Never truly embraced

The preserved sample books with letters give us a wonderful insight into the world of batik. We can find out which patterns were popular, and how important the role of batik was, both on and off Java. Not just as clothing, but as a means to make money as well.

Cotton companies sparked major changes during a short amount of time. The finely woven cloths enable the production of even more finely drawn batiks. At the same time, shiploads full of faux batiks arrive. Batik Cap is used to compete with these imitations. But, as basically an early form of ‘fast fashion’, the knock-off batik industry shows how real often wins from fake. All these fakes even created an unexpected rise in appreciation for locally produced cloths.

In the end, the faux-batiks were never truly embraced, and those beautiful, handcrafted batiks are still produced on Java today.