All dressed up and plenty to go on
JAKARTA (JP): Clothes make the man and woman, to paraphrase the famous saying, and the tailor's job is to produce apparel which fits their clients' needs for whatever occasion.
Tailoring, considered a cottage industry here, provides sartorial style for people who wear uniforms in the workplace, school or at cultural events.
Uniforms take away the daily concern over what people have to wear and instead create a collective identity forged in their minds and on their bodies.
PT Ayudia, a major tailor specializing in uniforms, has to meet the demand for different clothes of its regular clients like the Jakarta Hilton International.
Company director Sandra Soegiarto told The Jakarta Post that the five-star hotel management often ordered uniforms for its different divisions, the most recent including the kitchen, housekeeping divisions and outlet managers.
Sandra began her business in 1988, and the Hilton joined her client list the following year.
Sandra said she supplied a recent order of 200 suits for the hotel's outlet managers, who receive two suits each. One suit, made of British wool imported from Singapore, consists of a blazer, pair of pants and shirt priced at Rp 600,000 (US$244.20).
She said it took her employees six months to finish the Hilton's orders, which sometimes come in every month.
A former customer was media giant PT Gramedia. She prepared 45 uniforms for Gramedia's reception and administrative staff and telephone operators between 1991 and 1993 and in 1995. Each suit was priced at Rp 175,000 ($71.22).
Her company is currently making uniforms for between 1,000 and 1,500 ground staff of national carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines. Each uniform consists of pants for men and skirts for women, in blue and white shirts for both.
In the past two years, Sandra has supplied special uniforms for Bank Rakyat Indonesia in conjunction with its centennial and 101st anniversaries.
PT Ayudia is making jackets for students and is also supplying fabric for staff and rectors of private Trisakti university, a client which Sandra served between 1989 and 1995. During those years, the company enjoyed the jacket uniforms bonanza before the job was taken over by Trisakti's cooperatives.
Sandra, who has a background in fashion from Susan Budiarjo design school between 1980 and 1981, said that her company's business monthly sales turnover reaches between Rp 30 million and Rp 50 million.
It was her intention to expand her business in a timely manner so that she could balance the demands of family life to accommodate her three children and husband.
Military
When in comes to military uniforms, the Asril International Tailor is probably the most acclaimed tailor here.
Owner Asril claims he faces no major competitors in the business.
"Sewing the Armed Forces uniforms needs special skills because precision of size is the utmost requirement," said the 45-year- old man who runs his business at Senen shopping center in Central Jakarta.
He started focusing on military uniforms in 1989 after working for another tailor for 13 years. Asril is one of 50 tailors specializing in the business.
"It all began when a military member asked me to sew his uniform," he said. "He was satisfied with my work and suggested his colleagues to come to me."
Asril, a father of four, does the measuring and cutting. Nine assistants working in a 16-square-meter kiosk produce at least 30 uniforms a day. Each uniform is sold at Rp 35,000, cheaper than the average price of Rp 45,000.
"It's because I have good relationship with most of my customers. By maintaining the friendship, they will be my regular clients who deserve cheaper prices," he said.
Asril says he offers all-in services, meaning that customers just need to tell him what they want and bring with them attributes needed to be attached to their uniforms.
Navy sergeant Firman praised Asril's skills.
"He's a good tailor who knows how to sew the uniforms to fit to their wearers. You know, in the navy unit, the right size is everything," Firman said. (team)