The interview in print.
Textilia magazine, autumn 2026 issue “Smart retailing”, pages 12–17. Summarised by SKUU. The quotes are Djulan Gémesi's own words, in the original Dutch.
“Wij lossen het out-of-stock-probleem op”
From elite judo to entrepreneurship
Djulan Gémesi tells Textilia he entered an elite judo programme at 12 and competed for the Dutch team. Judo taught him persistence: you fall, and you get back up. At 16 he moved from elite sport to what he calls elite entrepreneurship. He started his first company in 2020, a multibrand webshop he built with a team of ten over five years.
Why SKUU exists
He saw online retailers run into out-of-stock more and more often, and went looking for a way to still sell a product a shop no longer had on the shelf. The idea worked better than he expected, and nobody offered it yet while the demand was there. Since July 2025 he has worked on SKUU full time.
What the name means
SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, the smallest unit in retail: usually a size, a colour or a variant. SKUU adds a second U for United, because the platform unites those units across shops.
Why retail needs it
Gémesi sees the market and the shopper changing at once, driven by dominant marketplaces and trend-driven buying. He says he feels responsible for being the innovation retailers and brands need to stay relevant, and that his goal with SKUU is to solve out-of-stock worldwide.
“Ik heb een groot verantwoordelijkheidsgevoel”
How it works
When an item is out of stock in a shop or webshop, SKUU's algorithm searches the connected network for another retailer or brand that has exactly the same product. The order is then delivered through that partner, behind the scenes. It works in every direction: when another webshop runs out of a size you deliver that order, and when you run short a partner delivers for you.
“Zo hoeft niemand meer ‘nee’ te verkopen.”
An add-on, not a replacement
To retailers who prefer to stick with what they know, he says he understands why that feels safe. The customer still buys from the webshop they already know, also when the size is not there. SKUU does not replace buying, and it does not replace the craft behind a good collection or a strong assortment.
“SKUU vervangt de inkoop niet, wij zijn een waardevolle add-on op wat een retailer al heel goed zelf kan en doet”
The first connections
The first retailer and the first brand SKUU connected were Paul Warmer and Posa. Gémesi calls it a successful business case: the out-of-stock problem between them was solved and they reach a sell-through of almost 100%. The network has grown since, so stock gaps are now also filled between retailers. The most recent partner he names is Berden Fashion. The focus is the Benelux for now, with international ambition.
The team
He describes the culture in one word: elite sport. Commerce, finance and technology each have a senior who sets the strategy, the ‘Gray Foxes’, with a layer of young talent, the ‘jonge honden’, doing the execution. Asked why the team is all men, he says SKUU looked for the best candidate for each role every time and that the outcome is coincidence, adding that the team at his previous company was almost entirely women.
“Ik ben trots op en dankbaar voor het team dat we binnen één jaar tijd hebben opgezet, we zijn complementair aan elkaar”
Always on
He says he works weeks of more than 80 hours. To clear his head he alternates running and strength training, and he likes to start the day with his own version of the Murph workout: a mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and another mile.
What comes in 2027
Next year is about accelerating and scaling. SKUU plans to raise its second funding round in England and use it to build out the network in Europe, and Gémesi is moving to London for it. His advice to the next generation of entrepreneurs is two words he borrows from Denzel Washington, ‘fall forward’: learn from the moments that go against you and keep going.
