Homies: the comfortable fashion that competes with Versace in Marbella

Puerto Banús, the most luxurious area of ​​Marbella, is home to Versace, Hermès or Dolce & Gabbana stores. Giants of the fashion world that coexist with the establishment of a local brand, Homies Marbella. The firm has made its way from comfortable garments designed by its founders, thirty-something Itziar Fuentes and Juan Manuel Fernández. What for this duo started in 2014 as a joke, publishing a t-shirt on the social networks of their communication agency, has today become a flourishing business. They approached 2.5 million in turnover in 2019, a figure that fell more than half in 2020 due to the pandemic. Always in profits, in 2021 they were around 1.5 million in sales and they expect to reach two million in 2022 thanks to their commercial push in the Middle East and celebrities such as Ana Antic, Georgina Rodríguez,Alice Campello or the footballers Álvaro Morata and Ivan Rakitic wear their clothes.

Fuentes and Fernández made themselves known in Marbella managing the brand image of hospitality and leisure companies such as Naô or the Mosh Group. When they published the image of that first shirt on their networks, everyone in their close circle wanted theirs. They invested 500 euros to produce 50. "They were sold in two days," recalls Fuentes. The benefits gave for a new print run, which was also sold out. Then they expanded to pants, caps, cell phone cases. It worked. On the rise, they decided to open a temporary store in Puerto Banús during the summer of 2017. "For us it was a dream," emphasizes the entrepreneur. The bet went so well that they decided to keep it - there it continues - and in 2018 they slowed down at the communication agency to focus all their attention on Homies Marbella.

They did not know then that shortly after they would receive a call from Princess Deemah Bint Mansour Bin Saud Alsaud to invite them to open a temporary space (pop up) in her boutique in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "One of the best experiences of our life," says Fuentes. Since then, the brand has had an idyll with the Middle East, with points of sale in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The expansion, yes, was cut off by the coronavirus. "It was a blow, but we have survived and now we are growing again," says the businesswoman. The brand plans to expand its catalog to grow in the European and Spanish markets. In fact, they will open a temporary store in Madrid next spring. They also want to delve into online sales and have even implemented payment with cryptocurrencies.

Most of their clothes are priced between 100 and 200 euros.

They are collections of comfortable clothing with urban and sporty style.

The designs are made by the company's team - it has a dozen workers - and the production is carried out in Portugal.