Gamatex Weaves Together Design and Responsible Materials
For Indonesian mill PT. Garuda Mas Semesta, denim development and production leverage both heritage and innovation. The mill makes products under the Gamatex brand name, using time-tested techniques mixed with modern sustainable ingredients.
One of Gamatex’s specialties is weaving. From jacquard and wabash to dobby patterns, the company uses technology to create unexpected denim designs including TENCEL™ branded fibers.
Carved in Blue spoke with Eko Kurniawan, marketing executive at PT. Garuda Mas Semesta, about denim trends, the local market and the design potential within weaving.
Carved in Blue: Could you tell us a bit about your company?
Eko: PT. Garuda Mas Semesta, founded in 1981, is well known for its quality products and strong capability in updating fabric developments under the brand name Gamatex.
We create authentic denim fabrics with operational flexibility, combined with innovation and experienced industrial knowledge.
We satisfy with complete finished fabrics, perfection and delivery of the final products.
Today, Gamatex is a well-established private company, producing annually 14.5 million yards of authentic denim fabrics.
Carved in Blue: How has the denim industry evolved over the past 40 years that you’ve been in business?
Eko: Denim has now become a fashion necessity for people in the world. Especially in Indonesia itself, with the opening of information from around the world about fashion trends, we as denim fabric makers must be able to meet the needs of the trend itself, so that we appear as one of the local denim producers who can create denim fabrics that are trending and are liked by the people of Indonesia.
We took the initiative to make unusual denim, which is to make denim patterns that can be applied in all fashion products by utilizing machine technology, namely jacquard and dobby, and making various kinds of unique and cool patterns, of course.
Not to forget, we also meet the needs of rugged denim lovers by making selvedge products made with Japanese Toyoda machines.
Carved in Blue: From your position in the market, what are some of the top denim trends at the moment? What are your customers looking for?
Eko: Our advantage compared to other denim factories is that we can make denim patterns by utilizing weaving technology like dobby and jacquard plus designs and ideas created by our R&D team.
Also, we can make denim selvedge from five to 20 oz. using authentic Japanese Toyoda machines.
Carved in Blue: What are the creative and design opportunities in weaving?
Eko: Of course, there are lots of opportunities in the market regarding denim patterns. Because we have the skills and qualified technology, we can make a lot of patterns that can be applied to many segments of the market. We develop patterns that are unique and have different textures and characters from denim products on the market.
We also make patterned denim fabrics by combining the colored threads that we apply to the weft to produce elegant colors and patterns that are certainly nice to look at.
Not only that, we also played with the construction so that we could get the texture of the fabric with an embossed pattern or look like a 3D effect.
There is still a lot of development of denim patterns that we want to make, of course, by combining environmentally friendly materials such as TENCEL™ in our denim products.
Carved in Blue: How is Gamatex working to lower the impact of denim production? What are your most recent sustainable innovations?
Eko: Since the beginning, we have been committed to protecting the environment and nature. We treat our waste properly and reuse it for the denim manufacturing process. Currently we also use recycled cotton and TENCEL™ Lyocell for sustainable products.
Carved in Blue: How are you incorporating TENCEL™ branded fibers into your denim collections? What types of fabrics are you creating with TENCEL™ fibers?
Eko: We have started to expand to make environmentally friendly products using materials from Lenzing—TENCEL™ Modal and TENCEL™ Lyocell—which we use for denim that is suitable for shirts, jackets and pants, and we even develop TENCEL™ Denim for shoes.
Carved in Blue: What is next for Gamatex? What’s in the pipeline for 2021?
Eko: In 2021, we are collaborating with several local Indonesian brands by making products together with the hope that local brands can grow and be able to compete with better quality with international brands. And of course, Gamatex will be more widely known by the wider community.
In one example, we have collaborated with one of the local shoe brands Pijak Bumi, by making environmentally friendly shoes using environmentally friendly materials like TENCEL™ Modal, which we apply to the upper, lining and laces of shoes.
We also developed some denim patterns which have a 3D and embossed texture, which gives the fabric an amazing washing effect and of course has a unique texture. Not to forget, we will also develop selvedge denim using yarn with TENCEL™ Lyocell fibers so that we can introduce environmentally friendly selvedge denim in the local and international markets.