JP/18/FASHIO

JP/18/FASHIO

Bali Fashion Week to draw foreign designers, buyers

The Jakarta Post Kuta, Bali

Bali will again hold the annual fashion and trade festival, Bali Fashion Week for the sixth consecutive year at the Discovery Hotel, Kuta, from June 6 through June 8.

Bali Fashion Week, initiated by Bali and Hong Kong based designer Mardiana Ika, has since 1998 become one, if not the only, fashion forum in Indonesia that has brought together designers, producers and buyers of fashion, leather wear, and accessories in an integrated trade venue.

This year's event will present no less than 30 prominent Indonesian and foreign designers such as Peter Lau and Cecilia Yau from Hong Kong, Tatiana from Russia, Tube from Thailand, Melinda Looi and Tom Abang Saufi from Malaysia and other designers from India and the Philippines.

The event will also present trade booths of local and international fashion, footwear, leather wear, garment and textile producers.

"I really expect this year's event to draw a lot more foreign buyers, " Ika told The Jakarta Post.

As the international fashion industry has grown to be a large- scale and complex industry, Indonesian fashion designers and producers have to keep up with the rapid changes in the industry and global fashion trends.

"Indonesian designers and garment producers tend to be oriented toward the individual rather than market-oriented. The current paradigm must be immediately shifted if we want to play a bigger role on a global scale," added Ika whose Hong-Kong based Buttoni Label has started to show up in the international fashion scene.

Most fashion shows organized in Indonesia are targeted at individual clients.

"We have a lot of talented designers whose products meet the taste of wealthy clients in various overseas countries," she said. Yet, if we talk about the fashion industry, it will deal with large-scale orders, professional management and international trade laws. "In this field, Indonesian designers and producers are still far behind our neighbors," Ika acknowledged.

The four-day fashion event will also feature a series of cultural events, the largest Batik painting, DJ competitions and traditional Balinese art performances.

As the Bali Fashion Week is mainly aimed at bridging the wide gap between buyers, designers and producers, there will be a special trade session as well as seminars and discussions on the latest trends in textiles and the fashion industry.

A gap also exists between the private and government sector. So far, support from the government has only come from the National Export Development Agency (BPEN) which provides a meager amount of funding.

It is unfortunate that this event is not used as a promotional tool for the Indonesian fashion and textile industry as well as tourism purposes.

The Indonesian textile industry, once a major non-oil export earner, has been facing a gloomy period with the change in the international trade scene in line with the World Trade Organization. Indonesia also faces the enforcement of quota systems on its textile exports imposed by a number of Western countries.

In tourism, Bali Fashion Week could be included in the national agenda to attract fashion-conscious visitors to Bali and other parts of Indonesia.

"So far, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has given the nod to our activities. Nothing more," Ika said.