KADIN DISCUSSES THE SUSTAINABILITY OF FASHION INDUSTRY.

Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), Arsjad Rasjid, claimed that the fashion sector has a very large market and changing trends. It is one of the key drivers of the creative economy.

At the Indonesia Sustainable Fashion Conference, held on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at the KADIN Tower in Jakarta, Arsjad stated that “from an economic perspective, the fashion industry is one of the main contributors to creative growth, which accounts for 17 percent of the creative economy in Indonesia.”

The industry, however, has negative environmental implications because it is intimately tied to the textile sector, which is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions.

Additionally, after industrial waste, textile waste is the second worst pollutant of water in the world. According to Arsjad, nearly 1 million tonnes of the 33 million tonnes of clothing produced each year in Indonesia alone end up in the trash.

He urged the fashion industry’s sustainability in light of this. Together, let’s work to achieve the net zero emission target and aid Indonesia in its transition to a resilient green economy, he said.

Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti or Winny, the deputy for economic affairs at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), asserted that if Indonesia could transition to a more sustainable textile industry, this would increase the competitiveness of homegrown goods.

“We need to find new locations. Winny emphasised that the fashion and textile industries must use eco-friendly and low-carbon energy as the key to Indonesia’s economic transition. “If we don’t, we’ll lose the market. Thus, we must proceed.