Denica Riadini-Flesch received the 2023 Rolex Award for Enterprise through SukkhaCitta, a conscious brand teaching us to practice a meaningful relationship with our clothes.
SukkhaCitta is an ethical clothing brand founded by Denica Riadini-Flesch, the recipient of the 2023 Rolex Award for Enterprise. She has quite an interesting story as one of the five Laureates under Rolex’s Perpetual Plane Initiative.
The SukkhaCitta story began when she returned to her home, Indonesia, after years of studying and working abroad. Ironically, she was a development economist who was not interested in starting a business. However, during her travels, she visited Indonesia’s most rural areas.
Here, she met the rural craftswomen that comprise the country’s huge clothing industry for the first time. As a city girl, seeing the beauty of the garments and learning about the women’s dire financial situation made an impact on her. She wanted to help the women, knowing that fewer than two percent earn a living wage. And thus, the birth of SukkhaCitta.
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Truly Farm-To-Closet
SukkhaCitta is a social enterprise that practices a regenerative, farm-to-closet clothing supply chain. It is committed to empowering women, respecting nature, and preserving local culture. The clothes are sold online or through shops while removing the need for middlemen. This direct connection to consumers allows the women to earn a higher and fair living wage.
In a recent Perpetual Planet Initiative Live Talk, Riadini-Flesch described the struggle that the women were going through. She spoke of a fifth generation batik artisan who worked 10 hours a day but still worried every night about how she could make ends meet for her family. There are millions of women like her. “She expressed, “98% of women who make your clothes don’t even earn a living wage. She shared further that the problem is she’s invisible. Without any access, women attract a life of poverty. “This is the moment I realized that behind what we wear are women we will never meet, whose lives are impacted by our choice. And not only are we impacting her life, we’re also impacting her environment.”
Preserving culture
Riadini-Flesch also became interested in preserving the culture of cotton growing. While she was traveling, she met Ibu Kasmini, a 65-year old farmer. She learned that Kasmini’s grandmother passed down her cotton farming practices to her. Sadly, despite the enduring tradition in her family, she stopped growing cotton.
She chose to plant corn instead, because it was more lucrative. Knowing about the decline of Indonesia’s cotton industry, which was once a large contributor to the economy, Riadini-Flesch decided to give Kasmini a proposal. She proposed that she would pay her to grow cotton for SukkhaCitta. This would make it possible for the brand to become truly farm-to-closet.
Finding wisdom in tradition
Further to this, Riadini-Flesch encouraged Kasmini to implement regenerative farming techniques. This will keep the operations of SukkhaCitta as sustainable as possible. It is interesting to note that cotton is often referred to as the dirtiest crop in the world. This is because of the amount of herbicides required to nurture it.
Fortunately, they found the solution from the generational teachings that Kasmini’s grandmother and others like her passed down. For example, Kasmini planted chili next to the cotton because pests were attracted to it. In addition, she planted mung beans that helped the soil to absorb nitrogen, as well as tall-growing corn. The corn protected and provided shade to the cotton. She planted a total of 20 varying and complementary crops.
These efforts were successful and her cotton yield increased six times. The crops also ensured a year-round income which proved the benefits of this regenerative technique. Kasmini shared, “When we take care of Mother Earth, we take care of ourselves.”
Empowering women, families, and communities
It has been seven years since the birth of SukkhaCitta which began with just three women. Today, the social enterprise has grown to 400 people. These are farmers, dyers, artisans, weavers, and seamstresses. It is noteworthy that SukkhaCitta means “happiness” in Indonesian. And that is exactly what the endeavor has provided to the craftswomen. Their efforts have resulted in an average of 60 percent increase in earnings. This has empowered them to have a say in where their household income is allocated. Multiple families and whole villages have been blessed. Riadini-Flesch elaborates, “When you empower one woman, you don’t just help one person, you make sure that her children get access to schooling and the healthcare that they need. When you empower one woman, you make it possible for her to help her entire community.”
A happy future
Currently, there are already four craft schools that Riadini-Flesch has established. A fifth is coming soon. Rumah SukkhaCitta or “House of Happiness” are the first textile craft schools in Indonesia. This is where women learn to earn a living wage from their craft. They also learn how to start and operate their own businesses. In some villages, the older more experienced women teach the young mothers how to weave and dye. This replicates the traditional craft lineage from mothers to their daughters.
Building a legacy, supporting pioneers
No doubt, SukkhaCitta is building a remarkable legacy and impacting lives. It is estimated that 1,500 people have benefited from the social enterprise. On top of this, the traditional farming techniques have regenerated more than 30 hectares of degraded land. Moreover, using 100 percent natural dyes versus chemicals has already prevented more than three million liters of toxic dyes from contaminating the rivers of Indonesia.
Riadini-Flesch understands that despite all of the progress made from SukkhaCitta, a lot of work still needs to be done. She also knows that the Perpetual Planet Initiative’s Rolex Award allows her to amplify her work. She says, “The amazing thing about Rolex is that they give you a mic. They let you speak about the things that you really believe in, to inspire others to do the same. It’s embedded in the Rolex DNA, to support pioneers.”
Regenerating lives, land, tradition
Riadini-Flesch is planning to increase the number of craft schools by three times. She also aims to impact 10,000 lives. Furthermore, she intends to regenerate 1,000 hectares of land. In addition, she will be launching an app that contains SukkhaCitta’s digitized curriculum. This will allow the initiative to reach women in even the most remote communities in Indonesia. This includes women from different islands who communicate through different dialects.
The Perpetual Planet Initiative
Rolex has supported pioneering explorers for almost a hundred years now. The company has evolved from championing explorations for the sake of discovery to protecting Mother Earth. They are dedicated to supporting both individuals and organizations using science to understand and develop solutions to the environmental challenges we face today.
The Perpetual Planet Initiative was launched in 2029. It includes the Rolex Awards for Enterprise as well as other long-standing partnerships. These are the Mission Blue and the National Geographic Society. Other younger organizations include the Coral Gardeners with a pool of more than 30 partners.
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An expanding portfolio
The Rolex Awards continue to expand their portfolio. These projects include Grégoire Courtine’s groundbreaking technologies to treat spinal cord injury. Another endeavor is Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim’s work with indigenous people to map natural resources and prevent climate conflicts in the Sahel.
In addition, Rolex supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists. This is done through scholarships and grants, such as Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.
Photos courtesy of ©Rolex / Sébastien Agnetti.
