👕 SANDANG (CLOTHING): FROM BASIC NEED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS IN INDONESIA

♀️🍚🏠 Clothing, food, and shelter are the three most basic human needs required for survival.

In Indonesia, these needs are known as Sandang, Pangan, and Papan.

Unfortunately, sandang has gradually shifted from a basic necessity to a tertiary need, driven by excessive consumption patterns.

♻️ As sandang moves further away from its original meaning, its environmental impact becomes increasingly visible.In Indonesia, textile waste is a growing concern. According to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) in 2023, textile waste accounts for around 2.87% of the country’s total waste.

🌱 My interest in sustainable fashion began in mid-2024 after a personal realization.

I was once part of the fast fashion cycle, often buying clothes impulsively. Over time, as I learned more about:

• 🧵 textile waste

• 🧪 toxic chemical release

• 🧬 microplastic pollution

• ⏳ resistance to decomposition

• 
  

I realized that overconsumption is not just an economic issue, but a serious environmental

threat.

📱 This realization became a turning point. I started:

• @sustainablefashionindonesia on Instagram

• @sustainablefashion_indo on TikTok

These platforms are widely used by young people in Indonesia, making them ideal for raising awareness about textile waste and the hidden costs of fast fashion.

✨ My hope is that people across Indonesia can understand how today’s fashion choices shape tomorrow’s future.

🏛️ Professionally, I work within the Jakarta local government in public communication and policy dissemination.

While I don’t formulate policies directly, I work at the intersection between institutions and citizens, translating complex policy language into narratives that can be understood, questioned, and engaged with.

🧠 This experience shapes my approach to sustainable fashion. I see it not only as an environmental or lifestyle issue, but also as a communication challenge:

• how problems are framed

• who has access to information

• how awareness turns into behavioral change

🔗 My contribution focuses on bridging narratives:

• translating sustainability from activism into policy relevance

• discussing fashion through political economy and public policy

• 
  

👥 This fuels my commitment to move beyond awareness toward practical adoption, especially among younger generations.

📲 Today, fast fashion is inseparable from Gen Z culture.

Social media accelerates trends at an unprecedented pace: what is viral today is obsolete tomorrow.

👗 For Gen Z, fashion means identity, expression, and visibility, but it also brings:

• pressure

• comparison

• constant consumption

🌍 Gen Z is often seen as the most climate-aware generation, and this is largely true.They care about sustainability, ethics, and transparency, yet remain trapped in a system that rewards:

• novelty

• affordability

• instant gratification

⚖️ This paradox is structural, not moral.

🌿 Sustainable fashion cannot rely only on individual choices or policy alone.It requires a shift in how we:

• communicate

• consume

• redefine what sandang means today

⏸️ Choosing less, slowing down, and questioning systems behind our clothes can be a powerful act.

🤝 Institutions, industries, and communicators must move beyond awareness toward structural change, ensuring sustainability is accessible to all, not a privilege.

🌏 Reclaiming sandang as a basic human need rather than a disposable trend is not only an environmental necessity —✨ it is a commitment to the future we choose to build.

Reference

Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia. (2023).

Fast fashion: Fashionable trends at an ecological cost. Directorate General of Treasury.

https://djpb.kemenkeu.go.id/portal/en/847-berita/opini/4445-fast-fashion-tren-modis-

dengan-harga-ekologis.html