Like-minded companies and fashion designers called for a roadmap to turn the Indonesian textile and garment sector into a more sustainable industry and reduce environmental impact. A Circular Textile Day Conference was recently organized in Jakarta by a non-profit organization, Rantai Tekstil Lestari (RTL) where calls mounted to make the industry more sustainable.
“RTL promotes sustainability throughout the textile value chain and has been promoted by Viscose fiber producer APR and six other companies and two civil society organizations,” media reports stated. “Hopefully Indonesia will have a roadmap from the textile and apparel industry soon, which will include sustainable textiles and clothing and circular textiles,” RTL Chairman Basrie Kamba said at the conference.
Kamba added that RTL members should share their stories of their path to producing textiles more sustainably or the Indonesian textile industry will also be considered a polluting industry. “We define sustainability and circularity as when renewable materials are used, are recyclable, and safe, and kept in continual circulation,” WCTD Founder Cyndi Rhoades said.
“Textile circularity also includes valuing all stakeholders including workers who are valued and supported in an equitable way,” he stated.
Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, the Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the National Development Agency stressed the need to give a boost to produce sustainable textiles. “To do so, an action plan needs to be drafted and implemented and should be part of the development strategies of the industry and the government,” Widyasanti stated.
