“A small brand with a huge dream” is the motto of a local fashion brand COTTON INK. Over the past few years several local brands have emerged to catch the attention of Indonesian fashionistas, and COTTON INK is definitely one such brand that should be taken seriously.

Started with a simple blog (cottonink.blogspot.com), COTTON INK has become a familiar name in the local fashion industry. The brand was established in November 2008 by duo Carline Darjanto and Ria Sarwono who were friends from junior high school.

A graduate of LaSalle College of Fashion, Carline managed customer relations and development while Ria, who graduated from Paramadina University, was in charge of delivery and marketing for the offline market.
It was Carline who had the fashion background, but both her and Ria are involved in design concepts and production.

Founders of COTTON INK brand Ria Sarwono (left) and Carline Darjanto.

Ria and Carline say their designs are not inspired by a specific designer or label, but from street style mixed with high fashion.

“When we first started, we wanted to make T-shirts from cotton as a base and use ink as the element. That is why we named the brand COTTON INK. We have continued to use cotton as our primary fabric and ink to represent our love of color. As you can see in many of our products, we love having lots of color,” Carline said.
“We offer casual clothing with a twist … Customers can wear these clothes every day, and comfortably, with a reasonable price. Our designs are simple, so they usually appeal to customers.”

According to Carline, she and Ria neither tried to produce a specific designs that would make customers really stand out from the crowd, nor adorn the designs with too many details. Carline says she makes everyday clothing for her customers, a necessity, but gave it a twist.

“We think many local fashion brands have a ‘more is more’ concept, but we think if we have our very own concept and have fun with it we will have our own target market,” she said.

During the last Brightspot Market (brightspotmarket.com), which was held last month, COTTON INK was voted the Favorite Brand by visitors, allowing Carline and Ria to launch their collection in the next prestigious Jakarta Fashion Week 2010.

COTTON INK plans to launch four collections every year: Its spring/summer collection, pre-fall collection, fall/winter and resort collection.

This month’s Spring Summer 2010 collection is available in chic yet simple designs and colors, ranging from Mini Boxy shirts with black slub fabric, priced at Rp 135,000 (US$15), to the Neptune Knee Dress — a convertible short dress with two straps that can be worn in several ways —costing Rp 215,000, or you could go for the maxi version, longer than the knee dress, which costs Rp 250,000.

Other new products include COTTON INK’s bestseller Crema Leggings. Although this product is already sold out, other colors are still available at Rp 99,000 apiece, or there are acid leggings in fuchsia for Rp 119,000.

And let’s not forget the famous seamless tubular shawls, in the classic design, krey, fringe and acid wash.

There are many colors available, ranging from Rp 70,000 for a classic and acid wash shawl to Rp 65,000 for fringe and Rp 75,000 for krey.

COTTON INK also offers to turn acid wash pieces into fringe or krey, for Rp 85,000. However, this doesn’t include their delivery fee, but you can check the blog for details on this. If you live outside Jakarta don’t worry, the company deliver across Indonesia as well as to international destinations.

What makes this brand special is the fact that you can actually wear their products in different ways. COTTON INK allows its wearers to be creative with their products — to play and have fun while still feeling comfortable wearing them.

As part of the Resort 2010 collection, right before Summer Spring 2010, COTTON INK offered the Infinity Scarf, which was an immediate hit and sold out straight away. The Infinity Scarf is longer and isn’t seamless like the tubular shawls, and COTTON INK came up with various ways to wear it, for example as a scarf, a cardigan, a draped collar, or a gown.

Besides the Infinity Scarf, the Neptune dresses and tubular shawls can also be worn in several ways.

— Photos Courtesy of COTTON INK


For more ideas on how to wear your COTTON INK clothes, visit www.youtube.com/user/cottoninksteps.

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