In 1845, a serf from Yaroslavl, having gained his freedom, went to the capital in search of a better life. There, he existed for a long time as a small trader until he decided to engage in soap production, which was in high demand. He built a small wooden factory by the Ligva River, where Ligovsky Prospekt is now located in St. Petersburg. Initially, his products were met with skepticism, as rumors circulated that the soap was made from the fats of cats and dogs. However, this was impossible, as natural fats were required, which Zhukov used. He boiled fragrant soap cubes from sunflower, coconut, olive, flaxseed, or cottonseed oil, as well as from lard, adding only alkali.

Zhukov himself boiled the soap in large cauldrons and checked its quality in an unusual way: if the mass flowed from the scoop without leaving traces, it meant the soap would wash well and not have an unpleasant smell. Sometimes he even tasted it: if it did not sting, it meant the alkali was normal and the technology was followed.

In the 1860s, Alexei Zhukov opened a large wholesale store with a variety of soaps. The blue, or marble soap, which was boiled in large containers and required more time to mature, was particularly popular. His son Alexander continued the business, deciding to produce soap on an industrial scale and inviting professional chemists for this purpose. It is said that he was even acquainted with Mendeleev.

At the exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896, the factory received the right to place a stamp with the image of a double-headed eagle on its products, which was considered the highest mark of quality. Since 1912, Zhukov's soap was supplied to the Imperial Court. In 1918, the factory was nationalized and named after Karpov, the People's Commissar of Chemical Industry. After that, the soap changed: the 'bourgeois' marble soap disappeared, and instead, a surrogate was produced.