I am honored that G&Silk is considered an example of responsible marketing by Mary de Sojo Branding and Marketing. (Marbella - Spain).
Mary de Sojo was an external consultant for ICEX for 12 years at the "Company Internationalization Program" in the Fashion, Retail and Franchise sectors, as well as in the Technology sector for the markets of Europe, the USA and the Middle East.
In constant collaboration with her clients and a team that has accompanied her since its inception, Mary understands that a Branding & Marketing agency is based on Creativity, Strategy and Innovation. Understanding the needs of its clients and consumers and the new trends. Also contributing its expertise and successful trajectory and paying special attention to the return of the investment made by its clients.
Always updating her knowledge, she began in 2012 by Training her Digital Marketing skills in London, California, Boston and currently in Marbella.
These days, Mary focuses her activity, as founder and director of Mary de Sojo Branding & Marketing, in Personal Branding and Marketing for Independent Professionals and Small and Medium Businesses.
She has received Prizes from Price Waterhouse Coopers, the Scholarship from MIT and the San Telmo Foundation and has been awarded by the Portuguese Franchise Association.
You can see the Blog post she made about G&silk here:
Here you have the translation:
Gloria Franco and her brand G&Silk Socially Responsible
G&Silk is a clear example of how a brand can be built around personal values.
Mary: Gloria, thinking about this post about Responsible Marketing, I got in touch with you to get to know you a little better.
How do you define responsible marketing?
Gloria: First of all, let me tell you that your call gave me great joy. That you saw in G&Silk an example of corporate responsibility was incredible
Everything has emerged from naturalness and honesty.
As a freelance artist, in my studio www.gloriasurfacepatterndesign.com I see how artists are not valued enough.
That is why when I created my brand, I gave priority to decently remunerating all invited artists, both those who have a contract as well as those who are selected with the challenges that I organize every three months on Instagram @gandsilk.
Mary: Why is it important for you that your brand has an added value?
Gloria: I chose textile design because it makes possible to wear my designs on a day-to-day basis.
That is why many of them contain important messages, about the importance of mental health, caring for the environment, the personal growth, the diversity, the sisterhood and the love towards the animals.
Aligning my personal values with the product makes G&Silk sell more than a scarf.
Through each purchase, important issues for the individual and for society are made visible.
Totally Universal themes. And not only causes, I also claim joy.
Many scarves are only meant to add a touch of color and good humor to any gray day.
In addition, they are handmade in Spain, in a sustainable way and in high quality materials that can last for many years.
Having artists from all over the world brings cultures together around a textile product.
We all have a sensory and affective bond with textiles.
It is in the very fabric of every society. We all have embroidery and clothing inherited from loved ones.
A scarf may seem superficial but it can have a lot of meaning.
Mary: In the current moment that we live globally, what is the biggest challenge when it comes to staying firm in your values?
Gloria: Within responsible marketing, I also include a healthy use of Social Networks.
I am not interested in anything that is not organic, sincere, real.
That is why I am working on building a community of true support among artists on my Blog and on my Social Networks.
A brand-artist, brand-client and artist connection with each other
The most difficult thing, for me, is to maintain absolute honesty regarding these connections.
I like to give VIP treatment to both my artists and my clients.
What happens behind a brand should be as important as what happens publicly.
That is the biggest challenge, because it is based on total mutual trust and reciprocity.
But I have to say that I am establishing wonderful links with some collaborators and guest artists.
Mary: What are the greatest joys that G&Silk has brought you?
Gloria: There have been many, the first, even before I started, knowing that my mentality and the fact of having supported more than 20000 artists on my @fandeestampados account during lockdown, was what made possible for Covadonga Jaquete to call me one afternoon, as you did, to put my foot on the stirrup.
She was the fairy godmother who showed me that generosity between artists exists.
Another great moment was when they called me from New York a month after opening to inform me that I was selected among a waiting list of 1500 independent designers to have my scarves in a Broadway Showroom.
Another moment was undoubtedly the first sale, which was also a birthday gift from people who could not celebrate together during lockdown.
Dog scarves orders, especially when it is to give them to those who have lost their pets.
When I "discover" an artist and they join the brand as a featured artist.
G&Silk gives me a lot of happiness and you know why, because it allows me to be myself one hundred percent inside of my field of work and that in itself is a blessing.
Mary: How do you imagine the evolution of your brand?
In just over 6 months I have been able to verify that the artists like the project. The concept itself of the brand.
Seeing them so happy when I welcome them to G&Silk means a lot to me.
In the strictly business sense, we now make not only silk scarves, but also cashmere and pocket squares.
And there's a super exciting new related project for next year.
I would very much like to be able to have distribution in physical stores here in Spain, although the online store is always a source of surprises, with orders from Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Latvia etc. you never know where an order will come from.
It is very joyful to see that if we make a responsible use of social networks and the internet, we can reach the daily lives of many people.
It fascinates me that a design created by me or by a guest artist ends up in the hands of a person thousands and thousands of miles away in the form of a scarf.
Or maybe is me, who sees magic in everything.
