Vol.9

Worker leading to edible towels

IKEUCHI ORGANIC's main factory has acquired ISO 22000 certification, a food safety management system that is unprecedented in the world for a weaving factory. Mr. Sogabe spearheaded the acquisition of this certification. After working in towel product development and design, Mr. Sogabe has also been involved in the establishment of internal systems, and he is the person responsible for making IKEUCHI's slogan of "maximum safety and minimum environmental impact" a reality. In our interview, he answered our questions in a logical manner and with a narrative that gets to the essence of things.

Business Development Office Manager / ISO Manager

Can we really take it?　The Challenge of ISO 22000

–What did you think when the president told you that he wanted to obtain ISO22000?

I honestly wondered if we could really get it.　That was my honest impression. As the president said, cotton is a vegetable that we do not eat, and from that point of view, I thought (ISO22000) would be the best match. However, when we started the process of acquiring the certification, the biggest problem was sanitation. For example, in a food factory, there is a clean room, and the building has a set conductor line. There are air showers before going to the clean room, and so on. In the towel industry, there is no such place (sanitary facilities comparable to food factories) at all. At first, towels and food are not equal. （You can’t eat towels. It is nonsense to assume that you can eat them, and it is difficult to make the connection when you think about what would happen if you replace food with towels.

–Well, that’s true (laughs).

(Laughs) There has never been an ISO certification for towels for a food company, so the people at the certification organization were quite puzzled (laughs). (Laughs.) There is a scope of certification, and we had to figure out how we could get within the scope of this certification. At that time, the consultant talked to me about the scope of certification, and I had several discussions with the president of the company. In the end, we settled on the current form (Foodsfabric concept*1).

–IKEUCHI ORGANIC’s acquisition of ISO22000 certification is the first in the textile industry and an unprecedented achievement in the history of ISO, isn’t there any concern about whether you can continue to do so?

This again, we go through renewals every year…we have a big renewal audit every three years, but we have to keep accumulating and renewing each time.

–Have you already talked about towels that can be eaten?

The president just says so (laughs). But if we can make eating fiber (feasible). It has to be woven as an actual towel, and it has to dissolve in your mouth.

–You are really going to eat the towel, aren’t you?

The president says in that way, “Even if a baby puts it in his mouth by mistake, it’s safe.

It’s like my own child. I have feelings for all of them.

–You told us that you have been with the company for 12 years.

Since I joined the company, I have been involved in most of the original towels. When I joined the company, there were only two products that were already available: the previous Straits and the Organic 120. A short time after I joined the company, they started developing Organic 316, which they were going to make for an exhibition in the US. I was involved in that kind of product development all the way up until last year, when I became responsible for ISO, so the products here are like my own children, to put it the same way as the president. I have feelings for all of them.

–What is the towel that you brought with you today that you have a special attachment to?

There are two. One is Cotton Nouveau.　I use it as a bath towel. It is the only towel I use after taking a bath. They are very thick and have a good volume, including the size. I like it very much. Other than that, I like Straits Organic. Basically, IKEUCHI towels are dyed afterwards, but these are yarn-dyed. I like the softness and texture of yarn-dyed towels, which are slightly different from those of post-dyed towels. The yarn-dyed texture is different from the post-dyed texture, and I feel that it is organic. Organic 120 is good, but (Straits Organic) is very soft, thin, but firm. That’s what I like about it.

–Have you been using Cotton Nouveau since the first generation?

Yes, the 2011 one is still in use. We make yarn from different cotton every year, so the texture and finish are different for each year. The one I like the most is the early 2011 one, which I am very attached to.

–The latest Cotton Nouveau, 2016, is now fully organic ( *2).

I think it’s good that it is now fully organic. I think it’s a good thing that the products are now completely organic. I am looking forward to the next phase, and I think the development of new products is what IKEUCHI ORGANIC is all about.

Ikeuchi towels are characterized by their “hard-to-do” nature.

–Have you heard about the new product, Organic 960, which is scheduled to be released this summer?

I have heard somewhat about it from Mr. Yano, the chief developer. I heard that it was difficult to weave. Ikeuchi towels are characterized by being difficult to weave or “difficult to do something with” (laughs). (Laughs) When you are involved from the development and design stage, it is difficult to say, “How can I make this happen?　(Laughs). When I am involved in development and design, I think that Mr. Yano is now designing development while thinking about such things as “How can I make this happen? For example, if there is a comment from the field that something is difficult to weave, he thinks about what to do about it, and the president says many other things.

The president also asks us to do many other things…–This process of trial and error leads to the high quality of IKEUCHI ORGANIC, doesn’t it?

Yes, it does. In a sense, the president would not be satisfied if we did not create something better than what he envisioned by successfully integrating the president’s particulars and technical particulars. The president will always say, “This is good,” after using it himself. I think it is the job of the (development) team to give form to the president’s image and what he wants the towel to feel like.

Creating something that has never existed in the towel industry before

–What do you want to do in the future with IKEUCHI ORGANIC?

I am currently working on ISO, but I still want to be involved in manufacturing, like after 960, and I hope to create something that will become IKEUCHI’s standard, something that has never existed in the towel industry before.

–Do you have any concrete ideas?

I don’t have one at the moment. I think that most of the textiles on the market today are all new, but the combination of materials and weaving techniques can give them a new look. Now, multiple gauze is in vogue, but I think something else will come out next. I hope to be able to anticipate that kind of thing.

Interview January 2016
Interview and text by Mutaguchi, Kamio
Photographer/ Yuji Kimura (Kimura Photo Office)

Notes
1: IKEUCHI ORGANIC’s products are not food, but food-related woven and knitted products, so food in the Food Safety Management System is defined as “Foods Fabrics” instead.
*2：All threads used from Cotton Nouveau 2016 to embroidery threads and sewing threads are changed to use 100% organic cotton.