Sritex History, Legend Textile Factory Now Bankrupt

Illustration of Sritex employees (Doc. Sritex)

YOGYAKARTA The textile company PT Sri Rejeki Isman Tbk (SRIL) was declared bankrupt. In fact, the Semarang District Court also declared bankruptcy to three SRIL subsidiaries, namely PT Sinar Pantja Djaja, PT Bitratex Industries, and PT Primayudha Mandirijaya. The Semarang District Court stated that Sritex and its three subsidiaries failed to pay payment obligations to PT Indo Bharat Rayon. On the other hand, Sritex is actually a company that has been around for a long time. The forerunner of Sritex's history has even started since 1966.

Sri Rejeki Isman or better familiar with the name Sritex is a Limited Company (PT) company founded by Haji Muhammad Lukminto (HM Lukminto). He is a Chinese descendant with the alias Le Djie Shin.

Initially, Lukminto was a cloth trader at Klewer Market, Solo. It should be noted that in the Dutch colonial era, Solo was indeed the largest textile center. This factor is also alleged to have made Lukminto's business grow rapidly, from the beginning that small traders finally rented the Klewer Market stall. This kiosk is named after UD Sri Redjeki, who became the forerunner of Sritex.

UD Sri Redjeki, which is still a kiosk, continues to grow rapidly and is successful in the textile industry. This success was even obtained in just a matter of a few years. Lukminto used this success to establish a printing factory. At this factory, Sritex initially only produced limited fabrics to provide demand for fabrics in Solo.

Reporting from its official website, Sritex was finally officially registered with the Ministry of Trade as a limited company in 1978. During the New Order era, Sritex was trusted as a company that handled major tenders. This condition also contributed to Sritex's success in the business world. Sritex's success also led to the establishment of its first weaving factory in 1982.

Sritex's development continues to climb. Even in 1992, the company managed to expand its factory so that it was able to accommodate four fabric production lines ranging from spinning, weaving, finishing, and one-stop garment.

Not only producing domestic uniforms, Sritex is also quite well known in the international arena. One of the portfolios of the company from Solo, which is widely known, was when Sritex was trusted to produce NATO and German military uniforms in 1994.

In the following years, Sritex was trusted to conduct military clothing of 33 countries. Even the company was also able to survive when Indonesia experienced the 1998 monetary crisis.

Most recently, the Semarang Commercial District Court decided that the Sritex textile company was bankrupt. The decision was contained in the decision numbered 2/Pdt.Sus-Homologation/2024/PN Niaga Smg. In the decision, Sritex and its three subsidiaries were declared negligent in fulfilling payments to PT Indo Bharat Rayon, as the applicant, based on the Homologation Decision on January 25, 2022.

The issue of Sritex's bankruptcy has indeed been circulating since July 2024. Initially, the news was conveyed by a statement issued by the Confederation of Nusantara Workers Unions (KSPN). In the statement, it was stated that 13,800 textile workers received layoffs from January 2024 to June 2024.

That's information related to Sritex's history. Visit VOI.id to get more interesting information.