Joining SIG Rembang BUMN House, Oktaviras Successfully Popularizes Environmentally Friendly Fashion

JAKARTA - Fashion ecoprint has become a contemporary trend that has many enthusiasts because it combines the beauty of patterns with exotic color nicks from natural dyes. Oktaviasa, an MSME activist from Rembang, succeeded in capturing this business opportunity by creating natural motif fashion products using ecoprint techniques. His business is increasingly progressing thanks to the assistance of the Rembang BUMN (RB) House managed by a subsidiary of PT Semen Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (SIG), namely PT Semen Gresik.

Oktaviasa or familiarly called Okta, began to love the art world since entering elementary school education. His love stems from a hobby of knitting and calligraphy for wall decoration. His artistic spirit grew even more when he was in college, he developed skills in designing clothes that his friends and relatives liked. The many orders prompted Okta to start an OKVISA Craft business in 2015.

Okta is grateful, the hobby she has been in since childhood can actually be a source of income. Now her business has grown rapidly. Her best fashion works have appeared in a number of prestigious Indonesian fashion shows, such as the Muslim Fashion Festival (MUFFEST) in Jakarta in 2023 and the Indonesian Umbrella Festival in Prambanan in 2020. Now, she is also a member of the Indonesian Eco-printer Association (AEPI).

"Thank God, apart from clothing, now I have also produced bags, wallets and shoes. Every month, on average I can sell up to 100 products, ranging from fabrics, finished clothes and handicraft products. The product price varies from Rp250 thousand - Rp1.5 million," said Okta.

The quality of ecoprint fashion products, according to Okta, has quality that is not inferior to conventional techniques, even strong and durable because they use the basic ingredients of natural fibered fabrics, and dyes from plants, leaves, or flowers. In fact, Okta also cultivates a variety of plants, such as mahogany, secang, kalpataru, daunganlangan, daun truja, to kerincang or cosmos, to be used in the product print process.

"The printed process with the ecoprint technique does not leave waste so it is environmentally friendly. In terms of quality, the resulting color is also more natural and non-toxic. This is a form of moral responsibility for customers and the environment," said Okta.

In addition to ensuring environmentally friendly products, Okta shares her knowledge by providing free clothing knitting training, for women in OKVISA Craft stores and production houses located on Jl. Doctor Soetomo No Rembang. He hopes that the results of training will be useful as a skill to help the family economy.

For Okta, the success she achieved was inseparable from the role of RB Rembang. Since joining in 2020, Okta admitted that she has received a lot of assistance in the form of training for product skills and marketing. Now, OKVISA Craft has many customers who not only come from Rembang, but also various other regions in Central Java such as Semarang and Magelang, as well as other areas in Indonesia such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Riau, to Kalimantan.

RB Rembang is very helpful in advancing MSMEs by providing training to improve skills and open new insights about public speaking, product branding and digital marketing. This intensive assistance has helped us MSMEs to advance to class," Okta said.

SIG's Corporate Secretary, Vita Mahreyni, appreciates OKVISA Craft for consistently running a business with a high concept of circular economy and social concern. This is a tangible result of the implementation of the GIS mission to create environmental protection and sustainable social responsibility," said Vita Mahreyni.

By implementing sustainability principles, RB Rembang provides special treatment to OKVISA Craft and other fostered MSMEs that have the same spirit, by opening wider opportunities to participate in exhibitions, such as the Future SMEs Village Side Event G20 in Bali in 2022, to Tong Tong Fair in the Netherlands in 2022. In addition to exhibitions, OKVISA Craft products are also promoted to flash sales or life sales programs in the marketplace, and are used for company souvenir needs.

"SIG realizes that to realize sustainable development goals in Indonesia, collaboration from all parties is needed. Therefore, we encourage all stakeholders, including MSMEs, to jointly make environmental and social factors the top of mind and culture in creating and running a business," said Vita Mahreyni.