The Muslim fashion industry in Indonesia continues to grow, both in terms of increasingly diverse product variations and increasingly competitive product quality. In addition, the domestic market potential is quite large, making the fashion industry business still prospective in the future.

"Therefore, the Ministry of Industry is actively encouraging the growth of the fashion industry. This is in line with the implementation of the Making Indonesia 4.0 roadmap, which includes the textile and clothing industry as one of the sectors that has priority development, "said Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang.

The Minister of Industry explained that so far the textile and textile products (TPT) industry has played an important role in contributing to the national economy through foreign exchange earnings and employment. "The export performance of the apparel industry throughout 2020 reached USD 7.04 billion. The fashion industry, which is also closely related to the textile industry sector, will contribute 6.76 percent to the GDP of the non-oil and gas processing industry in 2020, "he said.

In order to optimize the potential of the textile industry, the Ministry of Industry is aggressively encouraging the national Muslim fashion industry. This step is to realize Indonesia's target to become a center for the world's Muslim fashion. "For this reason, this year we are again holding a Modest Fashion Project (MOFP) competition," said the Director General of Small, Medium and Miscellaneous Industries (IKMA) of the Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih.

Gati said, MOFP is a competition for Muslim fashion design and business concepts held by the Directorate General of IKMA of the Ministry of Industry since 2018. In 2021, MOFP is held again and is the fourth time it is being held.

"MOFP is a design competition and a Muslim fashion business concept where participants have the opportunity to win prizes as champions and are entitled to get a coaching program from the Directorate General of IKMA for participants who qualify as top 20 finalists," he explained.

As one of the steps in promoting the MOFP competition, the Directorate General of IKMA of the Ministry of Industry has held a MOFP socialization webinar some time ago, which was attended by representatives of the Regional Industry Service as coaches for small and medium-scale fashion industry players, as well as fashion IKM players from various regions.

"The theme carried at the event was Business Improvement Strategy through Fashion Competition, in which the Ministry of Industry as the government wanted to convey the importance of the design aspects of a fashion product that impact on the fashion business development of IKM players," said the Director of Various Industries and IKM Chemistry, Clothing and Crafts, E. Ratna Utarianingrum.

The Ministry of Industry sees that young designers need a platform and a stage to be able to increase their capacity and abilities, especially as entrepreneurs in the Muslim fashion sector as well as promote and introduce the potential of domestic Muslim fashion products.

"We realize that designers have a very important role in developing the fashion industry, where designers can provide innovation and determine the direction of design trends, especially in the fashion industry in Indonesia," said Ratna.

Ratna hopes that the webinar participants who attend can become a generation of fashion designers and entrepreneurs who are able to work on the world stage to promote the potential of the national fashion industry. In addition to socializing the MOFP competition, the webinar event is also filled with a Fashion Business Talkshow filled by the MOFP jury who is experienced experts in the business and fashion industry.

According to Ratna, the development of the number of Muslims in the world is one of the main triggers driving the growth of the Muslim fashion industry. Based on The State Global Islamic Ecomony Report 2020/2021, world Muslim fashion consumption in 2019 is estimated to reach USD277 billion, while world Muslim fashion consumption in 2024 is projected to exceed USD311 billion.

"Meanwhile, Indonesia's own Muslim fashion consumption in 2019 is worth USD 16 billion, the fifth largest in the world after Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan," said Ratna. The Ministry of Industry sees this as a market opportunity for national Muslim fashion industry players to be able to fill the domestic and global markets.

Ratna also said that the development of Muslim fashion in Indonesia also has an internationally recognized performance, based on The State of Global Islamic Economy Report 2020/2021, Indonesia is ranked third as a country that develops the best Muslim fashion in the world after the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

"Hopefully the MOFP can be used as a stepping stone for all fashion designers and fashion industry players to become a new entrepreneur in the Muslim fashion sector who is able to have a positive impact on the development of the fashion industry," he concluded.