Vleeschouwer (pictured) started studying at the famed fashion department of the Antwerp arts academy, but soon discovered that she was, she says, a little too straight-laced to make the best of the experience. From there, she went to night classes in pattern making, where she was given some freelance work making patterns for maternity clothing. “I had a look around to see what was on the market, and I was in shock. Pregnancy fashion was usually stuck away in the basement of the shop. I never handed those patterns in. I used them to start my own business.”

Fragile started 20 years ago in a single shop in Antwerp selling hand-made clothing for pregnant women. Vleeschouwer was only 22, and the financing came from New Year money given to her by her grandmother and saved up over the years. According to her website, her aim was to provide “practical fashion which would make the pregnant woman beautiful and sensual. The round belly and the full bosom, the acme of femininity, had to be emphasised. With this, Fragile dissociated itself from the tent dresses and dungarees that dominated the limited pregnancy clothing supply”.

Since those modest beginnings, Fragile has gone on to open 25 sales points in Belgium, including two name stores (in Antwerp and Lier), a shop in the Hague and a shop-in-shop in Tokyo, as well as outlets in Korea, Jordan, the US, France and eight other European countries.

• Women entrepreneurs want to be able to keep track of their businesses as closely as possible after their pregnancy, according to a survey of 791 business women carried out by mabizz. About 5,000 business owners give birth every year in Belgium, and 93% of them would be in favour of parttime maternity leave. At present, self-employed women are allowed eight weeks of maternity leave divided into three weeks for the birth, and the other five weeks at a time of their choosing within the first six months. The women themselves would like to organise the eight weeks to suit their businesses – for example taking two days off a week.

www.fragile.be