Jakarta, IO – On 30 May 2023, Jakarta Fashion Hub and Fashiontrackk.id held a fashion coaching clinic entitled “How to Sell Your Fashion Offline and Online” at the Jakarta Fashion Hub, Jalan Teluk Betung, Central Jakarta. Indah Warsetio, Fashiontrack Fashion Mentor and co-founder, sees the event as the first step for providing routine education relating to the fashion business:
“Indonesia has a great creative potential with all its entrepreneurs in fashion across the homeland. Together, we can make a great fashion business ecosystem – we can educate, curate, and facilitate national fashion businesses and lift Indonesia’s reputation in the world,” she declared, during her fashion business training opening speech.
There were two main speakers at the seminar: Agung HIT, Fashiontrack Mentor and Corporate Fashion Business Officer; and Zoey Rasjid, Asia-Pacific Rayon Head of Marketing Communication. Independent Observer had the special opportunity to interview both:
According to Agung HIT, the fashion business has a huge market size. He cited the fact that today’s richest man, Louis Vuitton brand owner Bernard Arnault, has ousted Tesla and Twitter’s Elon Musk from the position. “Fashion is something you use every day, as it has now become a basic staple. In terms of clothing as basic need, including cosmetics and fashion style,” he explained.
With such a huge market niche available, any fashion entrepreneur can create products according to their consumers’ needs. However, Agung warns, there are three things that entrepreneurs must know:
“First, you must know yourself and your capacity. You must know what you can create and why. What’s your style? What do you want to create? What do you want to represent? You can’t afford to keep on chasing trends, because they change so fast and the next thing you know, you end up with a lot of unsold stock and you don’t have the money to produce something else that’s on trend. Remember that you create to sell, so you also can’t afford to create things that are ‘so you’ but that nobody else wants to wear,” he stated.
“Second, you must know your consumers. Are they middle-to-upper levels? Then you need to catch something they might fancy, that nobody else has. You need to lower your volume and sell at a higher price level to cover your expenses and recoup a large profit margin.
On the contrary, people in the lower-to-middle levels simply look for something presentable yet affordable. They don’t care if others wear the same thing they do, as long as they can wear something. So you play the volume for simpler goods. And finally, know your competitors. Who’s their target market? What are their specialties? How do you differentiate yourself from them, what do you have? Make your choices wisely, based on your strength,” Agung said.
“But no matter what you do, remember who your consumers are, and always serve them properly! That’s the only way to ensure continuous and repeated sales.”
On the other hand, Zoey laments the fact that our fashion businesses do not have much support from the Government, even though the fashion sector can bring in a lot of currency from overseas sales, “…unlike Thailand. Their government helps new designers and other fashion businesses starting up,” she sighed.
What a pity. However, with how things progress lately, that may change.
That said, what’s the best marketing technique for newbie entrepreneurs to use? “New entrepreneurs generally need to watch their budget closely. Therefore, online marketing is the best method. However, the disadvantage of online sales is the lack of personal touch.
It’s harder for brand owners to know their customers if they rely only on online sales. Therefore, after the brand grows bigger and stronger, a gradual investment to offline stores will be necessary. You might not need to directly build your own offline store, but do a collaborative store with other brands instead,” Zoey advised.
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Zoey went on to admit that new designers know how to innovate, unlike established designers who find it hard to accept new ideas. “I notice how new designers can open their own paths and think out of the box. This is why fashion grows,” she said.
What’s the biggest fashion market segment in Indonesia? “Working women and entrepreneurs, 20-35 years old. Their work is more stable, making them have more buying power to satisfy their fashion needs,” Zoey said. (des)