Janet Teowarang
Our seventeenth member of the month is Janet Teowarang
UCRF is running a ‘Member of the Month’ feature on this blog, where a member, selected at random from the membership database, is sent five questions to give us all an overview of our members. Our seventeenth participant Janet Teowarang, is a Researcher, Lecturer and Brand Owner focused on promoting sustainability and Indonesian local batik and hand-weaving textile craft techniques in the fashion industry.
– How would you sum up your research/practice?
Since 2018, I have been focused on sustainability for the Indonesian fashion industry as the main concentration for my research about the local batik, hand weaving artisan's well-being, development in Pasuruan Regency, batik artisans with disabilities development in Malang Regency, East Java and eri silk (peace silk) farmers sustainability in East Java. In addition, I am also a fashion industry player with my fashion brand, Allegra Jane therefore I consistently connect the research and practice as industry project activities through internal university grants and international grants.
Indonesia has the capacity to produce eri silk fibers from eri silk farmers, who are implementing the Eri silk cultivation at their homes. However, since the supply and demand is not balance nor regular, therefore the sustainability of eri silk farmers in East Java are low. Please refer to my proceeding, journal and media article publication related to eri silk and TENCEL™ fibers into fabrication silk hand weaving, Eri silk cultivation in Pasuruan and Malang Regency, East Java.
1. Utilization of Pasuruan Regency Handloom Fabrication Silk for the Indonesian Sustainable Fashion Industry. Teowarang, J.R. (2024). Utilization of Pasuruan Regency Handloom Fabrication Silk for the Indonesian Sustainable Fashion Industry. In: Tunio, M.N., Chica Garcia, J.M., Zakaria, A.M., Hatem, Y.M.L. (eds) Sustainability in Creative Industries. SCI 2022. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52726-5_8
2. Creating Sustainable Fashion Collection Made of Handloom Textile for Australian Market. Teowarang, J. R., Kurniawan, M. N., & Van Lunn, C. (2022). Creating Sustainable Fashion Collection Made Of Handloom Textile For Australian Market. Corak, 11(1), 23-40. https://journal.isi.ac.id/index.php/corak/article/view/6842
3. Surabaya style in the Sunshine State. https://garlandmag.com/surabaya-style-in-the-sunshine-state/
– How do you address fashion and sustainability in your work?
Understanding the impact of the fashion industry on the planet and people. Ethical production: Fairtrade, uses natural dyes and ensures the environment is protected from natural dyes waste, batik waste, eri silk (peace silk) cultivation waste.
Know the problems and opportunities for development in the local area. Indonesia is well-known for the traditional textiles or fabrics from various regions, therefore, it should highlight the local artisan's sustainability and developments. The use of sustainable products in my case utilizes eri silk (peace silk) with TENCEL™ fibers on hand weaving made by MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise) KaIND in Pasuruan Regency.
I promote 7 forms of sustainable fashion to the local batik and hand-weaving artisans, my students, and/ or related audiences from my lectures.
Educate and inspire through industry project activities with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation.
Circular fashion by recovering, and re-purpose leftover material for other production, for example for my case, I would keep all the fabric waste from my collection production and re-purpose them for creating other fashion products or I will give the fabric waste to my students for them to re-use the material for their projects.
Slow fashion by focusing on quality for my collection production, encouraging the customers to buy less with sustainable fashion pieces, and providing clothes repair for free.
Promoting locally made traditional textiles or fabrics and clothes with good quality for longer garments’ life and designed to last by educating audiences/customers of the garments care.
Sustainable actions by collaborating with relevant Indonesian public figures and key Opinion Leaders (KOL).
– What are the conflicts you have encountered around fashion and sustainability in your work?
Bureaucracy.
Changing regional/ district heads who have different missions and visions.
Major local society (people) in Indonesia opt for cheap, fast fashion products especially those imported from other Southeast Asia, and East Asian countries.
– What do you consider the key sources and cases when it comes to fashion and sustainability?
Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion + Textiles by TAFE NSW, UTS and NSW Government https://sustainablefashioncentre.com/
Institute of Positive Fashion https://instituteofpositivefashion.com/
Geneva Environment Network https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainable-fashion/
Green Strategy – Seven forms of sustainable fashion https://greenstrategy.se/seven-forms-of-sustainable-fashion/
The Interline – The Sustainable Report 2024 supported by Munich Fabric Start https://www.theinterline.com/2024/09/30/the-sustainability-report-2024-available-now/
– Could you recommend some less-known sources or cases you think should be more widely shared?
Indonesian MSME KaIND https://kaind.id/about
Weaving for Life https://weavingforlife.or.id/about/
Waste4Change, Realizing a waste-free Indonesia through innovation https://waste4change.com/about?lang=en
Thank you Janet for sharing your work!
