Indonesian Streetwear Label Tells Us How to Survive In the Fashion Industry

The fashion industry is ever evolving. As long as the youth keeps exploring and finding their own potential, fashion industry will continue to prosper. Of course, to survive in fashion industry is another matter. In Indonesia, when fast fashion trends from large international companies have taken over shopping malls with giant billboards, small local clothing lines are still finding a way to be recognized.

Does anybody remember when home-based fashion businesses—locally known as "distro—were rampant in Indonesia from the early to mid-2000s? Sadly, only a handful of them still stand today. The rest had to face the bitter reality: going bankrupt.

Four young Jakarta natives, Andri Hasibuan, Fritz Yonathan, Vincentius Aditya, and Hendrick Setioadithyo, are not afraid of risks. With their exceptional creativity and confidence, they launched a clothing line called Paradise Youth Club last year. They combined all elements of streetwear and youth culture in their products, such as t-shirts, jackets, hats and shirts. The label often collaborates with international brands, and has quickly gained a cult following in Indonesia and abroad.

VICE talked to the four men behind Paradise Youth Club about their visions, the ups and downs of running fashion business, and how they mustered their confidence to break through the global streetwear market.

VICE Indonesia: For those who don’t know Paradise Youth Club yet, can you tell us when and how you decided to launch a clothing line?
Adit: In late 2014, Fritz and I decided that we wanted to create something that's aligned with our passion. Before we started our clothing line, I asked Hendrick to handle marketing and distribution, with Fritz in production. My job is to develop the concept and design the clothes. Andri then joined us because we needed help in merchandising and data handling.

Andri: The four of us worked in the same company and we have the same vision with our own specialty. That’s why it’s easy for us to do this. We made our own brand because we were always designing, producing and handling for brand that we didn’t like, but was popular in the market. It inspired us to have our own business and brand. We want to create something that we all like and we can wear ourselves. Now, we don’t have to do market research or look for approval for our designs. The approval solely comes from the four of us.

What’s the biggest challenge in today’s fashion industry? Are annoying online buyers who always ask without reading descriptions first a challenge for you?
Fritz: Sourcing good materials was a bit hard the first time we started our business. Adit: Not many local customers supported our brand. Maybe it’s because they thought local products are not as good as the international ones.

Andri: Annoying customers don’t really bother us. Hendrick and I handle customers and shipment process. There are some “unique” [read: annoying] customers, but it’s only a handful of them. It’s like one out of 20 customers. Hendrick: We all know that customers are "kings". As long as they’re not troublesome, we’ll still answer their queries.

You name your S/S 2018 collection Utopian Frequency. What’s the concept behind this collection?
Adit: The collection was brought into life from our conversation about collaboration and from communicating with several international partners. We do have differences, like culture and languages, but we still have similarities. It can be the music, design or ways to have fun. It may sound like utopian dream, but actually it’s more about the similarities that make our minds aligned regardless of our differences.

You have collaborated with international brands before, like Jungles and PRMTVO. How did it happen?
Andri: Instagram really helped us in getting international partners. It all started from collaboration with international brands, photographers and sales. Just like our collection new theme, social media bridges our difference. We have only collaborated with three international brands. There was Jungles from Australia, which has a similar graphic design style as us. The collaboration with PRMTVO from the US was coincidence. They came to Indonesia. We were planning to meet up with them but it didn't happen, but we finally did a collaboration. When we collaborated with Alpha Industries, we were very lucky. They saw our product in Korea and they asked us to collaborate for their “Hero of Alpha Industries” project that shows daily heroes. The idea is that we don’t have to be in a war to be a hero.

Why wasn't the collaboration with Alpha Industries brought to Indonesia?
Fritz: The MA-1 jacket was actually for Alpha Industries’ winter collection. It's not suitable at all for the climate here. We’ve tried wearing the sample, but it was too hot. Andri: The price also became our concern. Our custom duty and tax are expensive, so the selling price will be expensive as well.

Your newest collection will still dominated by t-shirts, jackets, shirts and crewnecks. What makes it different from the previous collections?
Adit: It has a broader concept. We designed new patterns for t-shirts, crewneck and hats.

Fritz: We also have shirts, trousers and short pants now.

Andri: There will be other types of clothing in the future.

Hendrick: In this collection, we made bigger and oversized clothes.

Graphically, PYC has psychedelic, war, and utopia elements. What's the philosophy behind them?
Adit: We use these themes because they fit our own characters. For example, our "Mind Benders" collection in early 2017, most people thought it was only about drugs. Actually, "Mind Benders" also expressed concerns of mainstream media that like to use clickbait headlines to allure audience. It's like a tactic used by drug dealers, if you think about it.

It’s not easy to survive in Indonesian fashion industry. Clothing brands come and go, and become forgotten. How do you survive the tough competition?
Andri: We will always make our quality better. Hendrick: Maintaining good connection and communication with our customers and stockists.

Is it possible to create streetwear with strong Indonesian characteristics?
Adit: We have always wanted to create something that can be accepted globally.

‘The Road’ is a series by VICE x Tokopedia that presents profiles of seemingly "common" people who have the bravery to chase after their dreams despite doubts and obstacles, and who have become respected figures in their own field. #MulaiAjaDulu