SUCCESS STORY: COTTON INK

It all started three years ago with a simple silk-screened T-shirt bearing the image of Barack Obama. What started as a humble blog shop favorited by bloggers, facebookers and forum members is now a full-fledged Ready To Wear label offering womenswear, accessories, shawls and leggings. The owners of Cotton Ink, Ria Sarwono and Carline Darjanto admit that they owe their success to digital marketing. “E-commerce is a very promising platform. It is evident through the number of online stores in Indonesia. However, most of them are resellers, not designers. It is important not to mix up the two. To stand out and be noticed, you have to be different,” says Carline.

The team started to develop their product range in February 2009. They participated in Brightspot Market, a design-oriented curated market targeted towards the young and trendy. Their current best-seller product—the tubular shawl—started to sell hard. “We started to get offline consumers but since we continued to promote our products online, they gradually shift and become online buyers as well. Our marketing strategy is online-based. Aside from the fact that we became successful online, this strategy is also cost-efficient,” says Ria.

Their efforts eventually paid off. Following the launch of their official website in 2010, Cotton Ink began to win awards. They were recognized as the Most Favorite Brand at Brightspot Market, Most Innovative Brand at Cleo Fashion Award and Best Local Brand by Free Magazine.

“By correctly identifying our market, we are able to refine our segment,” explains Ria. “We realize that we still need to improve our time management considering how crucial it is in order to sustain the business. Believe it or not we only have a sample room. We outsource our production. For small businesses like ours, the best way is to start off virtually,” confirms Carline.