Two students from the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (DTS FTUI), Adiba Putri Rahmahakim and Shafira Maulida Khairunnisa proposed the concept of environmentally friendly shoes produced from textile waste. Through this innovation, the two students offered alternative solutions to the fashion waste problem in Indonesia as well as opening up business opportunities for the community.
“92 million tons of textile waste is generated from the fashion industry. The number of garment products produced every year has doubled since 2000. 95% of the textile waste that is wasted can still be recycled or reused into other functional objects (upcycle). By utilizing textile waste from the textile industry, we try to minimize the negative impact of the fashion industry, while still being able to meet the people’s clothing needs,” said Adiba regarding the idea of environmentally friendly shoes.
This shoe design utilizes the principle of recycling in its processing, taking into account the production process so as not to produce other waste. “Our main target is women aged 16-40 years who have an interest in the fashion industry and care about textile waste issues. This is because based on data, women tend to buy more fashion products than men, so the selection of target markets is considered effective,” said Shafira.
To be attractive and different from other shoes on the market, Adiba and Shafira suggested that the shoes be designed to be used for several shoe models, such as flat shoes, mules, and sandals where usually the products on the market are sneakers. In addition, if you use several combinations of patchwork for each shoe, namely plain patchwork and patterned patchwork, each shoe will have a different motives or color. The two FTUI students also suggested that the motifs used be simpler, modern, and following trends to suit the intended target market.
The Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU fully supports the innovations of the two FTUI students. “I hope that the idea of environmentally friendly shoes for FTUI students can be developed as a start-up in the future. This is in line with FTUI’s vision to produce high-quality entrepreneurial graduates while at the same time providing a positive impact on society and the nation. This solution can also increase public awareness of the environment, educate the public about textile waste through product publication and marketing, and assist the government in reducing the amount of waste before it reaches the landfill by using recycled fabric as basic materials.”
The fashion industry is one of the creative industries that will continue to develop along with the times. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency, the export value of fashion products in 2015 reached USD 12.11 billion or equivalent to Rp. 162.4 trillion. On the other hand, the clothing and textile industry is the second largest polluter in the world after oil. The United Nations (UN) states, the fashion industry accounts for 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The eco-friendly shoe design initiated by these two FTUI students also led them to win First Place in the Business Fun Education 2.0 competition organized by Diponegoro University on September 13-October 2 2021. In the competition, the FTUI team managed to get rid of 58 other teams from from 37 universities in Indonesia.
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Public Communication Bureau
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia