Production Progress

Last Wednesday called for a quick midweek trip down to Jakarta. As response for the label continues to subtly grow, we've decided to work on more of our sampling and research in Indonesia. It's just that much more convenient and cost-effective with all the help at our disposal.

The A.M:

I first went to visit our space in Jakarta that used to be a manufacturer of mens shirts and ladies blouses. PT. ABJ used to employ about 500 people with several sewing and finishing lines. They produced garments for the likes of Marks & Spencer, Gap, Banana Republic, Eagle Dry Goods, etc. I remember packing goods in boxes to make some extra money back when I was 12. This place took care of a lot of people for 28 solid years.

The factory eventually ran it's course in 2009. Prior to that, overheads had been steadily increasing whilst orders declined. Maintaining the business just didn't make much sense any longer. ABJ closed it's doors in January of this year and paved the way for a new venture; Futsal World.

Futsal World is an indoor soccer space divided into three individual fields. The sidelines are closed off by nets and the ground is made of synthetic grass. The concept is similar to The Cage in Singapore.

Prior to closing down, I was using the facility to do some design and sampling work. Some of you may notice the Sifr Worship shirts in store. The conceptualization and production of that design was done in ABJ. We had to lay out all the fabric to topstitch it in order to create the check pattern. After all the topstitching was done, we then laid out patterns on that specific fabric blanket and cut out all the individual panels. That's how we currently have three variations of the paneled garments in store. Making those shirts was quite labor intensive.

After this factory closed it's doors, we moved all of our sampling and pattern-making to our knitwear manufacturing plant that is further out of Jakarta. PT LLG was featured in one of our previous posts where we introduced several of the people and equipment that we have on our side over there. This is where the rest of my Wednesday was spent.

More on that to follow.....