An acid-wash shawl. “Our concept for Cotton Ink is casual with a twist,” says one of the two women who founded the company. (Photo courtesy of Cotton Ink)
Indonesia's Cotton Ink Cottons On to Creative Design
For those who rely on jeans and basic T-shirts for their everyday attire, a shawl can add much needed color and interest to an outfit. Finding just the right shawl that can be worn in different ways, while not always easy, is well worth the effort.
The women behind Cotton Ink, Carline Darjanto and Ria Sarwono, understand this. Of the three types of shawls that they have created, all can be worn in at variety of ways.
Unlike ordinary shawls, Cotton Ink’s convertible shawls have a tubular shape, so they can be worn as a shawl, a hood, a belt, a turban, a gigantic bracelet, even a cute tube top.
The two best friends, both 22, work on designs for Cotton Ink together and sell their goods online. Carline studied fashion design and graduated from LaSalle College last year. Ria, who studied visual communication design study at Paramadina University, is now a private piano teacher as well as a designer.
“Our concept for Cotton Ink is casual with a twist,” Carline explained.
Other than the basic convertible shawl, Cotton Ink also have a fringed version of the shawl. The most recent model, the krey shawl, can also be worn as a bolero or as a loose tank-top.
“Our customers like to send us their photos and they sometimes come up with other ways to wear our shawls,” Ria said.
The shawls are available in a range of colors, from basic black and gray to eye- catching blue, yellow and pink.
In Cotton Ink’s new collection, the fringed shawls are available in two tones. There is a basic dark navy and beige as well as brightly colored versions.
To keep their range special, they don’t reproduce items once they sell out. “If too many people are wearing Cotton Ink, it is going to lose its uniqueness,” Carline said.
Other than shawls, Cotton Ink also produces boxy shirts, cropped shirts and leggings. Carline and Ria both said they were flexible about what the future may hold in terms of designs, and that they didn’t want to become associated with only one product.
“But we have a certain casual style, so we would never design something like, say, formal gowns,” Carline said.
The girls began Cotton Ink last November, during the US presidential election campaign. As Barack Obama fans, they decided to make Obama T-shirts.
“Obama was very popular back then, and I thought this could be a good way to fill my free time and earn some money,” said Carline, who also took short fashion courses while looking for a job after graduating from LaSalle College. They created a Facebook page for their friends’ friends to order from.
After Obama T-shirts, the girls moved on to Suharto T-shirts. Altogether they produced about ten dozen Obama and Suharto T-shirts.
The idea to make the tubular shawl did not come until after Carline accepted a job offer at a garment company in December.
Eventually they met a supplier who was able to produce tubular shawls. And while Carline learned about merchandising and management in the fashion industry, Ria, whose job as a private piano teacher gives her a more flexible schedule, began to focus on taking the business seriously and encouraged Carline to do the same.
They also moved on from selling via Facebook to setting up a blogspot.
Carline said they chose to work with cotton because it’s a high quality fabric that drapes beautifully. The name Cotton Ink comes from the fabric they use and “Ink” alludes to the pattern or the colors they use.
At the moment, Cotton Ink receives about 400 orders per month. As an online shop, they have enjoyed publicity from popular fashion bloggers.
Although their business is growing, Carline and Ria have maintained a relaxed attitude toward Cotton Ink. They enjoy meeting each other at least once a week to discus ideas and solve problems, but the two don’t plan on moving beyond their online business model anytime soon.
They also have a deal that if there are signs that the business is going to ruin their friendship, they will shut down Cotton Ink.
“We do this because we like it, but we don’t want the job to take over our lives,” Carline said.
Cotton Ink shawls cost from Rp 50,000 to Rp 65,000. Leggings are Rp 99,000.
