If you are a mother, with your hands full of kids, keys and various bags, then welcome to the club - it can be a hard club. Being a parent is busy work, especially when you've got to juggle breastfeeding, pumping and finding a bra that offers the functionality to continue with your daily routine, without compromise.

For most kiwi women, finding a nursing bra is much harder than you’d think and most will agree to owning at least one uncomfortable or ill-fitting maternity bra that interferes in the process of breastfeeding their child.

Kerikeri mother of two and owner of thebasicb, Megan Read, has been through it all when it comes to breastfeeding. When she was pregnant with her first child, Havana, in 2018, she discovered that the most popular maternity and nursing bras out there were more designed for aesthetics than true functionality. With designs full of fiddly clips, padding, cups and wires, there were no real alternatives for busy mothers who wanted simplicity and to remain practical. With this personal experience in mind, it soon became the driving force to start up her own business with a new approach and way of thinking about maternity wear.

After four years designing and developing her own unique maternity collection to suit the lifestyles of today's busy and active kiwi woman, Megan launched her Kerikeri based company, thebasicb to market in 2022. Looking to offer something different, thebasicb collection has been designed on the idea that a nursing bra is not just an item of clothing; but a key part of a lifestyle choice that can be with women throughout their pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding journey.