A number of traditional Palembang Songket weavers are interested in using natural dyes to increase their income and expand the market. Netty, a songket weaver in the Talang Kerangga area of Palembang, said that since the last two years she has started receiving orders for songket cloth made from natural dyes. “That's the message from the boutique, because the color of songket made from natural dyes is soft, not too flashy. Many like it," said Nety in Palembang, Friday. He said it would take about one month to complete a set of songket consisting of one piece of cloth and one scarf.
The price of a set of songket ranges from Rp. 8.5 million to Rp. 10 million per sheet, while songket cloth with textile dyes ranges from Rp. 1.5 million to Rp. 4 million.
Regarding natural dyes, Nety admitted that she was supplied from a boutique in the form of threads that had used natural dyes.
“I know how to make it, but because it was sent from a boutique, I just used it. Let it be fast and hassle-free," he said.
Although he has penetrated into songket with natural dyes, Netty also makes songket from metallic gold thread using textile dyes at a price of Rp. 1.5 million to Rp. 3 million per set.
Meanwhile, Rita Zahara, a songket weaver from Palembang, said that for the last two years she has been making natural dyed songket.
The product is natural dye he got from secang leaves, kale leaves, gambir sap, mangosteen peel and jengkol skin.
For him it is relatively easy to get these materials because they can be obtained for free in the neighborhood or bought in traditional markets.
Although it is cheaper in terms of cost, the challenge lies in the manufacturing process because at least it takes up to one week.
Materials from these plants must be boiled with water for a certain time until the volume of water is reduced to half.
"If you use textile dye, it's easy, just five minutes of boiling can be used to dye it into yarn. In this case, it just boils for an hour,” said Rita.
Marketing Director of Bank Sumsel Babel Antonius Prabowo Argo said that his party as the builder of songket cloth SMEs had held a seminar related to efforts to open up the potential of the export market in Australia.
From the results of the seminar, there were four products that were decided to be curated, namely songket and jumputan, kemplang, coffee and spices.
“Especially for songket, it turns out that consumers in Australia don't like bright (striking) colors. They prefer soft colors," he said.
On that basis, BSB will foster songket MSME players to produce products with soft colors if they want to enter the export market in Australia, Europe and the United States.
It would be better if the product was made from natural dyes because currently developed countries are consuming products made from natural ecofashion.
"So far, from the curation, only Dempo Crater coffee has passed the export. We will also encourage songkets and jumputans," he said.
