Toronto, Canada, August 16, 2018 – Apparel products from four Indonesian firms will be on full display at the Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC) show in Toronto, between August 20 and 22, 2018.

The Indonesian apparel industry is strong, experiencing annual growth averaging 2.6% between 2011 and 2016. Apparel is a priority sector for export into the Canadian market.

Through a cooperation agreement between the Canada-Indonesia Trade and Private-Sector Assistance (TPSA) project and Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, these four apparel producers have been provided with extensive mentoring and coaching to be competitive and reliable suppliers to Canada. The firms will be bringing featured product samples that meet Canadian standards and will be coming prepared with a full range of product catalogs, price lists, and other promotional materials to share with prospective buyers.

According to Maria Fernanda Guzman, Canadian apparel expert with Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada, “these firms represent the best up-and-coming Indonesian apparel producers, chosen by the TPSA project after a long selection process. Over the past two years we have worked closely with these firms to certify their capacity and readiness to deliver to the Canadian import market. I am certain that prospective buyers will be impressed by the wide range of designs, quality, and cost-competitiveness of these products. Several of the firms will also produce to order based on buyer designs or preferences.”

ATSC is the only major international trade show in Canada that provides buyers and sourcing professionals with access to suppliers from across the globe. The show is the go-to place to promote apparel products and to connect with new designers and producers from all over the world.

• Bule Bule Garment has more than 23 years’ experience in the garment and textile industries, all cutting-edge designs incorporating batik and recycled fabrics, all uniquely designed by the owner, Wahyu Janawi Jaya.
• Tiga Selaras Bersama (TSB) is a woman-owned and managed supplier, producing cutting-edge design dresses, skirts, pants, and blouses. With more than 500 workers, the company operates a factory with modern equipment and can produce between 130,000 and 160,000 pieces per month.
• World KNK was started in 2002 producing affordable and high-quality men’s and women’s shirts. The company has a dedicated team of management and staff with a capacity to make over 150,000 pieces of clothing a month.
• COTTONFLAIR is a new fashion line designed by UNIQUE. UNIQUE produces its own fabric and some of the dresses, skirts, pants and blouses are made using traditional Indonesian-themed designs and reinvented them into contemporary looks.

About the TPSA Project

TPSA is a five-year C$12-million project funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada and executed by The Conference Board of Canada. The primary implementation partner is the Directorate General for National Export Development, Ministry of Trade. The overall objective of TPSA is to support higher sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty in Indonesia through increased trade and trade-enabling investment between Indonesia and Canada. TPSA is intended to increase sustainable and gender-responsive trade and investment opportunities, particularly for Indonesian SMEs, and to increase the use of trade and investment analysis by Indonesian stakeholders for expanded trade and investment partnership between Indonesia and Canada.

BANDUNG – The Canada-Indonesia Trade and Private Sector Assistance Project (TPSA) and the Business Export Development Organization (BEDO) are marking Fashion Revolution Day on Tuesday, April 24, with an all-day event at the Bandung Creative Hub.

Activities include talks on how the Fashion Revolution is working to reduce the environmental impact of footwear and apparel production, a movie screening, a fashion design contest, natural dye and up-cycling workshops, and product exhibitions from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Fashion Revolution Day takes place annually on the anniversary of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh.

The global “slow fashion” movement has developed to counter the dominant “fast fashion” business model now in place. Fast fashion focuses on cheap production and rapid delivery to markets. This model requires the use of substantial resources, such as water, cotton, chemical, dyes, and cheap labor. Research from the World Resource Institute claims that 2,700 liters of water is required to produce just one cotton T-shirt—equivalent to 2½ years of one person’s water consumption.

The objective of the event is:

• To advocate and disseminate information on more environmentally friendly apparel and footwear production and consumption patterns to a wider SME audience and to the general public.
• To provide a networking forum for like-minded apparel and footwear SMEs that are interested in greener production.

Circular economies promote production and consumption patterns that generate as little waste and emissions as possible. In addition, production and end-use waste and emissions are recycled, re-used, or re-acquired as raw materials for other products. Up-cycling is the process of transforming used or waste materials into better products. Some SMEs from Bali and Yogyakarta, which have already begun up-cycling, will also be participating in the exhibition.

The event takes place between 9 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. The main activities are:

• TPSA’s success stories from the SCORE-Cleaner Production Program
• Exhibition of SME partners’ products and cleaner production progress and of Yogyakarta and Bali-based SMEs on circular fashion
• Talks and a movie screening on what the Fashion Revolution and Circular Fashion mean and how they impact the industry
• Natural dye and up-cycling workshops
• Fashion show and design contest
• Press conference

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About the TPSA Project

The Canada-Indonesia Trade and Private Sector Assistance Project (TPSA) is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The project is executed by The Conference Board of Canada and the primary implementation partner is the Directorate General for National Export Development, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia.

The project helps Indonesian apparel and footwear small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to access Canadian and International markets, as well as to improve their environmental performance. One of TPSA’s main environmental improvement activities is to help participating apparel and footwear SMEs to plan and implement cleaner production measures suitable to their capacity and needs. Six apparel and five footwear SMEs participated in the program, which began in September 2017.

Vancouver, April 19, 2018 —Indonesian coffee producers will be whetting the taste buds of coffee lovers across the Pacific Northwest in April. Through the work of the Canada-Indonesia Trade and Private Sector Assistance Project (TPSA), these producers will attend the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Expo in Seattle, followed by a Coffee Promotion Event in Vancouver on April 24 and 25.

Taking place between April 19 and 22, 2018, Coffee Expo provides coffee producers with an opportunity to display their products to industry professionals in a one-stop shop format. More than 13,000 people participated in the 2017 Specialty Coffee Expo.

Four participants— Arinagata Cooperative, Meukat Komuditi Gayo, Orang Utan Coffee Lestari and Redelong Organic Cooperative—are making their second consecutive appearance at SCA Coffee Expo. Kokowagayo, a women-owned and-managed cooperative, is attending for the first time.

The Coffee Promotion Event in Vancouver will connect TPSA Gayo Arabica Coffee producers with Canadian roasters and importers. Both the Indonesian and Canadian participants will learn more about each other’s background, products and markets.

The event takes place on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront, 1133 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Nusa Coffee Company is hosting in collaboration with Los Beans and Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade International Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Vancouver. Owned by native Indonesians, Nusa Coffee Company is a Canadian importer of premium coffee beans from the archipelago’s biologically diverse islands. Los Beans Trading Inc. (Los Beans) sources the finest beans from around the world, working with partners that share their stance on social, environmental and economic sustainability.

“At Nusa Coffee, we thrive on three elements: people, product, and process. Our connection with Gayo coffee producers incorporates all of those elements, specifically in realizing our vision to bring traceable and sustainable coffee beans into Canadian market.   We expect the best possible outcome from this event, so we could continue to pave the way of making the concept From Farm to Cup into reality,” said Liza Wajong, owner of Nusa Coffee Company.

“After the visiting of Gayo last November, I think Los Beans can do something for the coffee farmers. We  will work with Indonesian coffee farmers more closely, to present a great cup of Gayo coffee to Canadian coffee lovers,” said Mike Li, President of Los Beans.

Indonesian coffee was selected as a TPSA target commodity due to its strong potential for exports to the Canadian market. Indonesia ranks as the sixth largest supplier of coffee to Canada, accounting for 5.1 per cent of the Canadian import market. Both the Indonesian share of the market and the size of the market are growing. The total Canadian import market almost doubled between 2006 and 2016 (from US$320 million to US$623 million in 2016), a compound annual growth rate of 6.9 per cent.

Indonesia’s International Trade Promotion Center are a network of 19 offices located in 18 countries, and the Vancouver office of ITPC was founded in 2009.

The five Indonesian participants at Specialty Coffee Expo and the Coffee Promotion events are:

• Arinagata Cooperative is a Gayo Arabica Coffee producer and exporter specializing in organic coffee. The cooperative has 2,168 select coffee farmers on 2,436 hectares of coffee plantations covering 39 villages in Aceh Tengah district of Aceh Province, Indonesia.
• Kokowagayo (short for Koperasi Kopi Wanita Gayo) is a women-owned and -managed Gayo Arabica Coffee cooperative. Founded in 2014, it works with 567 farmers from 7 villages located in the Bener Meriah district in Aceh Province, Indonesia.
• Meukat Komuditi Gayo was founded in 2013 in Aceh Tengah district. Its primary activities are in high-quality, fully washed coffee processing, local trading and exporting.
• Redelong Organic Cooperative (REO), located on the island of Sumatra, was created in 2014 in the community of Kenawat Redelong. The REO Cooperative has 703 members from four villages in the Bener Meriah District of the Gayo Highlands, with a total production area of 560 hectares.
• Orang Utan Coffee Lestari (the Orang Utan Coffee Project) works with 300 Gayo Arabica coffee farmers to manage their plantations in an ecological and sustainable way to protect the rainforest. This is the natural habitat of critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, and coffee sales support the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program.

Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada is providing support to Indonesian SMEs to export to Canada and globally.

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About the TPSA Project

TPSA is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The project is executed by The Conference Board of Canada and the primary implementation partner is the Directorate General for National Export Development, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia.