The Indonesian garment industry is one of the nations top foreign exchange earners, making it a crucial element of the country’s economy. It employs 3-5 million people, depending on how bad the most recent COVID cluster was–the majority of them are medium-skilled, low-paid women supporting their families.
On the other hand, the Indonesian clothing sector is beset by a slew of problems. In addition to Indonesia’s import restrictions, they must compete with the number of items imported by China and other emerging nations such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, resulting in a textile investor shortage, as well as an estimated 65 percent of employees being sent home for the time being. As a result, Indonesia’s textile and textile product exports dropped by 52 percent from the previous year.
Despite these obstacles, Indonesia remains one of the top ten textile-producing countries in the world, as well as the world’s 12th biggest textile and apparel exporter; a respectable position, despite the fact that Indonesia is behind China in terms of worldwide market share.
Apart from Pindad, Indonesia only has one other factory whose sewing and manufacturing abilities are internationally known. Sritex manufactures a variety of military and commercial items for NATO as well as other well-known apparel brands.
A Sritex’s factory, known as PT Sri Rejeki Isman or PT Sritex, is located on Jalan K.H. Samanhudi in Sukaharjo Regency, Central Java. Despite its modest sized neighborhood, this factory produces garments, yarn, and textiles for retailers and brands in 55 countries including the United States, Germany, England, Turkey, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, New Zealand, Tunisia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, and even NATO. Some well-known brands include Uniqlo, Zara, JCPenney, New Yorker, Timberland, Quicksilver, Sears, and the Walmart network.
Sritex operates nine spinning mills, three weaving factories, three dyeing/printing factories, and seven garment factories.
Sritex’s spinning sector converts fiber into yarn. There are nine spinning mills in the company. More than 320,000 ring-spindle and modified machines are imported from Asia and Europe to supply the spinning sector, which has 2,500 units. Sritex has a yarn manufacturing capacity of 566,000 bales per year.
He was known as the “King of Batik” or Ie Djie Shin, before converting to Islam in 1995, and was given the name Muhammad Lukminto. He began his career as a trader in Solo, Central Java’s Klewer Market.
AS a result of the G30S-PKI event, also known as the new order regime, which outlawed everything associated to ethnic Chinese, Lukminto was forced to leave his China-based school in the second grade. After that he began following in the footsteps of his elder brother who had already begun trading at Klewer Market.
Later, Lukminto’s parents handed him Rp100,000 in cash as a gift. At the time, the sum of money was rather substantial. He bought Belaco fabric in Semarang and Bandung with that money, then sold it by strolling about from dawn to evening at Klewer Market, and a number of home batik factories, eventually establishing the textile company when he was 20 years old, in 1966.
As a business owner in charge of production, Lukminto quickly understood the value of the supply chain, and because PT Sritex was an up stream to down stream business at the time, goods were utilized in spinning, weaving, finishing, and garments. He also knew that any obstruction to his flow of production could cost him thousands of dollars in missed income and cause problems with clients who rely on goods being delivered on time. And ever since president Suharto proclaimed the foundation of the TNI in 1992, PT Sritex has been compelled to furnish uniforms for the police and the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI).
Muhammad Lukminto, who was born in Kertosono, Nganjuk, on June 1, 1946, died on February 5, 2014 in Singapore, leaving behind his wife and five children before being buried on February 16, 2014 at the family’s cemetery in Delingan, Karanganyar.
Before Lukminto passed, the Indonesian army and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exchanged military uniforms during a soccer match, just like soccer players, who change uniforms after the game. He didn’t want to miss out on a business opportunity, thus PT Sritex began researching the design of military uniforms for the North Atlantic region’s major defense and security agency.
After PT Sritex obtained the German military uniform certificate in 1993, they continued to be a supplier of NATO uniforms as well as a reliable bulletproof vests.
Many countries requested military uniforms that were bulletproof, anti-radiation, anti-mosquito, anti-fire, anti-water, and even a camouflage military uniform that changed color depending on its surroundings. Many nations continue to choose PT Sritex because of its guaranteed quality and NATO compliance.
Meanwhile, PT Sritex has extended to every corner of the globe—36 nations have entrusted them with the production of their countries’ military uniforms, and the company has remained inventive since the 1988 crisis.
Apart from producing military clothing and fashion, Sritex also participates in the manufacturing of tools and equipment. Also air cushion type TNI military vehicles, and bullet-proof and fire-resistant components for national defense.
Sritex also produces tents for emergency purposes that are waterproof in addition to assault backpacks that can also be used as a buoy. Finally, Sritex manufactures parachutes, eliminating the need for TNI to import them from overseas.
All of the nations who have bought military uniforms from PT Sritex have visited the company’s showroom at some point in the past, and some of them have even fought in wars against each other while helping to feed 60,000 employees and their families.
Producing high-quality textiles at the spinning mill requires a lengthy procedure.
The raw material is typically rayon, cotton, and polyester, which is spun into yarn, before it is coiled in a winding machine and packed.
After that, it goes through the weaving process, after which it is formed into fabric, completed for finishing, and then given a pattern or color to the garment, which is then stitched according to the style number or order.
Sritex employees must work six days a week, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., to complete all their tasks. The second shift runs from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., while the third shift runs from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
Sritex’s current production capacity is 566,000 bales, and in order to meet this goal, the company has completed construction of a new facility in the same area.
Sritex intends to manufacture an additional 80 million yards per month with the new production.
Meanwhile, the weaving plant they established will add 60 million meters per year to Zara and Uniqlo’s overall manufacturing capacity, bringing the total capacity of Zara and Uniqlo tailors to 180 million meters per year.
In the end, the Indonesian textile industry’s survival is contingent on global economic recovery. Given the uncertainties, the government should not burden textile manufacturers needlessly. For the Lukminto family, the textile industry continues to provide profitable prospects.
Wondering who and where to get your textile manufacturing done in Indonesia? Here are the top 12 textile companies.
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