Transforming Jarit Fabrics

Mia Widyastuti creations are popular in numerous countries, including Italy, which is one of the world’s fashion hubs.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Mia Widyastuti

Mia Widyastuti (39) uses jarit, a long cloth traditionally used to carry babies, to make beautiful shoes. Her creations are popular in numerous countries, including Italy, which is one of the world’s fashion hubs.

A variety of shoes made from fabrics, starting from high heels, wedges, boots, to sandals, lined up neatly at Mia Widy Shoes store in Magelang, Central Java. The shoes are made with jarit cloth, which, despite its relatively low price, looks luxurious.

With Mia’s touch of creativity, cheap fabrics could be transformed into high-class shoes that sell for Rp 300,000 to millions of rupiah per pair. Enthusiastic buyers come not only from various cities across Indonesia but also from other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Italy. Some buyers from Singapore and Australia regularly order Mia’s shoes every month in tens, or even hundreds, of pairs.

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Mia’s success in transforming cheap fabrics into beautiful items prompted a number of buyers to order shoes made from other types of traditional fabrics. Mia herself strives to accommodate such a request. Consequently, she has created shoes made from various traditional fabrics, including traditional batik fabrics from Papua and Lampung as well as Balinese textiles known as tenun endek.

They (the customers) asked me to transform traditional fabrics into beautiful shoes to further complement their looks.

Mia has also catered to buyers’ requests for snakeskin and sheepskin shoes. Moreover, she also made a pair of shoes made of knitted fabric decorated with sequins which was ordered by a Malaysian customer.

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“They (the customers) asked me to transform traditional fabrics into beautiful shoes to further complement their looks, as they already had blouses, skirts or scarves made from the same fabrics,” said Mia, who uses the brand Mia Widy Shoes in selling her products, on Friday (26/3/2021) in Magelang.

Customers, Mia added, often sent their desired fabrics first, before Mia transformed the fabrics into the requested shoes. If she does not use all of the fabrics sent, she always returns the remaining fabrics.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Mia Widyastuti

Moves quickly

Mia designed her first shoes in 2011. She was motivated by her own experiences in buying uncomfortable shoes. She then started to design shoes according to her own comfort and taste.

Initially, she could not draw her desired shoe designs. She often only showed her shoe designs to the shoemaker working at a shoe production workshop owned by her friend. Then, she supervised the production process of the shoe designs until the results were according to her wants.

Unexpectedly, the shoes that she made caught the attention of her work colleagues in Jakarta.

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Her colleagues then started asking her to make shoes for them. By 2021, it has become a routine for Mia to design and create up to five pairs of shoes per week by order.

I went to the 2012 Hong Kong Fashion Week and only brought 25 pairs of shoes with me

She regularly uploads pictures of her shoes to social media platforms. By doing this, the number of orders continues to increase. One day, she even received an invitation from the Industry Ministry, which was interested in her shoe designs, to take part in the 2012 Hong Kong Fashion Week.

Mia, who is relatively a newcomer in the shoe designing world, felt unprepared when she received the invitation. Regardless, she dared to accept the invitation. “At that time, I went to the 2012 Hong Kong Fashion Week and only brought 25 pairs of shoes with me,” said Mia.

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The event, however, did not increase the number of orders from foreign countries. In contrast, domestic orders skyrocketed. Mia then decided to resign from her workplace so that she could focus more on designing shoes.

She moved quickly to further develop her budding business. By the end of 2012, she had opened a shoe outlet in a shopping mall in North Jakarta. However, this outlet only ran for a few months, and in October 2013, it was closed as it was not as profitable as expected.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Mia Widyastuti supervises the production of shoes carried out by her employees, Friday (26/3/2021).

Mia decided to return to her parents’ home in Magelang. There, she started her business from scratch. With a loan from the bank amounting to Rp 80 million, she bought a grinding machine and a sewing machine. She employed shoe makers from West Java, three of whom are living with their relatives in Magelang.

From shop to shop

At the beginning of her business in Magelang, Mia promoted and sold her shoes in numerous shops or boutiques across Yogyakarta and Solo. Every time she promoted her shoes, she brought with her around 50 pairs of shoes. She used this marketing strategy for two to three months. She stopped doing that after she realized that promotion through social media platforms was much more effective in selling her products.

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While running her business, she contacted also her old customers in Jakarta and her contacts at the Industry Ministry as well as started networking with the Magelang Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Agency. This strategy bore fruit. She received invitations to join a number of exhibitions in Jakarta.

These events brought Mia together with many prospective customers, including those from Singapore who are now her regulars. Later, she also sold her shoes in a number of virtual markets.

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Her shoe business ran smoothly and was able to support a number of employees. This business also provided a trickle of profit to jarit fabric artisans. This condition lasted until the Covid-19 pandemic hit her business. Prior to the pandemic, she produced at least 200 pairs of shoes per month, reaping millions of rupiah of profit. Yet, during the pandemic, she could only produce a few pairs of shoes.

Mia finally decided to temporarily stop her shoe production in 2020. Entering 2021, she started her shoe production again. At the end of they, her passion is first and foremost designing shoes.

Mia Widyastuti

Born: Magelang, May 2, 1982

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Magelang Muhammadiyah University

Occupation: Owner of Mia Widy Shoes

This article was translated by Astria Z. Nabila