Our Origin Story

During my first pregnancy, I was surprised by how difficult it was to shop for maternity clothing. I wanted to feel comfortable in my changing body, but it felt impossible, on top of other stressors, to find a pair of jeans that didn’t fall down or squeeze too tight. I spent a lot of time driving to the few stores in my area that carried maternity clothes, shopping online, and making trips to the post office to return items that didn’t fit. The clothes that worked only worked for a short time, making the whole process time-consuming and expensive. I knew I wasn’t alone in this struggle and reflected on how much worse this challenge must be for women with fewer resources than me. I started asking myself, "What could I do to make access to maternity clothing easier for women in my community? And how could we collectively generate less waste?"

About nine months after my second baby was born, the first Local Maternity Thread clothing closet came to life in a shed in my driveway. Inspired by my Takoma Park neighbors who had established food pantries and little free art libraries in their front yards during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I set up a plastic shed with a clothing rod and storage bins and invited friends to donate the initial inventory of maternity and nursing clothing. After spreading the word about the shed on local listservs and in Facebook groups, I was delighted to see parents visiting the clothing closet nearly every day to donate and browse the clothing options. Six months later, my talented and generous friend Lauren Hofer of Atlas Minor Studio donated her time and creativity to develop a branding suite for the project (she also came up with the name!). The new logo made it easier for neighbors to find the clothing closet and know they had come to the right place. Over a year later, the clothing closet had become an established waystation for maternity and nursing clothing.

In the years since we have:

  • held clothing giveaways

  • established partnerships with local nonprofits to stock their maternity clothing closets

  • convened a team of volunteers to support shed operations and outreach

Local Maternity Thread would only be an idea were it not for the generous neighbors who donate their clothing and time. Thank you!

- Amy Leo, Founder

Our Mission

We operate free clothing closets to keep maternity clothing in circulation while reducing textile waste.

2025 Goals

  1. Maintain and improve positive “take a thread, leave a thread” experiences

  2. Get more clothes to people who need them

  3. Expand scope to include pregnancy peer support