Fast fashion’s heavy footprint extends well beyond the factory floor. Indonesian social entrepreneur Denica Flesch, founder of ethical fashion brand SukkhaCitta, on how the industry impacts the country’s artisans
Working as an economist for The World Bank, Denica Flesch saw first-hand the challenges faced by isolated rural communities in her home country of Indonesia. “My desire to have more meaning drove me to do my own research, travelling village to village to learn about poverty,” says Flesch. “What I found was a reality so hidden for us living in cities: the exploitation of women and our planet that happens behind what we wear every day. I was heartbroken.”
Though she had heard about the poor, often dangerous working conditions in factories that produce garments for fast fashion giants, Flesch was shocked to see that the industry was also taking advantage of Indonesian artisans in villages across the country. “I realised I needed to build a bridge, connecting these amazing women with access to education and fair work. But I knew I couldn’t do it alone,” she says. The realisation sparked her decision to create her own social enterprise, SukkhaCitta, an ethical fashion brand that provides better job opportunities and a higher income to Indonesia’s artisans.
The brand, founded in 2016, started with three women and now provides access to education and a living wage to 1,432 people in rural Indonesia. “With the help of our community, we’ve funded four craft schools where young women can come and learn the skills to get her family out of poverty,” she says.
Beyond helping artisans get paid fair wages, SukkhaCitta also uses sustainably sourced materials and relies on indigenous, regenerative farming methods. “We make beautiful clothes that are #MadeRight,” she says, a hashtag now associated with the brand’s ethically made goods. “Fifty-six percent of your purchase goes back to our villages and funds our craft schools.”
SukkhaCitta garments are also made using sustainable production techniques, eschewing synthetic dyeing,which, though far cheaper, creates 20 percent of the world’s water pollution. “[This] threatens the health of our rivers and the community around it. That’s why our #MadeRight pieces are dyed with plants. We have created the world’s first 100 percent traceable supply chain, from soil to sew.”
We asked Flesch about everything from how fast fashion impacts artisans in Indonesian villages to how her social enterprise is helping rural communities long-term.
People are increasingly aware of the social and environmental consequences of fast fashion, including the often exploitative conditions in factories that manufacture the garments, but less is known about how fast fashion impacts artisans in Indonesian villages. Can you help explain?
When I was doing my research, I found that craft is a really complicated industry. Between us and the artisans exists a complex subcontracting layer of factories and middlemen—down to someone making that fabric in her home. In fact, it’s estimated that up to 60 percent of handcrafted pieces are made this way, by a woman who couldn’t leave her village because she has to take care of her children, a woman who has no say in what she earns from her work.
There’s currently a lot of discussion surrounding fast fashion and its impact on the workers, but most focus only on factory work. One thing that struck me was that the majority of artisans actually work outside of the formal factory setting. Without any access, most of these women live in poverty. What makes it worse is that as an informal industry, no regulation exists to protect these women.
I think that was my ah-ha moment, to realise that there's a broken link between us as customers and the way our clothes are made. It was then when I felt the need to build a bridge—a model that invites our customers to be part of the solution of some of the world's most pressing social and environmental problems.
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