Wear expensive-looking clothes -- from bandung

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

His navy blue shirt bears the picture of a polo player, his neatly pressed trousers have a little tag at the back that reads Dockers, and his shiny shoes bears the La Coste alligator logo. The ring of a mobile phone disturbs his gait, and he casually takes out a Nokia Communicator, the latest.

At the other end of the line, a woman in a simply cut -- and obviously overpriced -- dress is talking. Her black tresses have been tinged with bronze and she is carrying a Chanel bag.

It was a typical day in the capital, and the man and woman are your typical Jakarta executives. Their overall appearance screamed "expensive!" and a lesser man would think "Singapore".

That is, of course, the exact image that they would want other people to think. Little would they realize that those "costly", branded goods were bought in Bandung, about four hours drive southeast of Jakarta.

And the man and woman also never realized that their desire to look affluent has been exploited by some shrewd retailers in the town that was once called the Paris van Java.

Just as Paris is the world's fashion center, Bandung also strives to have the latest fashions ... at the least possible prices.

Not so long ago, hundreds of stores were dedicated to denim wear, all along Cihampelas road, and other places besides. Then it was leather goods, and another part of the city was dedicated to leather shoes, jackets, belts, and pants, namely the Cibaduyut area.

More recently, factory outlets have sprung up like mushrooms, offering branded goods destined for export at around half their original price.

"If I opened my shop in Jakarta, I wouldn't do such a roaring business as I do here. Gengsi would not buy at my store if they could be seen by their friends," said Perry Tristianto, owner of several factory outlets in Bandung, highlighting the reason behind his chosen city and explaining the word gengsi or pride.

Perry is the owner of nine factory outlets; five in Bandung alone, three in Surabaya, and another in Yogyakarta.

He started out as a simple door-to-door T-shirt vendor, but realizing this prevailing weakness for foreign brands, he bought up factory rejects and sold them as ex-export goods.

Not only clothing, but shoes, handbags, watches, and bedsheets are sold at around half their original price.

And although people know that the goods are made by Indonesians and are factory rejects, the lure of foreign-branded goods is obviously too strong, as his merchandise sells like hot cakes.

The advent of the Asian economic crisis did little to harm the ex-export business other than to force Perry to shift his focus to rejects from local factories rather than those abroad.

"Our exports dropped during that time, and there were no more factory rejects," he explained.

In 1999 Perry opened his first store, the Factory Outlet Store (FOS), claiming that he was the first to have used the name.

Perry said that the goods he sold at his stores were the original deal, from factories holding original licenses in India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Brunei.

He also said that he only bought A-grade and B-grade rejects, or those that have been overproduced and those with nonvisible defects.

But today, Perry's success is challenged by strong competition. In Bandung alone there are already more than 30 stores selling the same type of goods. Some are selling the "real-deal" while others are riding the moment on fake goods.

"This is what's killing the business. Nowadays people are reluctant to go to a factory outlet because much of the merchandise is fake," he said.

"Nobody wants to be seen wearing something fake".

This was also why he is now trying to distance himself from the factory outlet stereotype.

"Only one of my stores in Bandung is still called a factory outlet. Others I call clothing gallery, celebrities' choice, and boutique outlet," Perry said.

He is also changing the look of his stores, from a simple warehouse, such as the Big Price Cut on Jl. Aceh, to a more up- beat, affluent look on Jl. Riau, called The Summit.

"It's what keeps people coming, the variety of goods sold and the atmosphere of the place," Perry claimed.

But don't expect to find the same type of Yves Saint Laurent handbag or Esprit shirt in local department stores. "The goods here are those destined for export to other countries, not to Indonesia," he said.

Despite acknowledging that business would be tougher this year, Perry was optimistic that the "foreign is better" dictum would prevail and his innovative approaches in nursing that dictum would eventually win the day.