Clothing 1
Chiquitta, Ameelya, Anastasya, Gracelynn
Introduction

 From our survey results, it is clear that most people
that we’ve interviewed had little knowledge about
Surabaya batik. Now the understanding is really
poor, based on the survey result no one answered all
of the questions completely.
Who Has Recognized Surabaya’s
Traditional Clothing and Batik?

 There are lots of countries that have known Batik, such as
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Azerbaijan and
China. After they understood batik, they made clothing
with the motifs which looked like batik motifs in the form
of printing. The major difference between their clothing
and our batik is the techniques used and the colours.
Original batik was made using a manual wax-dyeing
technique. Most the colours of clothing from other
countries were strong colours, whilst most of Indonesia’s
clothing colours are softer.
Malaysia’s Batik

This is the batik from
Malaysia, which was
inspired by batik
from Indonesia.
Mostly this batik
shows large floral
motifs, and is light
and vibrant in
coloring.
Thailand’s Batik

This is the batik from Thailand,
which was inspired from
Indonesian batik. They mostly
use the batik to make shirts
and blouses. The motifs that
are commonly used are
coconut shells, beaches, palm
trees, the island’s tropical
flowers, fishing boats, its rich
water life and southern
dancers. These motifs are used
because it represents Thailand.
China’s Batik

This is batik from
China, also inspired
by Indonesia. The
traditional costumes
are made up of
decorative fabrics.
Mostly they use the
cloth for skirts, panels
on jackets, aprons and
baby carriers.
Differences of Surabaya’s Traditional Clothing
and Batik with Other Countries Clothing
Surabaya Traditional Clothing and Batik
Other Coutnries Batik Clothing
MOTIF:
is a repeated design, shape, or pattern
The motifs of the clothes are designed based on the place’s/country’s culture. The
motif will show clearly the identity of the place/country.
Mostly it represents Surabaya’s
identity/history like having motifs of
semanggi, mangrove, tugu pahlawan,
suro dan boyo, cock (Sawunggaling),
Cheng Ho boat, and their modifications.
Represents their own culture and their
identity.
STYLE:
The style of the clothes are designed based on the communities perspective and
need, so it likes what they think is comfortable and functional and what they
appreciate it for. It means that it could come from the other aspects too, like the
personalities and people’ qualities too.
Surabaya Traditional Clothing and Batik
Other Clothing
For Boys; they use two pieces of clothing,
which is a shirt and long skirt that is
called a “Jarit Parikesit”. The shirt usually
uses different kinds and numbers of
buttons. There are pockets with a
handkerchief in a triangle shape and the
color is red. For accessories, from the
pocket there is a gold watch hanging. For
girls, they wear mostly the Kebaya and a
scarf or veil that have some decorations
with bright colosr. Kebaya and the veil
use the similar color.
There are more than fifty designs of
clothes for each country. Each of the
designs represents their own culture. But
some designs are mixed between their
own culture with other country’s
cultures. For example like China, they use
Indonesia (Surabaya) batik materials for
some smart clothes. They modify the
batik motif with their own cultural
colours and patterns. Most of the batik
motifs are modified to a flower pattern
with some colors that represents their
culture.
COLORS:
The colors that the artists use are based on the country’s personality and their
qualities. Each color that they use has its own meanings. They both mostly use lots of
colors and can be similar. But the different approach is when they mixing and
combining the colors.
Boys and girls use different colors.
Usually boys wear pure and also crème.
For girls, they usually wear pink, red,
orange and other bright colors.
Mostly other countries use many different
colors, but not on one piece of clothing.
Sometimes two, three or four colors are
mixed together.
Traditional Clothing

 More special events are held to promote tradiutrional clothing, like
Surabaya anniversary celebrations, Cak dan Ning events and
others.
 By wearing traditional clothing to formal Surabaya events
(enforcing a dress code) both in particular areas of event or a TV
presenter of its program.
 Holding exhibitions/cultural fairs.
 Through advertisements on TV, magazine, newsletter, etc.
 By selling traditional clothing in many places (mall, tourists
venues, etc).
 Creating a websites to promote Surabaya culture, which clothing is
a part of it. It can explain the history and philosophy of the
clothing.
 Print out on public transportation that helps people to recognize it.
Surabaya Batik
 Introduce and discuss the importance of Batik both national and
internationally.
 The Batik community of East Java made exhibitions to promote batik
in the House of Sampoerna at Surabaya.
 People hold a batik fashion show (ready to wear), so when the
viewers like it they will buy it.
 Make a Batik Day.
 People use a shopping website (online shop) so they can buy batik
from the website.
 People promote batik through social media (poster, newspapers-Jawa
Post, Surabaya Pos-, magazines, flyer, etc)
 It becomes uniform of some school and offices.
 Make a commitment to developing its motifs (Batik Saraswati and
Batik Mangrove) .

Effective Ways to Promote Surabaya
Traditional Clothing and Batik

 Wearing batik more often in different occasions both for formal and non formal, because the
more we wear it the more people will recognize it.
 Making a collection of Surabaya batik, with its explanation and philosophy. Display them in
exhibitions or galleries.
 Making it a part of the house, office or mall decorations.
 Making other clothing items from batik, like hats, tie, scarf, shoes, bags and key chains, so
people will know about batik more and more.
 Promoting batik in social media because many people are using social media networks.
 Promoting batik worldwide on websites.
 Introducing and promoting batik and Indonesian clothing to foreigners.
 Sharing information about Surabaya batik to the population because from sharing information,
we know more information about Surabaya Batik.
 Attending some events (Surabaya anniversary, batik exhibition/fashion, ‘cak dan ning’ events).
Resources

 Agusfanani. “How to Maintain Batik and Make it
Long Lasting.” [Online] Available
http://agusfanani.hubpages.com/hub/How-toMaintain-Batik-and-Make-it-Long-Lasting, February
14th 2013.
 Yulisman, Linda. “Promoting Batik to a World-Class
Product.” [Online] Available
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/09/29
/promoting-batik-a-world-class-product.html,
February 14th 2013.
 Lulut. Personal Interview. February 8th 2013.
 Wordpress. “Surabaya Batik Course/ Tour Package.”
http://www.javaisbeautiful.com/our_tours/cruiseship-service-tours/batik-surabaya-tour.html/, February
14th 2013.
 Feli, Felicia. “Batik Gringsing exhibition in Surabaya.”
http://www.demotix.com/news/1488052/batikgringsing-exhibition-surabaya#media-1488014,
February 14th 2013.
 Agam, Yousri. “Cak dan Ning Panggilan Akrab Arek
Surabaya.”
http://rajaagam.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/cak-danning-panggilan-akrab-arek-surabaya/, February 20th
2013.