Lauren Oakley started The Bump Boutique in order to offer the choice of great maternity wear to new and expecting mums. She also wanted to make her products easily accessible to women, and in her hometown of Canberra and the surrounding area, she offers a personalised mobile dressing room, alongside her online store that delivers Australia wide. Offering quality, comfortable and stylish maternity wear and breastfeeding friendly clothes, as well as a range of amazing breastfeeding and postpartum products, The Bump Boutique is committed to helping you look and feel good during your pregnancy, post-birth and through your breastfeeding journey.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
When I was pregnant with my first child, Evelyn, I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to find maternity wear! Of course, there were some beautiful brands online, but I had no idea what would fit.
I knew I couldn’t be the only one who struggled, and the idea sat in the back of my mind for a couple of years, until I started talking with a friend and bouncing ideas around with her.
I knew I wasn’t ready for a permanent location, but I also knew how much I love talking with customers. I kept coming back to the original thought of needing maternity wear to be accessible. I hope I’m achieving that with the mobile dressing room, online shopping and pop-ups (coming soon).
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I’m so lucky to stock some truly beautiful brands from Australia, New Zealand and even France. Most of them are small, family-run businesses. They have all been really wonderful and supportive to help me get off the ground, by allowing me to make small orders while I’m starting out.
I planned to launch The Bump Boutique in March 2020 after generating a bit of buzz on Facebook and Instagram. But then… Covid hit! I had already ordered stock and was getting the online store ready, so I just had to go ahead and take the website live and hope for online orders. I haven’t been able to offer the mobile dressing room service until recently and had my first few pop-ups at my local community markets.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough has been getting my website to appear on Google searches, as well as being able to visit new mums and pregnant women – finally providing a bra fitting service and mobile dressing room.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I’m still learning to balance work and family, but I have an amazingly supportive partner, Matt. I’m so fortunate to have had a friend help me as well, particularly when Lillian was born in 2021, so I could focus on her in that newborn phase. I’m still on maternity leave and I’m often able to bring Lillian along to appointments with me!
My first pop-ups were with my sister-in-law at the local community markets that only ran for a few hours, so it meant I wasn’t away from the family for too long.
Lillian will be starting daycare soon and I’ll be returning to work. I’m going to have one day a week that’s dedicated to pop-ups and I will make appointments around work and family.
