Sojo App – so an app which allows you to repair, mend, shorten your clothes without having to leave the house. And in just a few seconds. It sounds like a dream, but it’s not.
Thanks to the innovative intuition of Josephine Philips, a twenty-three year old English graduate in physics and philosophy, from January 2021 Sojo App is a reality. In a world polluted by fast fashion (Boohoo reported that UK sales increased by 50% in 2020), Sojo App is an innovative way to revive clothes that would otherwise remain forgotten in the closet or, even worse, would be thrown into a landfill.
“Clothing alterations and repairs, made easy”, it says on the app’s homepage, and it really is. Using Sojo App is very easy. Just enter your postcode and decide which local tailor seems suitable for your request by selecting the service you need. Once the order has been processed, a bicycle courier collects the garment, which is then returned, ready to wear, within five days. Prices are set by individual tailors and vary between 12 and 40 pounds.
On the app you can see the photo and read the story of the professional you are addressing. “I personally like to know who I’m supporting when buying. I didn’t want customers to feel detached from the business they were supporting just because they were doing it on their phone,” explains Josephine Philips.
Sojo App, an intuition and its development
The clothing workers are exploited by some fast fashion companies, and Josephine soon realized this. “I couldn’t support brands that relied on an oppressive business structure and strategy to be successful. For this reason, I started looking for different ways to shop, on second-hand apps like Depop or from sustainable brands.”
“I had moved away from fast fashion and had been buying almost exclusively vintage for a while, but often the clothes weren’t the right size for me,” Josephine Philips tells Refinery29. “I wanted to modify them to fit me, but I didn’t know how to sew. I thought it would be great if I could do it with my phone, in just a few simple clicks.”
Nowadays, every stage of the fashion supply chain should be reinvented with sustainable development in mind. From the materials made; to the farmers who produce them, the dyeing processes and the factories that transform them; passing through consumer attitudes and the way clothes are disposed of. “We must make sure that all consumers feel part of the problem and understand that, even with small gestures, it is possible to do something”, says Josephine Philips.
By connecting customers to local tailors, Sojo is also a great resource for those who don’t live near a tailor or can’t leave the house. “Many of these tailors have decades of experience and the services they provide are of the highest level, but the younger consumer groups do not know them”, says Josephine, explaining how her goal is also to revive a traditional profession such as that of tailor. “Their activities and their experience deserve to be supported”.
Today the app is only available in London, in zones 1 and 2, but will soon expand to Brighton and Bristol as well.
