Meet the woman behind it all. Meet Galina Befort.

We share our products, our fresh news, our upcoming arrivals… but we never revealed how it all started.

She is a mother, a business woman, a corporate mind with a family heart.

Meet Galina, the founder and CEO of Postskriptum.

Before the company hits a new milestone and as a celebration of Galina’s birthday, we are yet to reveal insights on how it all started with exclusive behind the scenes.

From scratch, from an entrepreneur mind and a strong will to keep going… no matter what, Postskriptum was born more than 20 years ago.

How did it all start?

If you take the A 7 in Westhausen and take a look to the east into the industrial area "In der Waage", you will notice a fashionable, anthracite-coloured company building with a large "Postskriptum" company logo on it.

Behind the facade hides one of the most exciting entrepreneurial stories.

Since November 2014, the company headquarters, as well as the warehouses and trans-shipment halls, have been located near the A7.

‘Up to 10 tons of fashion goods leave our warehouse on a daily basis, and we handle around 30 tons of shoes, pants, dresses, jackets, T-shirts and other garments per month," says Galina Befort, who is, up-to-date, overwhelmed by the exponential growth of her company.

And this couldn’t have been done without 30+ dedicated employees and the commercial relationships that Galina had build with the prestigious European clothing and footwear manufacturers.

From a small trade shop in the living room.. to a warehouse.
"In 2003 I started with a small trade shop in my own living room and later in a rented warehouse to store cosmetic that I bought from the Internet and distribute them to Russia."

Bumpy rides but experiences full of gratitude ‘Parts of the goods were lost along the way. And the delivered eyeshadows were completely unsellable in Russia.’

She had to redirect her business and step-up: ‘Every woman needs tights’.

A vendor offered her a couple of leftovers online for 50 cents. Galina Befort had placed an order of 5,000 pieces at once. Instead of the expected black and beige tights, she had received only pink, red, green, orange.

They are repackaged, shipped to Russia and, surprisingly, found a rapid ‘trendy’ sales.

It was a success… but on the third attempt! She then met a transport and entrepreneur from Hamburg, who has been waiting for returns from the Otto shipping business. She can get both pallets with mixed goods at a low price: ‘it's a stroke of luck!’

The market’s demand for leftover items and surplus textiles lead her to the idea of opening a small shop.

And so in 2004 she opened a small shop in order to be able to serve the domestic customers, along with the Russian market, affordable goods.

‘But nothing is earned with the retail trade’ she says. She has to put the word out there… She places an advertisement on the Internet with a slogan ‘Beautiful and affordable goods for the Russian market against brokerage commission!’ Promptly, an interested Russian dealer contacted her and was ready to place an order with big quantities.

However the condition was that to give up retail and only work on this type of brokerage business. She agreed.
The self-made Woman entered the wholesale business in 2005; New, larger spaces are needed for the future textile export business.  

She found a big warehouse in Westhausen; ‘For the first 10 pallets of Otto's surplus goods that was more of a joke’ says Galina, with an emotional laugh.

But after a quarter of a year, the warehouse with textile remnants is full of pallets, and this is when she hired her very first employee.

In 2007, at the time of the founding of the GmbH, Postskriptum employed 10 full time employees.

In 2010, the operation was spread over two locations in Westhausen, then a year later, they moved into a bigger building.

As soon as she moved in there, her vision soon became clearer: ‘Future growth is only possible at a one single location and in our own premises.’

The Postskriptum of Today.
Fast forward to today, Postskriptum supplies customers in more than 50 countries.

Most goods are sold to the Middle-East, Eastern Europe, and still to Russia and the CIS countries.

Meanwhile, big names in the fashion industry such as Betty Barclay, Gerry Weber, Zalando, Tom Tailor, and Amazon, were part of the company’s chain of supplies.

Even though in the beginning it was mainly textiles that was traded under Postskriptum, today half of the merchandise traded consist of footwear.

‘When I was thinking about how to name the firm, I was on the road and had went into a tunnel with thoughts filling my head… I left the tunnel with the name: Postskriptum’.

Galina’s inspiration to keep going
‘In addition to being a beautiful fashion business, it is also about the sustainability, long before it became a trend.

We give clothes and shoes a second life… We make the customer happy that he can buy a quality and fashionable item for an fair price. And make the brand known in a country where the manufacturer is not yet represented’.

Many rollercoaster of emotions, failures and stepping up, motives and a dedicated team surrounding her… Galina’s Postskriptum now generates millions of sales and this couldn’t have been possible without her hidden force to simply keep going.