It’s hard to believe we started MM almost eight years ago. Ten if you count our custom years. The world was a completely different place. 2016-2018 was the e-commerce startup boom. There were many more rules and standards when starting a luxury goods based company. Or there appeared to be. Covid wasn’t even on the list of possibilities, and everything was competitive in a different way. Things I was so stressed out about don’t matter at all anymore. I thought it would be fun to go down memory lane to reflect on what I would have done differently, and what we shouldn’t have stressed about at all.

Packaging

When we launched MM, we shipped with heavy, expensive boxes. Were they fancy, yes. Did they correlate at all with the average size of our dresses? Nope. They were so expensive to import and we had to pay our distribution center an extra fee to build each box. It got worse. Because they weren’t filled with product in a snug way, they were getting really damaged in transit. While we had the best intentions of making a beautiful presentation, it was heavy, expensive and time consuming. We now have beautiful navy mailers that sleek and light, a dream to ship.

Distribution

In 2018-2020, it wasn’t common to be scrappy in luxury. To be taken seriously, you needed a Warby Parker level of systems, no matter the size of your business. In reflection, we didn’t quite need a distribution center when we launched. We were selling through product so quickly and our factories were in NYC. It ended up delaying our calendar by a full week (an eternity for us) and we were shipping everything twice. Once to distribution and again to the customer. We eventually got a lot leaner and moved distribution to NY.

An office

I was very worried when we launched that we didn’t have a fancy showroom. So. Stressed. Fashion can be competitive, as we know. In 2018, everyone was having formal presentations twice a year to be on calendar to get published in digitals and magazines. I was a fashion designer, not a real estate mogul. With time and confidence, I learned our quality would stand our more than any fancy presentation in an office. What sets us apart is our product, not our marketing budget. I’m now so proud how we’ve grown the business in such a quality first direction.

Fashion Show Calendar

I once met with a publicist in 2017 who told me a pre-order business model would never work because I couldn’t stay on calendar with the Vogue Runway schedule and that would tank my business. To me, having a crystal ball into what product customers respond to before committing to inventory was a responsible business model. To them, it was weird and out of sync. I tried for maybe a month to figure out how to align with that calendar. I quickly realized we had to shoot/show/pitch six months in advance before pre-ordering to the customer. The math didn’t math. Now, looking back, I’m so grateful I didn’t care about the calendar because it’s made our business so much faster and more fun. To be flexible is to be successful.

Shopping Bags

Pre-launch, we ordered 5,000+ shopping bags along with the rest of our packaging. Do we have a store? No. Do we ship product with a shopping bag? No. My distribution center called and said, we have no use for these and we’re not storing them. So I did what any good midwesterner would do living in New York City and I called my mom. We still store them at her house to this day and she sends us cartons when we need them for trunk shows or VIP gift deliveries. You live and learn, lol!

I’d love to hear from you any memories you have from our early years. Whether it’s your first purchase or how you found us, please share! And anything you’d love to see drop in the coming months, or any other MM dreams at all. We couldn’t have built our beautiful brand without your support. I can’t thank you enough.

xx,

MM