Millions of Batik SMEs Penetrate the Global Market, Didiet Maulana: Shopee Proves that Local Batik is also Worthy of Export

Kapanlagi.com - Didiet Maulana, who is one of Indonesia's famous fashion designers, recently expressed his admiration for local batik entrepreneurs. These batik craftsmen have successfully expanded their market to the international level. Didiet conveyed his admiration himself when he became a speaker at the Contemporary Batik Story event, organized by Shopee to commemorate National Batik Day 2023.

"Indeed, as a fashion designer from Indonesia, one of my aspirations is to spread batik as a cultural heritage of the archipelago and make it an important element in the development of global fashion trends. In fact, this has also been done by fellow MSME activists in the country who utilize digital technology through Shopee," said Didiet.

Monica Vionna, Head of Marketing Growth at Shopee Indonesia, confirmed that batik sales have indeed increased from year to year. "Based on the data we have, batik sales are increasing, not only relying on certain moments. In 2023 alone, millions of local MSME fashion batik products have been successfully sold on Shopee, even to foreign countries," explained Monica.

Revealing that Batik Continues to Experience Positive Developments

Didiet also added that batik continues to experience positive developments in terms of motifs and styling. "Perhaps as we know, in the past, batik was only worn for formal occasions. So why has batik become more popular among the community today? It's because it continues to evolve in terms of diverse motifs and also its usage or styling that makes batik more attractive," he added.

This fashion designer explained several modern motifs that have become trends in the world of batik fashion. "One of the popular motifs is abstract motifs that combine various geometric elements and non-traditional shapes." This motif gives a more contemporary impression and is suitable for everyday use. In addition, floral motifs with bright colors are also an attractive choice to appear fresher and more enthusiastic, as owned by this Damakara batik," said the founder of IKAT Indonesia.

The Story Behind the Success of Batik Damakara

One of the SME actors who attended the Contemporary Batik Story event was Dini Prihastiti, the owner of the Damakara brand. Damakara is a brand from Bandung that is one of the batik sellers who has successfully developed their business through the Shopee marketplace platform.

"So my husband Bheben and I built Damakara in 2019, inspired by Iris Grace, a special needs child who expresses herself through painting and her paintings are considered good by curators, inspired by that we collaborated to create products with special needs children. Then in 2020, our newly established business was quite stagnant due to the pandemic. Finally, we tried to go digital through Shopee, and thank God we are still existent and continue to grow," said Dhini.

As an SME activist, Dhini feels that Damakara must continue to grow in order to continue to help children with special needs.

"Damakara is a social business, initially not selling on the marketplace, but we started thinking, even though this is a social business, Damakara must still be able to grow. Over time, customers requested transactions through Shopee because it is easy. Finally, we learned how to sell on Shopee," she said. And after that we felt that our business was growing much more, up to a 770% increase in revenue,” added Dhini.

In addition, Dhini also revealed that by diving directly into the world of e-commerce, Damakara's product marketing could be broader and even reach foreign markets. Not only that, the brand founded by Dhini Prihastiti and Bheben Oscar could even market their products to foreign countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and even Taiwan.
The admiration felt by Didiet was conveyed personally when he became a speaker at the Cerita Batik Masa Kini event, organized by Shopee to commemorate National Batik Day 2023.

(kpl/glo)