Dagadu products flourish amid fake threat

By Tjahjono Ep

JAKARTA (JP): Yogyakarta is popularly known as gudeg city after the popular food, student city for its numerous schools and cultural city for its rich cultural life. One day, it may also be known as Dagadu city.

Dagadu is a new but familiar word in Yogyakarta's tourist industry. When you stroll along Malioboro street, don't be surprised if a pedicab driver greets you with, "Where do you want to go, bakpia Pathuk, Dagadu or batik Ngasem?" Pathuk is popular for its traditional snacks, bakpia, while Ngasem is known for its batik.

Foreigners, however, may not be familiar with Dagadu, but domestic tourists have long known it as the producer of various products, ranging from souvenirs, T-shirts, hats, bags and accessories, all with the flavor of Yogyakarta. Dagadu calls its products alternative souvenirs.

Although the products are colored by Yogyakarta, they can by no means be considered ethnic. Rather, the products feature the social interaction of Yogyakartans, including how they view their social reality, the dynamics of the community and humor based on the lives of locals.

Dagadu's public relations officer, Pratita, said Dagadu was trying to create a new image of Yogyakarta based on day-to-day life in the city.

"Everything from Yogyakarta, from its jokes and plesetan (slip-of-the-tongues) to its artifacts are translated into our designs," she said.

Dagadu does not look at Yogyakarta as a mere object, but as a subject and source of inspiration for Dagadu's designs, she said.

She said everything about Yogyakarta, its romanticism, traffic jams and even the crowd of traders along Malioboro, was a source of inspiration.

Dagadu uses the older Djokdja when referring to the city to accentuate Yogyakarta's deep history.

Through its business, Dagadu -- which literally means "your f**ing eyes" in Javanese -- shifts the meaning and connotation of the profanity into a friendly welcome.

Dagadu, through its products, is also trying to show that Yogyakarta is not merely a city of romance or culture, but has another, more complicated side.

Some people also see Dagadu as criticizing Yogyakarta, but in a backhanded way.

"So, the impression is (our products) are cute but fresh," Pratita said.

Dagadu may remind people about Bali's Joger, whose products are also known for their creativity.

The difference is that Dagadu uses a mixture of languages, including Javanese, Indonesian, English and Dutch. And Dagadu's products are specifically targeted toward certain markets, namely those Indonesians who understand the humor of Yogyakarta. For this reason, foreign tourists are not a priority in Dagadu's marketing.

"Maybe for foreign tourists the jokes will be understood differently," Pratita said.

A sampling of Dagadu's humor includes: United Colors of Keraton (instead of United Colors of Benetton), Toilet Orchestra (a play on Twilite Orchestra) and Everyday is Sunday in Djokdja. When people are splashed while passing ponds in the Kewek area along Malioboro, the company comes up with: Kewek, Bridge of Troubled Water. Alon-Alon Waton On Time (Slow but on Time) is inspired by the Javanese saying, Alon-Alon Waton Kelakon (Slow but Sure).

"Our point is, to make something funny and smart, there's no need to use violent, vulgar words. Those (products) with violent or vulgar words are not Dagadu's products," the head of Dagadu's design studio, Arba'i, said.

Students

Dagadu was founded in 1994 by 25 students from Gadjah Mada University. Twenty-three of the students came from the Architecture Department, one from the Psychology Department and another from the Natural Sciences Department.

Before setting up their business, the students designed T- shirts for campus activities. Deciding to strike out into the world of business, they came up with an initial investment of Rp 4 million and opened Dagadu. Only eight of the 23 founders are still active in the business, while others have left to pursue careers in architecture.

Wondoamiseno, one of the architects of the Malioboro Mall, gave the students their start by offering them a counter at the mall. Dagadu rented 20 square-meters of space for Rp 13,000 per square-meter. They were told they would not have to pay for the space if their business failed to break even. But from the beginning, the company was reaping profits.

They business continued to grow, and beyond all their expectations Dagadu won the MTV-ANteve Youth Award in October last year.

Dagadu has 10 employees manning the counter in the mall, all of them university students. They work for four and a half hours a day earning Rp 200,000 a month. After working for the company for eight months, counter employees are replaced by new students. And there are a lot of students eager to work at Dagadu's counter. The company once received 500 applications for the 10 positions open. This means Dagadu can be more selective in hiring its employees. Requirements for counter employees included: a knowledge of tourism in Yogyakarta, the ability to speak Javanese and English and a minimum grade point average of 2.75 for Gadjah Mada students and 3.0 for students from other universities. Dagadu also maintains a close relationship with its former employees, including inviting them to Dagadu-sponsored events.

Dagadu's turnover is currently about Rp 5.5 million (about US$700) per day. Everyday, Dagadu sells around 200 T-shirts for Rp 27,500 each, along with other products, including hats, mugs, keychains and stickers.

Dagadu's profit margin is around 20 percent to 30 percent, depending on the item sold. Most of its customers are younger people, such as students and tourists.

The company's success has made it a prime target for counterfeiting, with these fake products being sold openly.

Pratita said counterfeiting did not have a great affect on Dagadu's turnover, but the company was concerned the fake products could damage its image.

Apart from poor quality of the counterfeit products, traders sell their goods unethically, forcing consumers into making purchases. Also, some of the counterfeit products tend to be anarchist and improper.

According to Kedaulatan Rakyat daily, potential damage to the company from the counterfeit products is around Rp 1.98 billion a year.

A seller of counterfeit Dagadu T-shirts, Nanang, not his real name, said they were not counterfeiters because Dagadu's trademark was not yet patented. He even thanked the architecture students for providing them with a new opportunity to earn a living.

Faced with this situation, Dagadu decided not to open any new outlets. Its products are only available at two locations in Yogyakarta: on the lower ground floor of the Malioboro Mall and on Jl. Pakuningratan, as well as over the Internet.