Fashion's Slump in Bali - FEER 2003
I wrote about practically everything, but I had a soft spot for three topics: politics, film, and fashion. Perhaps it’s that all three can venture into the realm of the unbelievable! Fashion journalism is often dismissed as indulgent, but these critics have probably never met Suzy Menkes! The seriousness of a person should not be measured by their sartorial preferences. Batik designer Iwan Tirta was one of the most well read persons - and thoughtful - persons that I ever met.
In any case, it was always especially satisfying when I could combine my worlds together, as in this article below, republished by Joyo news service (link below).
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/berita-bhinneka/conversations/messages/70783
Jul 31, 2003
The Far Eastern Economic Review
Issue cover-dated August 7, 2003
Bali's Fashion Industry Hammered By Tourism Slump
By Dini Djalal in Bali
IN HER SPRAWLING Bali studio, designer Putri Mertaningsih flips through a recent issue of Australian Vogue. "That's ours," she says, pointing to a photograph of a bejewelled satin frock. She turns the pages to another catwalk moment, a model wearing a glamorous embroidered blouse, and announces: "That one too."
Neither of these pieces from Australia's ready-to-wear collections bears her name. Mertaningsih, 30, is a typical unsung talent on the resort island of Bali, where home industries such as hers have long produced beadwork, and often complete outfits, for international designers at rock-bottom prices. A former model herself, she's been in the garment business for seven years, and turns out 1,000 pieces a month, high-end items for big names like Italian label Roberto Cavalli.
Like hundreds of garment makers in Bali, Mertaningsih is trying to make it through the crisis brought about by the island's continuing tourism slump. The bombing last October of a tourist nightclub, then the war in Iraq, and then the scare surrounding the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, have all conspired to sink tourism on the island.
With arrivals today around a quarter the level of 2000, Bali's tourist boutiques, where tons of clothes are sold, are largely empty. International designers, who for years have visited the island to work with local production companies, have stopped coming. Retailing is gasping for survival -- and survival calls for emergency measures.
Mertaningsih's move is particularly aggressive: With her exports stagnant, one local shop closed and no new buyers in the past year, she's eager to become less dependent on other fashion companies -- so she is instructing her 90-person production crew to start making her own label. She and her husband are now searching for a partner who can handle promotions and share costs.
The survival of the textile and garment businesses is key for Bali, particularly given the tourist collapse. The $180-million business is the island's second largest export industry, after tuna fishing, employing 200,000 people. Until last year, it was growing at around 15% per year.
For years, Bali has been a gold mine for fashion production, a place where labels including Giorgio Armani and Gucci arranged to have work done. Buyers and designers from European, Australian and North American labels could combine work with a holiday, commissioning handiwork and tie-dyeing from small factories in southern Bali during the day, and relaxing beachside by sunset.
Production costs were cheaper on Java, says Rusmiati Dudi, whose factory produces clothes for Wal-Mart. But in Bali, she says, it was "less about the costs than about the lifestyle." The island's artisan tradition has been an added attraction -- industry insiders say the creative and intricate detailing in Bali is unmatched elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Bali was flexible too: While most factories on Java or in Hong Kong, China and Thailand won't take orders of less than 1,000 pieces, Bali's home industries typically will cater to the often specialized needs of the high-fashion world.
But Bali's success left the industry stagnant. Most manufacturers were content with being anonymous producers as long as the orders kept coming. Few set up their own lines or undertook marketing campaigns. And the industry's foot soldiers were no more committed to garment manufacturing than they were to, say, construction work: Most families owned sewing machines simply to earn an income. "The families that sew for us, they think that it's better to make things and sell them cheap rather than sit idle," says Nancy Mawarni, another designer.
As a result, the vast bulk of Bali's sewing shops never developed beyond the home-industry stage, and orders never became substantial, Dudi explains. There was little effort to improve work efficiency, she adds, which was much higher in Thailand. The government ignored proposals for industrial expansion on the island, such as the building of a textile-manufacturing zone. And aside from the Bali Fashion Week trade fair which was established three years ago, there were few efforts to promote Balinese designers and clothing manufacturers, especially overseas.
People like Mawarni can't afford to stand still any more. By March this year, her shop could only sell a few pieces a week, even at firesale prices. So she asked colleagues to vend her samples on their promotional trips overseas. Pushing for sales overseas is increasingly key to the industry's survival: Previously, few manufacturers left Bali because buyers were consistently at their doorstep. "We now have to be creative in chasing customers and boosting exports," says Mawarni, whose business is already primarily export-oriented.
Many industry players hope innovation will help their survival. Some have moved the shipment point for their products to the port at Banyuwangi on Java's eastern tip rather than the more expensive port of Benoa on Bali. Others are replacing more expensive local textiles with cheaper imported versions from South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Manufacturers are also waiting for the government to help, but so far they have seen only obstacles. They cite a new visa regulation likely to be enacted in September, which would abolish free 60-day visas for many nationalities, as a move that will keep tourists, and buyers, away. Export regulations are so bureaucratic, many say, that document preparation can take up to a week, whereas in other countries, these papers can be processed at the airport. Because of the delays, laments Pitrajaya Nasution, Mertaningsih's husband and business partner, "sometimes we have to cancel or delay orders."
But their lifeline, for exposure and ultimately sales, remains tourism. Says Nancy Mawarni: "If tourism dies, so do we. If the hotel industry dies, so do we. Exports are our target, but retail is our showroom."
