Genius Lab Gear in the US has designed and completed testing on prototypes of a maternity lab coat that they hope will allow pregnant women to continue working safely in the lab. The company will start taking pre-orders for the maternity lab coats on 1 November, with shipping worldwide set to start on 14 November. The team behind the project hopes to secure enough orders to make their maternity lab coats financially viable in a bid to end unsafe practices by pregnant women, such as wearing lab coats that are much too large for them.

Inclusivity in Stem isn’t just about who enters the lab, it’s also about the tools used. For pregnant scientists, the standard lab coat has rarely been designed with them in mind. In a previous survey of more than 1500 scientists by The Lab Coat Project in 2022, women described stitching together coats or wearing labs coats two or three sizes too big just to keep working. Others recalled blank stares when they asked about maternity lab wear, a category that until now, simply didn’t exist.

Genius Lab Gear is hoping to change that with its first dedicated maternity lab coat. Survey data from more than 170 pregnant researchers informed the design, revealing the practical difficulties of working safely and comfortably in a lab during pregnancy.

The survey revealed that most pregnant women’s problems with their lab coats start around the fifth month of their pregnancy. Polyester coats can trap heat, fitted waistbands dig in and chest or waist pockets quickly become awkward to use. Around a quarter of respondents also highlighted the need for pockets designed to store pumping devices on returning to the lab after the birth of their child. For many, the solution has been to improvise with oversized coats, often impractical and sometimes unsafe, or to step back from lab work altogether. ‘I think the big thing is to let people know that [a maternity lab coat] exists and that they’re not stuck with, you know, sewing different things together, like a Halloween costume,’ says Derek Miller of Genius Lab Gear.

Miller notes that there was some critical feedback in their survey that the potential reproductive hazards of some chemicals mean pregnant women should not be working in the lab. He counters that this is something that pregnant researchers will need to take into consideration and work with their lab supervisor to determine whether they need to take extra precautions or ‘step out of the lab when they’re pregnant’. However, he says that a lot of pregnant women should still be able to work safely in labs, pointing out that a woman who has three children stands to lose as much as 50% of the middle of her career if she can no longer work in a lab.

To address the challenges revealed by the survey, the maternity lab coat is produced from 100% breathable cotton, includes an adjustable belt, pleated back panels for ease of movement, long knit cuffs, a convertible collar and thoughtfully positioned pockets. Importantly, the design is intended to be useful after pregnancy too, when many women find their pre-pregnancy coats no longer fit.

The new coat will be named after Alma Levant Hayden, the first African–American woman to work as a chemist at a US federal agency, who combined a pioneering career with motherhood. Genius Lab Gear estimates that around 10,000 women in the US every year could need a maternity lab coat and notes that sales of just 500 maternity lab coats a year would make the project viable.