Philotopi
Melita Putri is a 22-year old fashion designer from Indonesia whose innovative hat designs are catching a lot of people’s attention. What started out as a school project in LaSalle College in Jakarta is now a growing business, and Melita’s deliciously clever breakfast-themed hats are creating quite a demand for themselves. Melita is making her mark in the fashion scene and hopes to serve as an inspiration to other up-and-coming designers and entrepreneurs.
We speak with Melita and have a chat about being driven, how she started Philotopi and what the advocacy behind the company is.
“It started when I got the chance for my mini collection to be featured as a fashion spread for a local magazine. The result was quite surprising because many people were asking me to sell the hat. I started to think that there was an opportunity for this.
I tried to sign up for the Creativepreneur Competition which is supported by BEKRAF (Indonesia Creative Economy Agency). With only 1 hat being chosen at that time, I had lost hope of getting chosen. But surprisingly from 13,000 other creativepreneurs, I was chosen as one of the top 20 finalists to be quarantined and to get entrepreneurial mentoring.
I started to create 5 other hat prototypes for the competition. Although I didn't win the competition, I was able to top thousands of other creativepreneurs which was an amazing achievement in my life. Note that I only had 1 product at that time and I was the only one who had not run a business among the 19 finalists. I started to do research and development about climate change and its’ impacts on us, and finally Philotopi was launched on the 26th of October 2016 with a vision to spread the awareness about climate change to the world.
I'm hoping that I could inspire some or a few people to never be afraid to plunge into the business world and to create a business that's not only for ourselves but makes a positive impact to others as well. Never wait for the moment, but make the moment instead.”
The yummy ingredients of "Pancake" from Vol. 1 Leisurely Breakfast
Photos property of Philotopi
