SOKO Kenya

SOKO runs an ethical clothing manufacturing unit and community Trust in rural Kenya. SOKO was set up in 2009 with the aim of providing the fashion industry with a manufacturing unit with social and environmental issues at the core of its business. SOKO now employs 75 people within it's purpose-built eco factory.

SOKO Community Trust was founded in 2013. The work of the Trust came from seeing needs amongst the employees that could not be met within a business setting. The aim of the Trust is to provide people with the practical skills needed to see sustainable improvements in their lives and lift themselves out of poverty. However, as the Trust has developed, certain issues have arisen and therefore new initiatives have been created to help address the current needs of the community. These range from a WASH programme, to address the serious drought in the area and lack of stable sanitation infrastructure in schools, to eye clinics, which supplement the high cost of tests, glasses and more costly procedures, as well as our ‘Pipeline Roadshow’. The ‘Pipeline Roadshow’ is a multi-faceted programme focusing on training community members on basic financial literacy and business skills, as well as family health to support community members in lifting themselves out of poverty.

SOKO has received amazing recognition for its work with clothes made by SOKO being worn by influential people such as Michelle Obama and Elle MacPherson. SOKO has been featured extensively on the Internet and in printed press such as Vogue, Grazia, i-D, Elle. SOKO has had a paper published about it’s work by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

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Entrepreneurial, Off The Grid, Social Impact, Exciting Product