Carolina López Cruz: “Women put so much pressure on ourselves, wondering whether we’re achieving enough.”

Carolina López Cruz is the founder of Cala de la Cruz, the Colombia-based resortwear brand that has steadily become celebrated for its larger-than-life prints and saturated colour palette. But what does it take to guide a business as it grows from a team of three to 100? Perspective, belief and a distinct point of view, she tells Natalie Hammond.

I initially studied fashion design at university, but something never quite clicked. In my second year, my roommate took me to an open house in the fibres department, where I discovered textile design. I realised that what I loved most about clothes was the print, colour and techniques that brought them to life. I changed my major that same day and graduated as a textile designer.

I always knew I wanted to build something of my own. I grew up watching my parents run their own business, and I’ve always had my own illustration style that I wanted to explore. Before taking the leap, I worked on the print team at Urban Outfitters, where I gained invaluable industry experience.

After eight years living abroad, I decided to return to Colombia, both for love–my then-boyfriend, now husband, was moving there too–and to see if I could build a career around print design. I knew I wanted to work in womenswear, and the idea for Cala de la Cruz began with swimwear. Colombia already had a strong swimwear market, but I saw an opportunity to offer something different: pieces to wear beyond the beach... dresses, trousers, tops and pareos.

I began sourcing mills that could produce small batches of fabric featuring my own prints and Cala de la Cruz was born. Our bold, oversized graphics and unexpected colour combinations stood out in a market where that aesthetic was less common. People sometimes assumed we were a European brand, which I found amusing, but that distinct point of view set us apart.

From the beginning, I wanted the brand to have a very distinct point of view. It would be much easier to play it safe with conventional colour combinations or smaller, more discreet prints, but I think what makes a brand interesting is having the courage to do things its own way.

I also think that spirit comes from the way we work as a team. Cala de la Cruz grew very organically, and we’ve tried to preserve that way of doing things as the business has grown. Fashion can be an incredibly demanding and stressful industry, so I believe in approaching the challenges with a certain lightness, trusting the people around you and finding solutions without losing your mind in the process. In a way, the way we work reflects the clothes we make: we take what we do seriously, but we never want to lose the joy in it.

We started noticing that women were wearing Cala de la Cruz for so much more than vacation. They were wearing our pieces to dinners, parties, weddings and all kinds of occasions, which made us realise that the brand had the potential to live beyond the beach. It was about taking the elements that define Cala de la Cruz–our prints, colour combinations, silhouettes and playful approach to dressing–and translating them into different categories. Whether it’s a swimsuit, an everyday dress, an evening gown or a coat, we want there to be a recognisable Cala attitude running through everything we create.

I’m not someone who wears a lot of print in my everyday life. You’ll usually find me in jeans and a white or black tank top, so it takes a very special piece to get me out of that uniform. But there are two pieces [in the AW26 collection] I can’t stop thinking about. The first is our Savannah Mesh Dress in the Flogot print, a miniature floral design where overlapping flowers create unexpected layers of colour. I can wear it over swimwear at the beach or layer it with a slip dress for dinner. The second is the Lugo Velvet Dress in our Vitra print, which I actually got for my upcoming birthday. The colour combination is divine, and the velvet feels incredibly soft and comfortable.

One of my favourite and proudest moments is always when we finish a collection and finally get to see everything come to life. There’s so much work, experimentation and problem solving behind every piece, from developing the prints to getting the colours and silhouettes just right. Seeing it all come together is incredibly rewarding. It’s a moment when you can step back, look at what we’ve created as a team and appreciate how far we’ve come.

Becoming a mum has brought more balance into my life. I genuinely enjoy working, and before becoming a mum, I would often stay at the office well beyond working hours. Now, I have a little person waiting for me at home, so I’m much more conscious of my time and make a real effort to leave the office by a certain hour. Motherhood has taught me that you can be completely passionate about your work while also making space for other things that matter just as much.

Having a bigger team has also made a huge difference. Over the years, we’ve brought in some incredible people to lead different areas of the business, which has allowed me to delegate more; I’ve learned that building a business also means building a team that can grow with you. For me, balance isn’t about working less; it’s about being more intentional with my time and being present wherever I am, whether that’s at the office or with my family.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t possibly know everything, and you don’t need to. You have to be willing to learn, adapt, ask questions and trust the people around you. Running a fashion business means that every day brings a new challenge. A fabric doesn’t perform the way you expected, a shipment arrives differently than planned, or you discover that you need a certification you didn’t even know existed. Sometimes it feels like every day is an exam, and you’re constantly being tested on things you’ve never dealt with before.

Colombia has a very inspiring community of women in fashion, and many brands are founded and led by women. Seeing them build successful businesses has always been very encouraging to me. Entrepreneurship is challenging enough on its own, so I feel lucky to be surrounded by women who are creating, taking risks and building something of their own. I hope we can continue inspiring more women to do the same.

I want women to stop comparing themselves so much to one another. I feel we tend to look at what other people are doing to reassure ourselves that we’re on the right track. We can put so much pressure on ourselves by looking at other women and wondering whether we’re doing enough, achieving enough or getting things right.

I’ve definitely experienced this myself, both personally and with Cala de la Cruz. Sometimes I look at another female-founded brand and see all the things they’ve achieved that we haven’t, and I start to feel as though we’re falling behind. It’s easy to lose sight of how much you’ve accomplished when you’re constantly measuring yourself against someone else. We all have different circumstances, priorities and timelines. When I start feeling that I’m not doing enough, I try to take a step back and reflect on my own journey: how much I’ve grown personally and how far we’ve come with Cala de la Cruz. It helps me feel grounded and reminds me that progress looks different for everyone.

Shop the edit: Cala De La Cruz