While Sejauh cemented itself as one of Indonesia’s “it” fashion brands, in 2018 Subyakto brought about a major change in direction for the brand. “I started reading about how our planet is undergoing climate change, and that fashion is one of the biggest polluters that cause it,” Subyakto said. “I was devastated. In a moment of panic, I wanted to close the brand, but then I had a rethink and saw how the brand could actually use its influence to enlighten urbanites on the issue.”
And thus began a new chapter for Sejauh. In 2019, in line with the launch of its new collection Laut Kita (Our Ocean), Sejauh planned an exhibition to “shock” its audience. The team worked with creative director Felix Tjahjadi, and a few environmental NGOs (Diet Kantong Plastik, Pandu Laut, Divers Clean Action, and Ecoton Foundation), to create a journey in which visitors would experience a deep dive into the ocean.
The exhibition featured a design installation made from plastic waste, with infographics on the current state of Indonesia’s oceans, a mini photo exhibition on Indonesian nature by actor Nicholas Saputra, and a whale made of plastic, accompanied by an educational audio narrated by singer Tulus that warned of “more plastic than fish in our ocean in 2050”, if we do not change our single-use plastic consumption habits.
The exhibition was held in Plaza Indonesia, the country’s first luxury shopping mall at the heart of Jakarta. “I was pleasantly surprised that Plaza Indonesia was onboard with the exhibition idea, although it is different from the common definition of luxury. Prior to the exhibition, they realised that they too needed to start managing their waste better, and got help from Diet Kantong Plastik to educate their staff members to run a better waste management system,” Subyakto said.
