A ‘LABOR’ OF LOVE - LILA MATERNITY OFFERS A STYLISH SOLUTION ALL SOON TO BE MOTHERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
By: Erica Commisso
From healthcare worker to fashion designer, Caitlyn Schollmeier says she has often seen situations where patience of healthcare have not been given the tools or resources that meet their needs. Sometimes, she says, it is simple things - patients aren’t given gowns that cover their bodies properly, they might not get access to interpreters or their religious considerations aren’t respected. So she decided to do something about it. And then it went viral on TikTok.
“When I posted my first viral video it wasn’t even meant to be posted publicly. I used the TikTok platform to voiceover and edit a video idea that I had with the intention to save it and share it with friends and family on Meta. I accidentally posted it public and woke up the next morning with millions of views and 160,000 new followers,” Schollmeier says. “I thought it must’ve been a fluke but then I made another video showing off my designs and that video got even more views. It felt like a make-it or break-it moment for me.” The videos showed her in a labour room fully pregnant showing off one of her labour gowns that she proudly showed the front and back of. The gown appeared comfortable, stylish and functional.
Source: Lila Maternity
“My husband and I had recently been forced to leave our home and we were expecting the birth of our twins any day. Deciding to invest all of our savings into a new business simply because of a viral video felt crazy, but I knew in my heart I needed to do it. It was a mix of emotions. I felt grateful, anxious, hopeful and overwhelmed all at the same time.”
In Nashville, Tennessee, Schollmeier founded Lila Maternity, a size and style-inclusive maternity brand that takes comfort, modesty and religious beliefs into consideration. It started as an online business but has since seen so much success that Lila Maternity now has a brick and mortar location in Nashville. “People choose modest dress for a variety of reasons, sometimes for religious beliefs, other times simply as a personal preference,” she says. “Regardless of the reason, every person deserves to feel comfortable during labor. No one should feel exposed, especially during such a sensitive and vulnerable experience. We can empower expecting parents by offering them something that humanizes them and gives them a sense of privacy.”
Source: Lila Maternity
She started with a size-inclusive gown, followed soon after by a gown for those who dress modestly. Today, she has expanded the Lila Maternity offerings to include a variety of options. The Labor-wear line includes a variety of birth gown options, from lightweight styles like the Juliet to high-coverage designs like the Nadia, which offers one of the most modest options available for labor and delivery. “The Cameron shirt is now used by partners who wish to do skin to skin, or by women who use the openings to nurse, but it originally came about to offer an option to expecting parents who don’t identify as women. It’s a gender neutral shirt with invisible zippers to give access to the chest for skin to skin, and for some, it’s more appropriate and comfortable for them than a dress.”
The Nadia gown, in particular, is a floor-length birth gown that features invisible zippers at the chest and back, allowing for epidural placement, breastfeeding, and skin-to-skin post-birth, while discreet belly openings enable fetal monitoring and other medical procedures. It uses interior ties to help keep the gown securely closed for comfort and ease of movement throughout labor. The design was created to meet the needs of individuals who prefer or require higher coverage during childbirth, including members of the Orthodox Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as those who dress modestly for personal reasons. It also pairs well with a hijab, offering an option that aligns with cultural and religious considerations while maintaining the practical features needed for labor and postpartum care.
Source: Lila Maternity
Her goal with the Nadia gown - and all of her laborwear designs - is simple: to ensure that everyone has access to a birth gown that aligns with their comfort and needs. It makes sense and also creates significant empowerment for women to wear what feels best during labor because that may vary from person to person.
Since going viral, Schollmeier has received a lot of positive feedback about her work, and it serves as fuel to keep her going. “There’s no greater compliment than to tell me my design worked,” she says, “and it made one of the most important days of their life even just a little bit better.”