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Handep: Dayak fashion for the people, by the people
After completing their studies abroad, three Dayak youths return to their hometown to build an eco-friendly fashion brand together with local craftspeople.
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All natural: The products incorporate rattan, which is left in its natural color or dyed black using rambutan leaves. (Handep/-)
W
ith the shift to a more ecologically minded wardrobe, more and more fashion brands are replacing animal-based products with natural fibers from plants.
While eco-fashion brands are becoming increasingly common these days, one initiative from Indonesia takes it a step further.
Meet Handep, a newly established fashion brand from Central Kalimantan. Founded in late 2018, the social enterprise works with Dayak women and small farmers to create fashion accessories based on traditional Dayak weaving patterns.
Handep was founded by three Dayak youths: Randi Miranda, Liza Apriani and Yoan Taway. In the beginning, they collaborated with 20 weavers and have since expanded to work with 88 weavers and 16 farmers in Central Kalimantan, with plans to expand to neighboring provinces in the future.
Randi, who received his education in Australia and the United States, grew up in a remote village of Central Kalimantan, where he used to forage into the forest with his parents for vegetables.
“This is the philosophy of the Dayak life that is slowly being forgotten in modern society,” Randi said during a recent talk show at the American cultural center @America in Jakarta.
“Rapid industrial expansion like palm oil, mining and logging is slowly destroying our forests, and with it, the livelihoods of indigenous Dayak people,” he explained.
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- Palmerat Barat No. 142-143
- Central Jakarta
- DKI Jakarta
- Indonesia
- 10270
- +6283816779933
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