The potential for the local footwear industry is enormous, the Indonesian Footwear Industry Empowerment Center (BPIPI) of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) also revealed that now many local products have been exported to foreign markets. "One of Indonesia's biggest strengths is in the footwear industry. Data from BPS shows that in the fourth quarter of 2022, GDP growth for the footwear industry was 30.8 trillion rupiah, with an export value of 7.7 billion US dollars," said the Head of BPIPI Ministry of Industry, Thanksgiving Idayati, at the Jakarta Sneakers Day (JSD) 2023 exhibition at ICE BSD, Tangerang Regency, Banten, Sunday (26/2/2023). Ida said that currently there are several export markets for local brands, starting from the United States, Japan and Europe. Meanwhile, CEO of Kanky Alfonsus Ivan Kurniadi assesses that the quality of local brands can now be side by side with international brands. Moreover, many of them are locally exported. Kanky himself is one of the local brands that has joined in enlivening the domestic shoe market since 2021. Even though he is still a new player, the quality is not inferior to foreign brands. "Even though we are only half a year old, we can catch up on quality. As long as our identity is clear, many can help with standardization. There are ways for quality, including BPIPI's assistance," said Alfon.
Even so, Alfon admits that some parts of local shoe production still use imported materials. In fact, he said that currently 10-20 percent of the components of the shoes he produces are still imported. However, in the future, he believes imported materials such as outsole can be produced domestically after local footwear production increases. "It takes a sincere intention to really develop this industry," he said. To increase sales and quality of local brands, the Ministry of Industry BPIP is doing several things. Idayati revealed that her party carried out campaigns and outreach about local footwear on many occasions. The Ministry of Industry even conducted outreach to campuses to introduce the shoe industry and its prospects. "We are campaigning, socializing even to campuses, especially to the product design department, introducing the shoe industry to be interesting and a very promising business opportunity. We hope this socialization will also be a problem solver (problem solution) for footwear, namely from the design," he said.
