JAKARTA - Famous presenter Arie Untung shared a unique story behind his decision to directly support local shoe artisans. Who would have thought, this dedication started from his traumatic experience of being cheated alias 'zonk' when buying shoes online.
Arie revealed that having foot sizes above average, namely 46 or 47, is often a problem in itself. Shopping for shoes online often does not provide visual guarantees that match the original.
"Because of zonk, buy another product, it feels like zonk. So it's really back to back, zonk got zonk again," said Arie Untung in South Jakarta, Friday, May 29.
Fenita Arie's husband explained that in the current digital era, image manipulation using artificial intelligence (AI) makes it difficult for buyers to distinguish the quality of goods. This is what makes him aware of the importance of the touch and feel experience (seeing and touching directly) when buying footwear.
Departing from this anxiety, Arie as the New Shareholder of SPOKATS by Grebe is now joining an initiative called 'Spokat', a physical retail outlet that specifically curates and sells various quality local shoe brands. However, Arie emphasized that this project is more than just a business matter.
"Spokat is not about shoes, but about dreams. Behind all this, there are hundreds to thousands of dreams of craftsmen and production experts in Indonesia who have dreams: when their works can enter big malls?" said Arie.
The name "Spokats" itself is taken from the slang of the 80s-90s which means "shoes". This name was chosen to represent Spokats' closeness to the culture and lifestyle of Indonesian youth.
Spokats is present as an answer to the concerns of sneakerheads and local brand lovers who often have trouble finding quality local shoes in the same place and easily accessible.
Through the concept of a curated multi-brand store, Spokats gathers various local brands all in one spot in the mall.
"Currently, there are still many people who want to buy local sneakers, but can only get them online. On the other hand, local brand friends also want to have a house or container to display their products in a place that can be directly reached by the audience. Therefore, SPOKATS is here," said Mr. Triangga as the Founder of SPOKATS by Grebe.
Spokats officially opened its newest store at Gandaria City on May 30 with a multi-brand local footwear concept, a store that combines various Indonesian local shoe brands in one place.
The presence of SPOKATS itself is a new space for local brands to grow, build communities, and get closer to local fashion and sneaker lovers.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
