Klewer Market, The Fashion Center In Solo City
Ajining diri saka lathi ajining raga saka busana, self-esteem comes from how we speak while body honor comes from the clothes we wear.
Why is clothing placed on the highest rank of primary human needs? Not only as a protector from heat and cold, but clothing is also an image of cultured beings. Philosophically, clothing means an obligation to maintain civilized behavior. That is why it is located earlier than food and shelter (a place to live) as the direction of life for the people of Indonesia, Java in particular.
Solo City is very closely related to batik. Its existence in batik production can improve the image of Solo City both nationally and even internationally. Travelers from all over the place will surely know Surakarta from the thick culture including batik. So, it is not an exaggeration to place Solo as the clothing center of the island of Rice, coincidentally it is in the Heart of the Island of Rice (Jawa Tengah), even Indonesia admits this. This identity cannot be separated from the existence of shopping centers for cloth, batik, and other types of fashion in Solo City, such as:
1. Klewer Market
(DR Radjiman Street 5A, Gajahan, Kliwon Market, Surakarta, Jawa Tengah)
2. Beteng Trade Center (BTC)
(Mayor Sunaryo Street, Kedung Lumbu, Kliwon Market, Surakarta, Jawa Tengah)
3. Solo Wholesale Center (PGS)
(Mayor Sunaryo Street, Kedung Lumbu, Kliwon Market, Surakarta, Jawa Tengah)
Uniquely, these three clothing centers are located close to each other. Still, they are engaged in clothing. The three of them managed to become shopping centers for textile and apparel products, especially batik products for the people of Solo and other cities, including Jogja and Pekalongan. If BTC and PGS are the favorites of resellers who resell their merchandise online to various regions in Indonesia, Klewer is a destination for tourists who are curious about the beautiful culture of Solo City.
Klewer Market is a clothing center that has a distinction from BTC and PGS because of its long history. Through the process of life and death from the pre-independence era to the present. Of course, it is not easy for the market to witness the history of the founding Solo City. This market, which has more than 3000 sellers, was originally a train stop and is known as Slompretan Market (trumpet).
It survives with obstacles and many competitors. Also, it turns out that unpredictable factors such as fires are a formidable challenge for businessmen. As explained by Yohanes Kristantio Wibowo (25) Owner of "RIA BATIK" the biggest provider of all kinds of fashion trends in Klewer Market and Beteng Trade Center ( BTC ). It is undeniable that his business has experienced ups and downs many times due to social disasters in the last two decades. Although in the end, it can rise again. The same thing is also felt by thousands of sellers in the market who took the name from the term klambi sing kleweran (clothes hanging on the shoulders).
Starting a business is easy but the difficult thing is to maintain it. Moreover, if you talk about the limitations that most people who will start a business complain about, namely capital. It is not quite right because whether a business lasts or not doesn't depend on capital. It means that capital is not the only determining factor. Even if capital has to be used as the biggest contributor to business success, don't define capital as being limited to material, money, and cash equivalents, for example. Starting a business takes faith! That is a valuable lesson that we can take by exploring the shopping area of Klewer Market Surakarta.
"Even if I have to fall, I encourage myself that this is not the first time. My friends and I will get through it. " This optimistic sentence was spoken by Yohanes in the uncertainty of the tourism economy due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. (Wiwin)
