Garment repair app Sojo secures £1.8 million in pre-seed funding

Clothing alterations and repair service Sojo has secured £1.8 million in pre-seed funding for its app.

The funding round, led by CapitalT and leading seed investors Ascension, includes participation from Simon Beckerman, Founder of Depop, Yael Gairola, Pangaia's former COO, Peter Hawkings, Vice President of Menswear at Tom Ford, Mustard Seed MAZE and Vertex Albion Capital.

Launched in 2021 by Josephine Philips, the London-based service allows users to connect with local seamster businesses through a bicycle delivery service.

In November 2021, Sojo teamed up with Ganni to offer free tailoring and repairs to all of its London-based customers.

The solutions-focused business is looking to expand on providing consumers with easy access to garment alterations and repairs, modernise the tailoring and clothing repair industry and addressing fashion's waste issue.

The investment will enable Sojo to scale up its team of five and further develop and take its offering nationwide. The service is currently only available in zones one and two in London, with seven new partnerships set to launch in Q2 of 2022

Josephine Philips, Founder and CEO of Sojo said: "It has been so incredible to see such a huge shift when it comes to consumer behaviour regarding sustainable fashion – like witnessing the huge rise of re-sale platforms like Depop.

"We are so excited to continue to drive circularity in the sector in a new way – through the repair and tailoring of our clothes. Having such a brilliant roster of investors onboard to enable us to have true scale and impact. Here’s to a future of clothes that are made to fit and made to last."

Janneke Niessen and Eva de Mol, Founding Partners at CapitalT added: "We need more circular solutions to minimise the environmental impact of our consumer journey. In the last two decades, we have extracted, processed, and consumed more material resources than ever — and yet we’re recirculating less than 10% of those resources globally. Especially in the fashion industry, the vast majority of processed materials end up in a landfill or waste incineration plant."