don’t want to take up any more of yours than necessary.

So here are some things that you might want to know…

How do I rent maternity clothes?

Renting clothing from For The Creators is as simple as standard online shopping. Scroll our website and find something you fancy, before choosing your size, how long you want to rent for, and the date you would like it to arrive (handy if you want it to arrive for a specific event).

The rental period begins the first day you receive your chosen item, and you can return your item free of charge the first day after your rental period ends.

How long can you rent maternity clothes for?

You can hire our clothing items for a fixed period of either 4, 7, 14, or 28 days. For some items, this can be extended to 60 and 90 days. If you wish to keep the item(s) for longer, then you can contact us, and we’ll extend the period for as long as you like. You’ll need to organise this before your original rental period comes to an end, and we’ll send you a payment link to complete the purchase of the extended rental period.

If you wish to buy something that you’ve rented, then you can email us at orders@forthecreators.co, and we will process the order.

Ps. remember you can buy pre-loved, gently rented clothing at a highly discounted price from us too, so if you really love something, then see if it’s available to buy.

For less than the price of one new outfit you can also sign up to our rental subscription. With subscription, you make your selects from the entire rental collection and we will deliver your looks to your door each month! It’s the perfect solution for a growing baby bump, or to top up your capsule maternity wardrobe.

How do I join the rental subscription?

To sign up for our rental subscription, it’s so easy – and you can pause or cancel your membership at any time, making it work for you!

To sign up, visit our subscription page and pick your plan – we have three different tiers depending on your fashion needs.

Upon signing up, we will email you your unique Membership code. You will use this to redeem your basket and postage for free at checkout each month.

Browse and select the styles you want to rent that month and apply your membership code at checkout.

When the month is up, you can decide to either extend your rentals, or return your items and instantly pick something new for the next month!

What happens if the rental clothing doesn’t fit?

Worried something won’t fit?

Don’t! You can try on items of clothing as you would with standard online shopping and return them if they don’t fit.

We offer detailed information on each item in the ‘about the fit’ section to help you choose the best right size and minimise returns. However, if something arrives and it doesn’t fit, then email us within 24 hours of receiving it at orders@forthecreators.co, and send it back to us within 3 weekdays of receiving it unworn.

We will try to send you an alternative size or item at no additional cost as soon as the original is received. If this doesn’t suit then, we will fully refund the item (minus delivery) provided the item is returned on time and in the original condition.

When does the rental period begin?

Your rental period kicks off on the day you receive the item, and you send it back the day after the full rental period is over. So don’t worry, you never pay to rent while it’s being delivered!

If you have ordered multiple clothing items in the same order that are delivered on different days, then each item will have a different rental period start date.

Is it easy to return the clothing item?

We’ve made it as simple as possible to return clothing after your rental period has ended. Each rental comes in recycled and reusable packaging with a free-of-charge returns label.

Once you are done with the rental, package it up and send it back to us (ask the post office for proof of postage in case there is an issue).

If you lose the packaging or wish to keep it, you can return it in your own packaging, but you will be charged £5 for any packaging not returned (it’s all part of our bid to be as sustainable as possible).

If you don’t return the item to us on time, then you will be charged 15% of the recommended retail price of the item per day.

Are the clothing items in good condition?

Before we send anything out for rental, we complete a comprehensive check to ensure that they are in the best possible condition.

It’s extremely rare that items are faulty. But if you find anything that is faulty when you receive it, then please return it using our free returns process. Once we have received it and verified the issue, we will offer a refund or, where possible, a replacement item.

What happens if I damage the item?

We’re a small team at For The Creators who are passionate about good clothing and helping the planet. The last thing we want is for you to feel nervous wearing our clothes in case they get damaged – so we use our common sense here. If there’s a stain or general wear and tear, please do not be concerned. We will dry-clean items and fix them where necessary. If there’s significant damage that can’t be fixed (think a tear right through the middle of a shirt!) then we would have to charge you the price of the item. This has never actually happened in all my years running For The Creators!

How does renting maternity clothes from For The Creators benefit the environment?

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at For The Creators – in fact, it’s a large part of the reason that we started it in the first place.

Choosing to rent your maternity and breastfeeding clothing can help save clothing from landfill. Extending the life of clothes by just nine months can reduce their carbon footprint by 20-30%.

Plus, we work with a number of sustainable high-street retailers including Isabella Oliver, Bump & Milk, and Cari London. All of these brands focus on aspects of sustainability, such as recycled fabrics, deadstock fabrics, small manufacturing runs, and recycled packaging. You can find out our favourite sustainable maternity brands here.

Ready to rent maternity clothes?

We are really passionate about helping women maintain their style during one of the most important times of their life. That’s why we’ve committed to stocking high-quality maternity and breastfeeding clothing from high-end high-street brands, at a fraction of the price, for short and long-term rental.

Hopefully, this blog has answered all the questions that you might have about our rental process. If you fancy renting some maternity and breastfeeding clothing, then check out what we have to offer.