Soko is expanding beyond chemicals into consulting.
The Florence, Italy-based company sells a variety of products and treatments for the garment and fabric industry, but the chemical purveyor has always thought of going beyond that. Soko’s Innovation Hub, for example, merges technology with creativity and invites guests to express ideas and requests. Now, with the launch of its new service-based Projects Division, Soko is taking its considerable industry and supply chain expertise and offering a full-service business approach for both mill, garment producer and brand clients.
“The industry has gotten more complicated lately, and whether a brand needs help elevating its sustainable standards, finding an alternative fabric or a new technical treatment, our Projects Division is all about solving problems along the entire denim and non-denim journey,” said Matteo Urbini, managing director, Soko. “We’re about helping our partners find solutions.”
The new division aims to evaluate, analyze and seek the best solutions for each target brand, whether questions are posed from the partner directly, or suggested by Soko. “This may be a combination of washing process optimization with new and customized finishing techniques to achieve whatever is required,” he said. “No matter if the intention is to catch a new look on a specific fabric, a higher sustainability score in washing or a compliance standard, or just create a collection, the division is intended to work on a wide range of scope.”
The Projects Division can also serve as a conduit for different parts of the supply chain that might have had issues communicating in the past.
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Not everyone “speaks the same language” when it comes to industry partnerships and processes along the supply chain. “Sometimes our marketing and communication is not enough to speak to both a designer and production manager,” said Luca Braschi, Soko’s denim laundry expert and marketing technology manager. “I have to be much less technical with a designer or brand owner than with a production manager. So, with Soko’s Projects Division, we have to talk a different language [for each] and be able to find the key that lets them understand what we can do for them.”
The service solutions that the division offers can take several forms, mainly focusing on three areas—elevating expectations in sustainability, offering technical insight in chemical, process, equipment, etc., and providing overall inspiration, including aesthetics design.
“We understood that you have to consider all the parameters which are involved in denim production, and this is what is finally driving us a bit outside of being just chemical business,” said Urbini, who added that in no way is the existing chemical business being reduced or compromised. “The research and development that have always been Soko’s driving force will actually become even stronger and more autonomous, so that the chemical proposal will be increasingly specialized and selective in order to be able to respond to the growing challenges of the market.”
Soko’s Projects Division can help companies achieve higher sustainability scores in ways they might not have imagined, such as optimizing production processes that can save waste, improve sustainability and save time. “For example, if a brand wants to reduce water consumption by 70 percent, we provide, according to shades and looks and production plant, the most feasible and optimized process to achieve that target. We support the brand from development stage to bulk production.”
Based on Soko’s deep research on new and innovative products and processes, the company can help identify a range of options that perfectly boost the quality of the fabrics, answering a fabric producer’s need to show buyers their products, along with detailed report about the best compatibility of fabrics to certain washes or technologies.
Additionally, as designers always seek new ideas and story/concepts, Soko’s Projects Division enriches and spices up creative minds with new inputs and aesthetics.
With so many companies competing against each other on price, Soko goes a step further. “We want to provide service and solutions to our customers, because anyone can sell an item off a menu,” said Urbini. “We’re Italian so I’ll give you a food analogy. We don’t just want to sell you the eggs; we want to look at the entire baking process, then guide you how to make the whole cake.”