Comfortable with sneakers
Comfortable with sneakers
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Barring 'traditional' wedding parties, young businessman
Winfred Hutabarat wears sneakers on any and all occasions,
including to his office in Kemang, South Jakarta.
"It's comfortable and practical," the co-founder of the Aksara
bookstore chain told The Jakarta Post recently.
The graduate of Yale University who has 20 pairs of sneakers
of brands such as Nike, Adidas and New Balance, said comfort and
form were his main requirements when buying a pair of sneakers.
The 34-year-old bachelor usually wears long-sleeve shirts and
jeans with his sneakers.
Winfred's laid-back attitude is already being mirrored by some
multi-national companies here, which have recently allowed
employees to wear casual clothes instead of "formal" dress or
uniforms.
Microsoft and IBM are said to apply no tight rules governing
the dress code of their employees -- reaching work targets is
judged to be more important than one's appearance.
Fashion observer Muara Bagja said dressing smart-casual had
become a trend among young people, including working executives
in multi-national companies.
"They combine formal long-sleeve shirts with trousers or jeans
and sneakers. It probably makes their work more fun," Muara, who
also wears sneakers on many occasions, told the Post.
The fashion designer said sneakers were best used to make
people look more informal, relaxed and casual.
They could be matched with formal trousers while working in
the office and jeans and T-shirts when clubbing.
"I like a casual appearance. I always use sneakers to combine
with my clothes," Muara said, refusing to mention the number of
his shoes.
Sneakers have become so popular here, they even have their own
fan club.
Footurama was founded in Jakarta in January last year and now
boasts a membership of hundreds of young people, including
fashionable students and well-heeled executives.
"Our members are not only from Jakarta and cities in
Indonesia, but also from Malaysia and Australia," Footurama
founder Max Suryaganda told the Post.
Members of the club shared their knowledge and new information
about sneakers through a mailing list and their homepage
www.footurama.com, Max said.
On the homepage, Max, who recently graduated from the private
Pelita Harapan University's School of Graphics and Design, writes
about his experiences sneaker-hunting in Kuala Lumpur recently.
"We just share our experiences and information. We are not
selling sneakers. We would never sell them through the Internet,"
Max said.
Max and his friends recently organized a sneakers and urban
art exhibition at the National Monument in Central Jakarta where
dozens of rare sneakers from many countries, including the United
States, were displayed.
"Many people visited the exhibition. It was a success. It will
become our annual exhibition," he said.
Hunting for rare or limited edition sneakers gives sneaker
fanatics that extra-special step up. Most of these kind of shoes
cannot be bought at ordinary department stores or sports shops.
The coolest sneaker pimps in Jakarta are reputed to be found on
Jl. Radio Dalam, South Jakarta.
Max, who has more than 100 pairs of sneakers with price tags
ranging from Rp 500,000 to Rp 3 million a pair, usually buys his
sneakers when traveling overseas or asks his friends to buy them
when they go abroad.
"Many of my friends have more sneakers than me. The prices can
reach Rp 20 million a pair and I can't afford that yet. But maybe
I will later."