Even today, with all the tools and resources we have at our fingertips and the ability of anyone to reach a global audience from their bedroom, starting a brand is hard. Street fashion is littered with labels that are here today and gone tomorrow – enduring relevance is the characteristic every brand is trying desperately to grasp.Ā
One Melbourne business that has not only endured but thrived, all while playing a vital role in tackling youth homelessness, is HoMie. Born from a Facebook group in 2015, the streetwear label and social enterprise uses profits to make lasting impacts for young people experiencing homelessness.
The best example of this is the HoMie Pathway Alliance – an 8 month paid training and retail internship designed to equip young people with the skills they need to secure ongoing employment.Ā
In addition to this, HoMie runs VIP shopping days once per month, where the HoMie retail flagship on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy is closed for the day to allow young people experiencing hardship to come and shop for free, get their hair cut, have lunch, and more.Ā
I recently had the chance to sit down with Marcus Crook, Co-Founder and Creative Director of HoMie, to ask him about HoMieās success, its impact, and whatās next.
Editorās Note: the below interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: For anyone who isn’t familiar, can you explain a bit more about what HoMie does?
A: HoMie was born out of curiosity, and a desire to decrease the stigmas surrounding homelessness. Community support from a Facebook group allowed it to grow into a pop-up retail space with clothing donations. During that time we decided to print our logo on some basic tees as a way to raise money (and keep the doors open). Now, it has turned into a Melbourne institution, doubling as a streetwear label and social enterprise with two distinct social impact programs – The HoMie Pathway Alliance and HoMieās VIP Shopping Days.Ā
Never in our wildest dreams did we envisage a stand-alone clothing brand, store & certified impactful retail program when we first started out. It has truly been a ājump in the deep endā attitude, as none of us had any prior business experience, but we were super passionate about having an impact, and we’ve learnt so much along the way.
Q: I know you’ve had a massive influence on the community, but can you quantify some of the impact you’ve had on the Melbourne community?
Since 2015, we’ve been able to support 1847 young people in Melbourne affected by homelessness or hardship through our VIP days and Pathway Alliance program. 8,968 items of brand- new clothing have been shopped for free by people who wouldnāt usually have the opportunity, and 32 young people have graduated from our eight-month paid internship with increased skills, confidence, and experiences to be more work-ready and better prepared for their future/s.Ā
We are so proud of all the young people who have been through our internship program-Ā they have all shown an incredible commitment in applying themselves, and have each gone on to thrive in their future careers/education.
Q: There’s this misconception that charitable stuff can’t also be cool. And it probably stems from in the old days anything charitable came from government programs which were inherently not cool. But you’ve completely flipped that. How important is your brand to your overall impact?
Being young and relatively inexperienced, we were probably a bit more cavalier in the early days and werenāt held back by any āred tape.ā This gave us a fair bit of creative licence, and we wanted to make something that would get our mates and people our age to start talking about the issue.Ā
The brand is so important to our overall operation- without profit, we aren’t able to provide the purpose component of our initiative, so it’s the main focus for me to be relevant, on-trend and innovative to keep the momentum going and continue to provide supported opportunities for young people. Weāve always been supported by and involved in arts and the music community, partnering with local artists for clothing designs or throwing parties with local DJs and bands.
Q: You work with some great long term partners, namely Champion and Nike. But you also had a collaboration with Disney recently. How did that come about?
We are so thankful to our partners in Hanes Brands and Retail Prodigy Group, who support our Pathway Alliance with employment opportunities in their stores. A huge contributing factor to the success of the program is that weāre able to offer job opportunities at such iconic brands as Champion and Nike. Hanes/Champion have also partnered with us more deeply throughout several components of business: we have an annual winter HoMie x Champion clothing collaboration, and all Champion excess, returns or faulty product goes to REBORN by HoMie, where we upcycle it into new garments. HoMie Creative also produces a lot of content for the Champion brand which is a massive win-win. It’s such a strong partnership, and weāre so thankful for all the support they have provided us over the years.Ā
As for Disney, that just came about a little bit by chance as I saw the GM Megan Sanders comment on an article that we were featured in and just reached out to her via Linkedin. One of those āif you don’t ask, you don’t getā type of situations. Disney has been awesome to partner with, again going above and beyond to support us as a business. It was, and still is, such a pinch myself moment, having grown up with Disney on the screens as a kid.
Q: You’ve got the retail store on Brunswick St, which for anyone who isn’t from Melbourne, is a real cultural hub. How important is the retail space for you, to be able to connect with your customers but also for your team members to get those valuable skills they need in retail?
We always knew we wanted to get out into the community, and it has been so incredible to be in the thriving hub of the Melbourne art scene. Offering job opportunities and our VIP shopping days for young people in such a central and accessible location is also super important to us. On the job training and education in such an iconic destination with busy foot traffic has really accelerated the development of the young people through the program.Ā Ā
Not only that, the shop space and building would go close to being one of best architectural Melbourne spaces (slightly biassed) with huge arch windows that the sun sets nicely on.
Q: Can you give us any inside word on what we might expect next from HoMie? I’m sure you’re working on some great stuff!Ā
Weāve just finalised our S/S and AW23 which is a huge milestone for us to be so far ahead- itās been a long seven-year slog to get into a position now where everything is planned and prepared well in advance: it opens the door for us to wholesale and expand, which is something that we are looking a lot more seriously at. There are some exciting collaborations and events bubbling away in the background. Every week, there’s new opportunities popping up which is so amazing to be so well supported by the community. Stay tuned!!!
Note: You can learn more about everything HoMie are doing by visiting their website here, or checking them out on Instagram here.Ā
