Project will add space, jobs
VERMILION — Defense Soap owner Guy Sako is preparing to expand the company’s Liberty Avenue facility as continued growth pushes its existing space to capacity.
The project will add 8,000 square feet to the back of the company’s current 12,000-square-foot building on Liberty Avenue. Sako said the additional space will accommodate approximately 500 pallets of inventory while freeing space on the existing production floor for automation.
“Our growth is being stifled by our lack of space,” Sako said.
The expansion is expected to be completed in spring 2027.
Sako said the added capacity will support production of a new medicated body wash and citrus shower gel. The company expects to hire two or three additional employees once the expanded operation is running.
The company already owns a second building nearby that is used for overflow storage. However, Sako said that building is not climate-controlled, limiting the products and materials that can be stored there.
“Hard to believe that our current 12,000 square feet isn’t large enough anymore,” he said.
Sako founded Defense Soap in 2005 after encountering recurring skin infections among wrestlers he coached. The company developed soaps and personal-care products geared toward wrestlers, martial artists and others participating in close-contact sports.
The business remains family-operated by Sako, his wife, Ashley, and their son, Gus, along with a small team of employees. Sako is a former Cleveland State University wrestler and longtime wrestling coach who also served 25 years as a Cleveland police officer. He was inducted into the Ohio Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2019 for lifetime service to wrestling.
Defense Soap’s reach has grown well beyond Vermilion. In 2019, the company entered a global supplier agreement with United World Wrestling, the international governing body for the sport.
The latest expansion marks another step in the company’s growth while keeping its operations in Vermilion.