GREATER LAFAYETTE GETS ITS FIRST MATERNITY BOUTIQUE

 

Kaela Jaeger was up late feeding her newborn son when she started working through a problem she couldn’t find an answer to. She had a closet full of maternity clothes she no longer needed and nowhere to take them.

She’d spent months ordering from Amazon and being disappointed. And she knew, after her own search, that Greater Lafayette had no dedicated maternity resale shop no single place built around the needs of women from pregnancy through the postpartum period.

So she opened one.

The Ivory Wren & Co. held its official ribbon cutting this month at 2200 Elmwood Ave. in Market Square, completing a launch that began with a soft opening last November. The shop — the only one of its kind in the region — carries gently used maternity clothing alongside new pieces, postpartum essentials and gifts: jewelry, accessories, hats, bags, mugs, lotions and scrubs.

 

Jaeger, who works full time as a therapist and is raising four children with her husband, described the lead-up with characteristic honesty. “Trust me,” she said at the ribbon cutting. “There were some days where it was like, what are we doing? This is very hard.”

She had never owned a business before. The decision grew from long conversations with her husband, research that confirmed the market gap and a property in Market Square that became available sooner than expected. “It just kind of fell into place after that,” she said.

The market she is entering has room for her. According to a 2024 market analysis by Straits Research, the global maternity wear industry was worth roughly $22.2 billion in 2024 and is expected to nearly double by the early 2030s, fueled in part by growing numbers of working women who want clothing that is both functional and stylish during pregnancy.

Industry research consistently finds that physical specialty boutiques outperform online channels in maternity retail — in-store shopping accounts for nearly 45% of total maternity apparel sales — because expecting mothers want to assess fit and comfort before buying.

Resale platforms remain a smaller but expanding segment, appealing to shoppers who recognize that maternity clothing has a short functional life. The Ivory Wren & Co. sits at the intersection of both: a physical shop where customers can handle and test products, combined with a resale component designed to keep prices manageable.

The Lafayette-West Lafayette metro area has a median age of 31, well below the national median of 39. Lafayette proper sits at 33; West Lafayette, anchored by Purdue University, skews younger still, at 21. Census data show that adults between 25 and 44 make up nearly a third of Lafayette’s population, and roughly 47% of households in the city include children under 18. “There’s nothing like this here,” Jaeger said. “There’s nothing. So I think it was just, we absolutely can do this.”

“The Ivory Wren & Co. is exactly the kind of business Greater Lafayette needs,” said Mikel Berger, president and CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce, which is the primary chamber of commerce and lead economic development organization (LEDO) for the cities of Lafayette, West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County. “When an entrepreneur identifies a gap in our community and steps up to fill it, everyone benefits, and there’s a clear need for what Kaela Jaeger has built.”

Jaeger’s approach to inventory centers on small-batch, independently made products not sold through major online retailers, a deliberate counterpoint to the Amazon experience she found frustrating as a new mother.

“I remember the late-night scrolling as I’m breastfeeding,” she said. “What do I need? I’m just adding stuff to the cart. And then it comes, and I’m either not happy with it, or I paid way too much, or I can’t return it because it’s considered a breastfeeding product. So I’m just stuck with all this stuff.”

The shop offers samples and testers so customers can evaluate products before buying.

Among the brands she carries: Sunflower Motherhood, a small-batch line with motivational notes on the packaging; Mother Mother, a magnesium-based line formulated for common pregnancy complaints, including restless legs and muscle soreness; and Among the Flowers, another small-batch maker she describes as meticulous about ingredients.

All products are vetted to be safe during pregnancy and for newborn exposure. Among the early bestsellers are birthing gowns that button up the back — an alternative to the standard hospital-issue garment — which Jaeger said also function as nursing gowns after delivery.

The Ivory Wren has built a returning customer base since November. One woman, pregnant with her first child, has come in four or five times, each visit corresponding to a new stage of her pregnancy, each one a different purchase. Others have returned postpartum. “It’s really neat to be able to see that,” Jaeger said.

For now, the shop operates weekdays with appointment hours, a structure that fits Jaeger’s schedule while she maintains her therapy practice. She hopes the official launch marks a turning point.

“I’m really hoping to be able to make the switch soon, to leave my full-time job and be here,” she said. “But we’ve got to get the ducks in a row.”