Designer Maternity Jeans: Are They Worth It?

Are designer maternity jeans worth it? I mean, you only wear them for a few months, maybe longer if you’re pregnant more than once… But the price tag is steep – usually around $200. That’s a lot when you’re looking at setting up a nursery and acquiring all that necessary baby gear.

When I first started Search By Inseam, it was about 2 years before I was pregnant. I wasn’t shopping for maternity jeans for myself yet, but I was adding them to the site. I was also shopping for tall women who needed extra long maternity jeans. It was tough to fill their requests, as there just wasn’t much out there in longer lengths. There were usually a couple options of long maternity jeans in a 34″ inseam, but not anything longer. What I noticed then was that anything longer than a 34″ inseam tended to be a designer maternity jean. And the price jumped by at least $100 on average to move into that designer jean category.

Why are designer maternity jeans so expensive? It’s simple: you are paying for quality. In many cases, you are also paying for USA craftsmanship as well. The denim is high quality, the buttons are high quality and the big thing – the elastic belly panel – is much higher quality than a non-designer maternity jean’s belly panel. If you try on regular maternity jeans and designer maternity jeans, you’ll know right away that the belly panel on the designer pair is going to stay up. It’s not going to fall down on you and it’s not going to stretch out like a regular maternity jean panel will. It hugs your baby bump and provides so much support that you’ll want to wear that panel all. the. time. I’m  not kidding. Designer maternity jeans fit in the butt and the gut. They flatter your shape and the denim is soft and comfortable.

I have a 35″ inseam, so when I was pregnant my only options were designer maternity jeans. That was just fine with me, because I loved my Citizen’s Bootcut Maternity Jeans so much! They made any outfit flattering. I only needed to add a pair of comfortable flats and a maternity top, and I was good to go. I wore them for about 8 months total over two pregnancies. My belly never got very big. I think that was because my torso was so long and both boys were so low in my uterus that it took forever to really look like I was pregnant.

I paid about $180 for the jeans and wore them for about 8 months, which comes to $22.50 per month for a great pair of jeans. To me, that price was totally worth it. If you’re unsure if designer maternity jeans are worth it for you, I’d encourage you to do the math. Figure out how much they cost, how many months you think you’ll wear them, and what that works out to per month of wear. I only needed one pair of maternity jeans (no other pants, skirts, or dresses were needed) and a few tops, so I actually spent very little overall on my maternity wardrobe.

Here is an example of designer maternity jeans: Paige Denim Transcend Manhattan Bootcut Maternity Jeans in a 35.5″ inseam length. I’ve reviewed Paige’s Transcend Manhattan Bootcut Jeans here before (the non-maternity version) and they are an amazing pair of jeans – currently my favorite! The denim quality is excellent and you can tell by zooming in just how supportive those belly panels really are.

Designer Maternity Jeans
Paige Denim ‘Transcend – Manhattan’ Bootcut Maternity Jeans in a 35.5″ inseam

Whether you are going to splurge on designer maternity jeans or save on regular maternity jeans, you can search by your exact inseam length and price range here or at https://searchbyinseam.com. Please leave a comment on this blog post and let us know if you think designer maternity jeans are worth it or not. You’ll find other jeans, reviews, and helpful articles at blog.searchbyinseam.com.

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