The Best Maternity Leggings of 2021

The fabric of these comfortable leggings is superb on sensitive skin and breathes just fine even during a long day of wear. During the initial wear, the fit was fantastic and the waistband rested comfortably on our tester’s belly. However, after the wash test, the waistband had shrunk uncomfortably and the leggings required more adjustment throughout the day to stay up. At the same time, the leggings do remain opaque, which is a big win.

Blanqi bills itself as “belly support” leggings, and the fit is indeed unique compared to the other best maternity leggings we tested. The leggings—the fabric of which feels like dense tights—are quite snug in the legs and above the belly and have a looser pocket-like portion for your bump. The leggings stayed above my big bump just fine during a workout and a day of wear, but even after wearing a short while began to sag in the crotch.

The high quality fabric wasn’t exactly soft, but it was opaque. The care instructions recommend against putting them in the dryer, and the thick fabric took much longer to line dry than the other leggings we tested—so these aren’t exactly a wash-n-wear maternity legging option.

When ordering, be sure to reference their size chart. While the other maternity leggings we reviewed recommend sticking with your pre-pregnancy size, Blanqi’s sizing goes by your current height and weight. For example, although I was a size small in every other maternity legging we tested, I was a large in Blanqi. This means that their extended size offering is a bit more limited than it might appear.

Hatch leggings get high marks for comfort. The fabric is super soft and not too tight—but they go a little far in the other direction. I found that I had to pull up the leggings frequently during the testing period. Needing to futz so frequently was distracting during a yoga session and a long walk. The VPL was among the most pronounced with Hatch leggings of the maternity leggings we tested. Unfortunately, they also began to pill after our wash test.

When I took these out of the package, I noticed right away how soft the fabric was. They went on easily and fit over my entire third-trimester bump. However, the stretchy fabric was a little too stretchy. The top of the leggings inched down as the day wore on, and the leggings required adjustment during a yoga session. After our wash test, they tightened up a bit, which was actually a good thing in these leggings. Unfortunately, they also faded a bit, which was not so good.

The fabric of the Zella leggings hits a lot of high marks. Although it faded slightly after our wash test, it feels like good quality, is smoothing, and stays opaque when you bend over. The biggest ding for these leggings is their tightness. Although I ordered the correct size, the fabric’s lack of give made the leggings uncomfortably constricting for a full day of wear. Because the leggings fit partway but not all the way over the belly, this discomfort was especially pronounced in the bump area. These leggings might be most appropriate for first or second trimesters or for those pregnant people who carry small.

Because we love a good deal here at Reviewed, we were rooting for these Old Navy leggings, the most affordable of the maternity leggings we reviewed. They did do the job in a lot of ways—they were comfortable enough and breathable enough. However, they compared less favorably in some key ways. For one, the fabric was the least soft of the maternity leggings we reviewed. For another, the waistband, which was tight and sat partway up on my bump, was also among the least comfortable. These leggings lost further points for being the most see-through of the bunch and, unfortunately, after a single wash, the fabric shrank and began to pill, casting doubt on whether they would hold up to nine months of wear.