Medo Diet founded her own multi-brand Homegirl Store for womenswear in 2018, Homegirl, on Munich’s Reichenbachstrasse. Four years later, she moved the shop, which is dedicated to Scandinavian design, across the street and doubled the sales area to 85 square meters.
The owner never dreamed of opening her own Homegirl Store. She “slid into” the situation and had no previous knowledge of the fashion trade apart from her production work for the Munich streetwear provider BSTN (formerly Beastin).
In addition to the Homegirl Store, Diet and her team of three are currently setting up a sales agency that has represented the Danish bag brand Silfen since the SS25 season. The team will now also present these at the order days in Düsseldorf. In the interview, Diet reveals which pieces are doing well, why Copenhagen is more important to her than Berlin and why she only starts the order season later.
Homegirl relies on design that lasts for several seasons. What are your wardrobe musts?
A great pair of jeans that are of good quality is a “go to”. No matter what season or what piece you want to develop in a different fashion, the jeans remain consistent. There are different silhouettes for jeans, but you definitely need a good pair of straight jeans.
Which brands are timeless for you?
When it comes to jeans, we sell Won Hundred pretty well. They do incredibly great washes, good cuts – modern, but not in any way crazy.
And apart from jeans?
Our Homegirl Store has evolved a bit because we’ve been across the street for two years and have expanded. One of my favorite brands because they have great basics is Mads Nørgaard from Copenhagen. I’ve had them since day one. They don’t always reinvent themselves, but there are new cuts and colors as well as great fabrics. You can combine them chicly, but also to create a more casual look.
What about German brands in your portfolio?
In the beginning I had a few really cool, small brands that came from Germany – many from Berlin. But at some point they were too slow for the retail that I now have in this size – collections too small and too few new pieces between the two main collections. People here always want to see something new and that doesn’t mean that it has to be fast fashion at all, it just means that they always need a different look and different pieces. That was simply not possible with the two to a maximum of four collections from the smaller brands. That’s why we moved away from that, but we still sell Munich jewelry designers as well as a local bag label. Everything else is now almost just Copenhagen and a little bit of Sweden.
So it’s more about the regularity of delivery dates?
Exactly, the brands I work with also have four collections and the associated orders, Homegirl Store but they deliver monthly. They are also relatively quick to spot trends. If something comes along now, there is the option of reordering it. I actually change clothes every two weeks. This is the only way we can create lasting change on the site.
Why is change so important for your customers?
Especially with this fast-moving generation we find ourselves in, it is important to be quick before the trends are over. Homegirl Store That doesn’t mean that the pieces only hang on the surface for two weeks, but you always have to present them differently, in a different color, and somehow offer people an experience, especially if they want to come more often than once in three months.
And what trends are you currently following?
Homegirl Store I deal a lot with the Copenhagen style. We sell a lot of maxi skirts, denim shorts and had long cowboy boots. Now we’re at kitten heels. Overall, we are very fashionable and follow trends, but we try to sell styles that don’t just last one season and are a little more independent of time.
Do you have anything in mind for SS25?
Since I haven’t ordered yet, Homegirl Store I’m not 100 percent committed yet. But it will certainly become less feminine and, especially among the Scandinavians, a bit more boyish and broader.
How do you deal with the unsettled weather?
We’ve been trying not to focus too much on the different seasons for a while now. Of course we have a spring-summer, a summer, a fall-winter, a winter, but because the weather in Copenhagen is always the same as it is here now, they have exactly that in every season . There’s always a light knit, long trousers and a long blazer to throw over.
Does this also make your planning easier?
It’s relatively grateful because you get everything and I already write after seasons. I try to write as much in the summer season as in the spring-summer season. There are people for whom spring-summer and fall-winter are more important. I write much more specifically in the summer for the summer and only put what suits the weather on the surface. I have a lot of summer pieces that might have been on sale if I had had them on sale. But they are only coming to the area now that the weather is getting nicer. Of course, some of them are already on sale online Homegirl Store, but the customers who come to me just want to buy something nice – the cool shorts or the skirt that suits the nice weather.
That’s why we try to have pieces that always work all year round, plus sandals and shorts in summer. On the other hand, I avoid winter jackets and prefer to have a nice coat that can be worn in fall or spring, or a warm bomber jacket. But I try to avoid these really bad winter parts.
Which fashion weeks and trade fairs do you go to for orders?
I’m in Düsseldorf and Berlin because a few agencies have really cool brands and I’m currently recording one or two new labels. Homegirl Store But the most important thing for me is Copenhagen, where I can visit our existing brands in the showroom and order in a quiet environment. But I will also be at CIFF for a day or two because a few of my brands are represented there and I can get inspiration.
For some retailers, Copenhagen is quite late for ordering. What do you say to that?
I was at Seek in Berlin and wrote for two labels, but I wasn’t really into the subject yet. Homegirl Store Because I have so many Copenhagen brands, things naturally start much later for me than for others. It also gives me more time and I can deal with it later. Now the season is slowly coming to an end, we’re starting the sale and then I’ll be a little more relaxed in August.
Is there room for new brands alongside your existing partners?
I currently have two brands in mind that I would like to integrate into our portfolio. I also looked at one of them last year. I usually observe brands for a summer and winter season before I actually start ordering them. But I try to get involved at the fair, just stroll around and get inspired. Sometimes unexpected labels come along that surprise you.
Will they still be observed for two seasons or can it sometimes happen faster?
If I now say: “Wow, it’s really great” and it’s a cool shoe or accessory brand, you can think about it, but when it comes to clothing, I also look at the old collections before I order Homegirl Store something and then In the end I only have one season in the store.
Of course, Homegirl Store brands can have a good season and a bad season, but I also want my customers to have a longer relationship with the labels. I want them to see that I stand behind what I buy and I always need a story for that. I think it’s cool when people who have a similar vibe to me do this. And that’s why it’s important to me to wait a bit and see whether it’s a good fit for us.
In addition to our own store, there is now also the Homegirl Agency…
We’ve been thinking about expanding for a while now because the store is doing very well. However, in the next step we cannot expand the Homegirl Store. Of course we could put a lot of money into the online shop and expand it further, but I don’t have the feeling that that’s my core business either. Because we are well networked with other retailers overall, we are taking a look at this area.
Now we have our first season as an agency for a bag brand, which we also have in our store, and this is the first time I’m in the other role – as a sales representative – in Düsseldorf. The exchange and being so close to the industry is also a nice balance when you’re in the store here every day.
And then the portfolio is expanded bit by bit?
First I wanted to test how it feels and how much work it ultimately is. We’re not a huge team with three people. But of course, once we have the first season behind us, Homegirl Store we will definitely start looking for a few new labels with the agency.
How are you positioned in Düsseldorf?
With our bag brand we don’t need a lot of space and so we stayed with a friend who also manages a brand in the showroom on Kaiserswerther Straße. But we also just wanted to see whether Düsseldorf was interesting for us at all, since as a retailer I’m not a fan of going to so many showrooms in Germany. For the brands we currently have in mind for the agency, online appointments to meet in Copenhagen or drive to the stores would be enough, but we also just want to take the experience with us and then look for the coming seasons.
And what about the homeboys?
I would argue I could do even better than buying women’s clothing. I love men’s clothing. Homegirl Store However, this would only be possible for me with a second store. I find it somehow difficult to hang both in one area. And then the second shop would also have to be on the street so that we can trade it. Unfortunately there is currently no capacity for this. But of course, that’s always on my mind, also because it’s a shame that there is less choice for men than for women.