JAKARTA (ANTARA) – Indonesia should take the lead in setting standards for modest fashion as it aims to become a hub for Islamic fashion and the global halal industry, a foreign ministry official said.
Choki Aprianda Siregar, an official at the ministry’s Policy Strategy Special Issues and Data Analysis Center, said Indonesia should seize the opportunity to standardize modest fashion given the lack of standards for it globally.
“We can set modest fashion as a benchmark, meaning other countries that produce modest fashion products will follow our standards,” Siregar said in a press statement on Friday.
He is optimistic that modest fashion trade is expected to reach US$428 billion by 2027, allowing Indonesia to become a global leader in the halal industry and Muslim modest fashion market.
Meanwhile, Siregar stressed the need for the government and other stakeholders to make the most of market intelligence to study the global market, especially the markets of major importers of Indonesian modest fashion products.
He also stressed the need to explore new sources of better quality cotton at more affordable prices so that Indonesia’s domestic industry can produce more competitive modest fashion products.
He said the potential market for modest fashion extended beyond Muslim-majority countries, and growing interest among European customers for less revealing clothing was likely to boost demand.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has representatives in 138 countries and can help gauge the global modest fashion industry’s demand for domestic industries, officials said.
Meanwhile, Assistant Minister for Partnership and Market Expansion at the Ministry of Cooperatives, SMEs and Enterprises, Phiksy, expressed hope that domestic stakeholders will develop a modest fashion ecosystem and base themselves in Indonesia.
To this end, Fixy called for the creation of a master plan for the development of modest fashion in Indonesia and the regular holding of modest fashion events.
She also stressed the need to enact a Presidential Regulation on Modest Fashion in Indonesia to provide a legal basis for the development and expansion of modest fashion in Indonesia.
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