The non-profit organization for sustainable textiles, the Lestari Textile Chain (RTL), continues to encourage the strengthening of collaborative actions between stakeholders in order to realize the transformation of the sustainable textile and fashion industry in Indonesia. “Sustainable fashion, circular fashion is not just a trend, which appears for a moment and then disappears. This transformation is real," said Basrie Kamba, Chairman of RTL in his statement, Wednesday (30/11). "Only by collaborative actions including carrying out several pilot projects between stakeholders, including industry, academia, designers, international brand owners and the government, will Indonesia be able to overcome challenges and get a portion of the market which is currently still in the range of US$ 10 billion," he said.
According to Basrie, the global fashion industry worth US$ 1.3 trillion per year is entering an era of sustainable and circular development. Indonesia, with an export value of US$ 13 billion last year, is still an important textile producer and a core part of the world's supply chain.
"Reforming circular industry chains and circular economy practices in the global textile industry will certainly provide challenges as well as opportunities for Indonesian players," added Basrie.
At the conference in "Indonesia Sustainable Conference 2022, there were two foreign speakers namely Henriette Faergemann from the European Commission Embassy in Jakarta and Cyndi Rhoades, founder of Worn Again Technologies and World Circular Textile Day. Other panelists included Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, deputy for economics, BAPPENAS, Michelle Tjokrosaputro, General Secretary of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), Svida Alisjahbana, CEO of GCM Group.
Basrie said the first RTL conference was aimed at integrating and collaborating to support the transformation of the country's textile and fashion industry in impacting socially, economically and environmentally in Indonesia.
Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Arsjad Rasjid, appealed to textile and fashion industry players to apply the principles of sustainability to all operational chains. This is in line with KADIN's Net Zero Hub, which is an ecosystem that connects all stakeholders in energy transition in decarbonization efforts.
Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti emphasized that Bappenas is committed to helping to realize the formation of an Indonesian textile master plan which includes a road map for the transformation of the sustainable textile and fashion industry.
"By collaborating, we will be able to develop a roadmap that is in line with the principles of the SDGs, namely a Thematic, Holistic, Integrative and Spatial development planning approach," he explained.
