Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise students experience Indonesia’s fashion industry

As part of the inaugural Fashion Enterprise Global Experience study tour, six students were immersed in the Indonesian fashion industry.

Students studying the Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise focus on three streams of study: marketing, retail and product development.

The study tour to Indonesia shed light on all three of these themes, with a key focus on sustainability and how the Indonesian market is adapting to and promoting more sustainable fashion production and consumption practices.

Dr Harriette Richards, a lecturer for the Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise, accompanied the students on the tour.

“I think the key benefit for the students was spending two weeks in another culture,” she said.

“This experience really opened their eyes to how people of different religious, class and cultural backgrounds engage with fashion and what this might mean for their own future careers in the industry.”

Dr Richards noted that one of the most interesting aspects of the Indonesian fashion market is that it is the largest Muslim population in the world, making it a leader in the modest fashion industry.

“This is a sector of the industry that most of the students on the tour were not at all familiar with," she said.

"It was incredibly valuable for them to learn about this fashion market and how fashion can be intimately connected with religious identity, in ways that they had not previously considered.

Alt Text is not present for this image, Taking dc:title 'Indonesia Fashion Students group photo'

RMIT Fashion Enterprise student pictured with Dr Harriette Richards (top row, four from right) and individuals from Busana Apparel, Jakarta Fashion Week, Rentai Tekstil Lestari, Asia Pacific Fibres and Bandung Institute of Technology, International Internships team members.

Grace Gorrie, a second-year Fashion Enterprise student, found representing RMIT in another country an incredibly gratifying experience.

“The opportunities to interact and communicate with Indonesian fashion brand CEOs, global manufacturing company executives and even the Jakarta Fashion Week team was the most rewarding aspect to the trip,” she said.

“Networking with these people could potentially be the first step in building a solid contact base to help pursue a fashion business career internationally.”

Grace also highlighted the benefit of out-of-classroom experience and taking your in-class learnings and applying them practically.

“The tour urged you to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself,” she said.

The work we did on the tour was an invaluable experience that positioned me strongly for a career in the fashion industry.

While this tour to Indonesia was only the first of its kind, Dr Richards made sure to highlight the wide range of intensive courses and global experiences offered through RMIT across different programs.

“There are incredible opportunities for exchange and study abroad, and I would strongly encourage students to take advantage of what is on offer through Mobi,” she said.

“These opportunities offer such an incredible chance to see the world, learn in different cultural contexts and expand the horizons of what might be possible in future.”

This global study tour was funded by the New Colombo Plan (NCP) Mobility Program and delivered in partnership with International Internships.

For more information about the Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise, visit here.

For more information about Mobi, RMIT's hub for Global Experiences, visit here.

Story: Sheridan Van Gelderen

17 March 2023

More student news

Inspiring Student Achievements Honoured at 2024 Vocational Education Awards

11 Dec 2024

RMIT’s Vocational Education Student Awards celebrated top VE achievers of 2024 at Melbourne’s Capitol Theatre.

Engineering students reach new heights at EnGenius showcase

02 Dec 2024

RMIT’s EnGenius event offered students an opportunity to present their final-year capstone projects to industry, with the winning designs ranging from a brake system for rockets to enhancements in clean energy technology.

RMIT students among first recipients of new Dylan Alcott Foundation Scholarship

26 Nov 2024

Amy Roland and Jamie Pozdeeva will receive up to $10,000 for each year of their studies.

Celebrating Graduate Cam Moray-Smith's Journey of Reinvention

25 Nov 2024

After a 26-year career in funeral services, RMIT graduate Cam Moray-Smith embarks on a new journey in law, driven by a passion for advocacy and inspired by the memory of his late mother.

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

More information

Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise students experience Indonesia’s fashion industry