How local streetwear blossoms when there is no street culture

Image courtesy of Ageless Galaxy

Streetwear develops from interaction on the street, how people communicate through their personal style. In a country like Indonesia where sidewalk is either a shortcut for motorcycle or a selling spot for street food vendor, streetwear in the context refers to dishevelled shirt, ripped jeans and flip flops. Those are hardly fashion statements.

Despite the lack of street culture, streetwear brands are thriving. In South Jakarta, particularly the Kemang area, you’ll find a handful of retailers that specifically curate global streetwear brands, Footurama, Na.i.ni, 707 and STOW, to name a few. Even local streetwear brands like Public Culture have been featured on High Snobeity.

According to Public Culture Creative Director Andre Arnoldus, local streetwear is more of a follower rather than leader. The style is very much influenced by US and Japan streetwear. Since people are constantly looking for inspiration online, they gradually have more ideas of what they want to wear. It makes people want to buy so-called products and it becomes a business opportunity.

Public Culture founder Michael Kurniawan echoed the same opinion. “Social media plays a big role in the retail industry. Indonesians, in my opinion, are followers. They see culture out there and they follow,” he said.

Arnoldus also noted that the existence of concept stores like The Goods Dept helps drive the expansion of streetwear because it connects brands with the market. He further explained that Public Culture’s rapid growth was due to balancing business – which is Michael’s part – and creative elements, while some brands were focusing on idealism.

In other cities, you can spot teenagers wearing t-shirts from Supreme, Off-White and Anti Social Social Club at the mall but local streetwear brands aren’t as buzzy as their global counterparts. There are several Indonesian streetwear brands that are unheard of but they are recognised on the global scale: Paradise Youth Club, Dominate, Domestik Domestik, Deva States, to name a few. “To say Public Culture is a leading brand is quite a heavy statement,” Arnoldus added.

From consumer perspective, 17 to 20 year-old teenagers we interviewed addressed social media and their peers as the biggest influence on their purchase decision. The majority admitted they are not so keen on the graphics, but into the trend and buzz on social media.

This begs the question: Is streetwear going to last or is it just a hype?

In early 2000, when distribution store (distro) was at its heyday, distro brands – which were equivalent to local streetwear at that time – like Satellite Castle was the top player in the distro industry. Satellite Castle had graphic t-shirts, hoodies and other merchandises spread across distro boutiques in Bandung and Jakarta. “Back then, the only fast fashion brand in Indonesia is Mango. The youth had no choice but to shop at distro,” Satellite Castle Co-Founder Sandiano Harahap said. “When H&M enters Indonesia, distro cannot compete with the price of fast fashion. We saw a sharp plunge in sales that we eventually had to close the brand. It also happened to other distro brands.”

Harahap said that streetwear nowadays came back with a different trend. “Streetwear didn’t have to be expensive back in my days, but it has to be ‘pricey’ these days. Designers have to implement luxury in streetwear design. The amount of money the youths are spending on streetwear is extraordinary. It is an entirely different generation.” When asked about the future of streetwear, Harahap said that it would never be totally gone. It would, instead, come back with different genre and direction.

Ageless Galaxy Co-Founder Tamish Aswani had a different opinion. “Streetwear is at its peak and it is intersecting with fashion. However, this won’t last forever. Hype will die down and so is fashion trend.”