Diary of an Underwear Dream (Chapter 6) The Catalog Catastrophe Few people know that we actually started off as a catalog business—it was a very short-lived fling! Coming from a direct marketing background, Mariela and I were inspired by the storytelling magic of the J.Crew catalog. But launching our own? That was pure madness. Imagine this: you need a massive budget to print a solid run, flawless products, and a top-notch photo shoot and mailing list—all while working with a startup budget that was anything but massive. Oh, and did I mention we had zero experience? We were total amateurs, figuring it out as we went, armed with big dreams and a lot of trial and error. Still, we were determined. Our shoot was set- until the samples came back all wrong. We had hired a seamstress to bring our designs to life, but when I picked them up, nothing looked like it was supposed to. I ended up spending hours with her, reworking each piece until everything was just right. The tension was high, but we couldn’t let that stop us. Next came the hunt for a model. With a shoestring budget of $150, we roamed South Beach the day before the shoot—on the lookout for someone “cute and down to earth.” Agencies snickered at our budget, but in the end, we managed to negotiate a day rate of $500. The shoot took place at my friend Xavi’s adorable beach bungalow. Mariela’s guy friend even stepped in as our unexpected male model, adding his own quirky charm to the scene. Our photographer—a really cool guy—was a bit baffled by our vision. Accustomed to the provocative norm of lingerie shoots, he found our idea of a model casually making pancakes in a nightie both revolutionary and deliciously offbeat. Despite all the chaos and curveballs, we mailed the catalog a couple of weeks later. It went out without a hitch—but it wasn’t the runaway success we had envisioned. Reality hit fast: our grand plan wasn’t quite working, and we found ourselves in desperate need of a pivot.