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Why should bad-ass breastfeeding punk-rock-moms sacrifice their fashion just because of a baby? These moms answered, “They shouldn’t!”

When my baby was first born, I spent some sleepless nights looking for nursing shirts online. (Trust me when I say that the new mom online shopping addiction is real!) I only saw plain patterns lacking personality, so I gave up. I resigned myself to just going with the ole “pull up the shirt and stealthy yank the boob out strategy.” At least the baby would be my human boob shield…

The shot above is what I got when I searched “nursing shirts.” What do they have in common?

They suck! All of them, they suck! (No pun intended.) Especially the last one! The universal appeal approach leaves zero appeal. Just because I’m breastfeeding doesn’t mean I want to look like a frumpy-boring-mom… (Rant over).

Recently, though, I came across the most badass nursing shirts on the market (imho), and I had to get the scoop. The brand is AndOutComeTheBoobs, run by two punk moms, Hannah and April. Their store on Etsy currently features band shirts including Fang, The Subhumans, and Rancid, as well as some cultural references like Star Wars and A Christmas Story, with strategic zippered openings. 

AndOutComeTheBoob’s Etsy shop is a stark contrast from my google search above. Their tagline is, “helping nursing parents reclaim their punk identities one nursing shirt at a time!”

In this article we’ll go over their story and show some of their offerings which we think are fun to follow even if you don’t have boobs or a baby (or both) and never will.

Keeping The Punk Identity

The brand started after Hannah had her first child. Like me, she was frustrated with the selection of breastfeeding tops. “I found that wearing the clothes that were readily available to me on the market just exacerbated those feelings of not feeling like I had any control over my body…. I think a lot of punks in particular, but this is applicable to anyone who kind of has a sense of their identity and they share it with their appearance, we’re very used to making statements with our clothing, or with our hair, our piercings, or tattoos.”

A mom on their Instagram page expresses her style wearing one of their shirts.

And Out Came the Scissors

Hannah’s friend, April, offered to convert some of her own shirts into nursing shirts, and then they decided to create the Etsy store. They started out with big name bands like Blink 182, rather than their specific taste in music, upcycling a lot of shirts from Ebay and friends. The two tested prototypes and got feedback from parents who were currently nursing so the placement of zippers and openings would function well.

Most Shirts Are One-offs, With Some Exceptions

Here’s a limited-edition shirt by Tattoo Betty who did a design for the shop:

Also, their signature shirt, a play of words based on Rancid’s Album Cover “And Out Come the Wolves,” is limited edition, and has just been reprinted. It will go on sale soon with an expanded size range in all sizes XS – 5X.

Hannah says, “We are big Rancid fans. We’ve seen them many, many, many times. My dad’s actually in a band (called Cock Sparrer) and they played with Rancid a bunch. So we actually got to know the guys a little bit, and they’re aware of what we’re doing.”

New Designs On The Horizon

They are always coming out with new collections, and are thinking of commissioning a comic book artist to draw some shirts for a future collection. A look at their Instagram page will show you what they’re working on. There may be some more based on the Tattoo Betty design…

Not Just Fashion, But A Philosophy

As for breastfeeding in public, Hannah thinks cultural perceptions can contribute to challenges women face when they want to breastfeed: “If you’re making women breastfeed in toilets and bathrooms and we’re making it hard for people to pump at work and keep their kids on breast milk…. The more we can normalize it, the more we can get it into day-to-day Pop Culture and TV shows, it becomes the norm.”

Prioritizing Your Kids Is The Most Punk Rock Of All

I asked Hannah if she thought moms could be cool and she said, “There is something super punk rock about not giving a shit about who sees your boobs when you’re breastfeeding your child. Because that’s your priority. I think that the parents I’ve met who have that attitude of just you know, when you put your kids first then everything else comes second, including what other people think about you. So there is nothing cooler, I think.”

No matter what your brand of “cool” is, they can make it. They take custom orders, and can turn your favorite shirt into a nursing shirt for you. 

(Please check out the two links directly below)

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