The journey of a local sock producer, PT Soka Cipta Niaga, from becoming a product to having its own factory is not easy. One of the founders initially started by selling export leftover socks in front of the mosque.
This was stated by the Director of International and Inter-Institutional Relations of PT Soka Cipta Niaga, Helma Agustiawan.
"Interestingly, the beginning of the business of producing Soka socks from selling on the overhang was in the 2000s. It was done by one of the founders of Soka, at that time in one of the mosques in Bandung. Usually at the mosque there are moments on Sundays and Saturdays there are recitations, So it started from there," he said.
Then, the formation of this Soka company in 2011 because the market for these socks is quite large. Helma revealed that the target consumers range from recitation mothers, umrah, hajj participants, to school children.
"Because initially it started from an overhang from a street vendor to become a five-star or middle-class class, more or less. The need for Muslim socks in particular is very large. We enter a very specific production for Muslim women, recitation mothers, hajj umrah, and school children," he explained.
Helman said that now Soka products are working with a textile company from Switzerland, HeiQ. With this collaboration, Soka obtains environmentally friendly raw materials from vegetable sources.
With this collaboration, Soka received halal certification from MUI. Soka became the first halal-certified textile company in the world.
"In general, textile raw materials use mostly pork oil, but in collaboration with HeiQ, we get components that come from vegetable ingredients. So we get halal certification, the technology is also directly from HeiQ," he explained.
With this collaboration, Soka received halal certification from MUI. Soka became the first halal-certified textile company in the world.
"In general, textile raw materials use mostly pork oil, but in collaboration with HeiQ, we get components that come from vegetable ingredients. So we get halal certification, the technology is also directly from HeiQ," he explained.
How to outsmart it, Soka has also penetrated into other products. Such as clothes, underwear, to the shroud made of cotton. Soka products, now have penetrated into various countries ranging from Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Australia,
"We also have distributors and resellers throughout Indonesia as well as in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, southern Thailand, there are also quite a lot of Muslims, we like to export to Australia there. Now what the government is directing is to enter the Middle East and also Africa which is a non-market. which is being developed by the government," he said.
