Heaptalk, Jakarta — The Ministry of Trade has organized a fashion show and dialogue themed ‘From Local Wisdom To Global Inspiration’ as a part of the event series of Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week (JFMW) 2023 (23/08). The event is a collaboration of the Ministry with Mustika Ratu, Putri Indonesia Foundation, Indonesia Fashion Chamber, and several Indonesian prominent fashion brands.
Eight Muslim fashion brands participated in the show that took place at the Auditorium of the Ministry of Trade to exhibit their remarkable creation, spanning Kami, Ria Miranda, IKYK, Ivan Gunawan, Nada Puspita, Wearing Klamby, Khanaan, and Buttonscarves featuring Benang Jarum.
During the event, the Minister of Trade, Zukifli Hasan, affirmed that Indonesia’s cultural diversity, local wisdom, and human resources can inspire the world. Moreover, those assets can drive Indonesia to dominate the global market, one of which is through the Muslim fashion sector. Optimizing the advantages and potential of the sector is the key to realizing Indonesia as the world’s Muslim fashion center in 2024.
Zulkifli said, “Various traditional Indonesian textiles with philosophical values have become a source of creativity for designers and Indonesian Muslim fashion businesses that other countries do not have. This is the key to realizing Indonesia as the world’s Muslim fashion mecca in 2024.”
Regardless of the current pandemic of covid-19, Zulkifli uttered that Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest economic growth in the world, namely 5.44%. One of the aspects that drove the positive growth is the contribution of export activities. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) stated that exports of Muslim clothing in the first half of 2022 were valued at US$2.85 billion, an increase of 39.86% compared to the same period in 2021, which was valued at US$2.04 billion.
In 2021, Indonesia’s Muslim fashion exports were recorded at USD 4.68 billion, an increase of 12.49% compared to the previous year of US$4.16 billion. However, Indonesia is still in the 13th position as the world’s exporter of Muslim clothing, with a share of 1.86%, or below China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
There are five major destinations for Indonesian Muslim fashion exports, namely the USA, Japan, Germany, Canada, and South Korea. This shows that Muslim fashion consumption is not always in Asian and African countries, but also America and Europe.
Material scarcity
During the dialogue session, designers of Indonesian Muslim fashion expressed their opinion to the Minister, particularly on the challenges they face in the Muslim fashion industry. The designer who started his Muslim fashion business in 2017, Ivan Gunawan, said the challenge is the availability of textiles as raw materials.
“It is difficult to find raw materials as there are more and more players, but the raw materials are limited. Initially, I bought from China. But since there are some obstacles, our creation is hampered,” explained Ivan. Now he is using 90% local textiles.
Likewise, Khanaan Shamlan and Ria Miranda expressed the same difficulty of material scarcity as well. Since 2017, Khanaan Shamlan created innovation with wastra, Indonesia’s traditional textile, as raw material that can be marketed globally. Yet, the availability of the wastra was a challenge in itself. Besides wastra, Indonesia is also famous for rayon.
“The local materials are good. Some designers who used to use silk a lot, are now switching to rayon as well. It would be nice to have the availability of materials, so there are more material options for designers,” said Khanaan.
Another designer, Ria Miranda, started her Muslim fashion brand in 2009. Until now, Ria is consistent with the concept of Minang heritage. At first, she tried to purchase directly from the craftsmen in West Sumatra. Then she had a similar difficulty when asking for a design that matched Ria Miranda’s character. The craftsmen found it uneasy to accept the request so it took a long time. “Finally we are back to print textiles. For this Minang heritage to be accepted by the community as casual fashion, we create it into prints and embroidery,” explained Ria.
JMFW 2023 series of events that started from April to September 2022 are the forms of the Ministry’s commitments to encourage Indonesian Muslim fashion brands to penetrate the global market. The peak of JMFW 2023 will be held on 20—22 October 2022 in conjunction with the 37th Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2022 which will take place at ICE BSD, Tangerang, Banten.
The Minister hoped this event will be a milestone for Indonesia’s Muslim modest fashion to invade the world market. “We, from the Ministry of Trade, will support our friends and all of us to dominate the global market with Muslim fashion from Indonesia,” concluded Zulkifli.
