Faux Wrap Dress by Ashley Nicole Maternity
When I first bought Bloom Maternity I thought I would focus on the plus-size Mom. Though I was not obese while pregnant, I did have a hard time finding pants and jeans that I could pull up past my knees. The thought that petite women have a hard time finding clothes that fit too never occurred to me until I met Jacqueline Carrau one rainy night at Starbucks.
As a petite woman, Jacqueline too was frustrated when trying to find maternity clothes when she was pregnant two-plus years ago. So she decided to do something about it and created her own maternity line for petites — Ashley Nicole Maternity. Full of moxy, Jacqueline has quickly figured out how to get her designs created and is working hard on marketing and distribution.
Q: Why did you decide to launch your own maternity line?
When I was thinking of starting my business I was looking for a niche, and I came up with the idea of starting a petite maternity clothing line. I just had a baby and realized that there weren’t a great amount of maternity clothes that were veered towards petite pregnant moms. I couldn’t even find a whole lot of petite maternity clothes online. So that’s when I decided to create a maternity apparel line for petites. I originally named the business work style maternity because it was veered towards the working mom, but at the time I wanted to name the business after the middle names of my children but the name was already taken in the state of TX. A few months later I was notified that the name Ashley Nicole was available, so I decided to change the name. So that’s how Ashley Nicole Maternity was born.
Q: Which clothing pieces are the hardest to fit for women who are petite?
The hardest clothing pieces for petite women to fit are pants, skirts, and dresses. If the length isn’t right a petite woman can’t wear them.
Q: Were you able to find many maternity clothes for petite when you were pregnant?
I was only able to shop at two places while I was pregnant for petite maternity clothes which included Destination Maternity and Motherhood. The quality was not that great, and there weren’t enough options to choose from especially for working in an office. As a manager at the time, I wanted comfortable, trendy, and professional maternity clothes that I could wear to work.
Q: Non-fashion related, what was your favorite memory while pregnant?
My favorite memory while being pregnant was preparing for the baby’s arrival. I liked buying things for the baby, and getting the baby’s room ready.
Q: What are some things we can look forward to in your Spring/Summer 2013 line?
The Spring/Summer 2013 line will have more prints to choose from. I will have a couple of custom prints as well. The line will have a resort type feel to it with earth tone colors. There will be more trendy items to choose from and many items will be able to be worn throughout pregnancy, and post pregnancy. I am very excited about the changes to the Spring/Summer 2013 line.
Ashley Nicole Maternity will include regular sizes starting in Fall 2012. The line is currently being sold by sales reps in Los Angeles CA, and Canada.
You may also be interested in visiting Jacqueline’s blog Work, Baby, Balance designed as an online community for career moms with a family to share their experiences in balancing their career and family life.
Ashley Nicole Maternity petite sizes are now available at Bloom Maternity, and join us on Facebook to be one of the first to know when new Ashley Nicole Maternity styles are available.
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