19 January 2012

The slogan is “Always santai!”

About Marapulai
Marapulai is a clothing brand founded 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. Marapulai clothing is beginning as a small family company. The designer and owner is Muhammad Ilham Nirwan, supported by his wife Saskia. Marapulai is the first clothing brand of the Company Marapulai Clothing and combines ethnic motives of the Indonesian culture with casual style. The design concept continues with the Indonesian map on the sole and the ethnic logo on the back of the shoes.

And the slogan ´Always santai!`, which means ´always relaxed!`, is typical for Indonesian people and an attitude towards life. Marapulai products are for stylish and extroverted people and set fashion trends.


All products are made with carefulness and very good quality. We look for very good workmanship of the product and very good material. The idea Marapulai is born in Germany and the products are made in Indonesia. The planned products are handmade shoes from real leather, especially sneakers, and later clothes and bags. The first we have almost finished now are shoes.


Meaning of Marapulai
"Marapulai" is a word of the language from the culture of the Minangkabau ethnic group of West-Sumatra in Indonesia. In the past it was the word for ceremonial clothing of kings and chiefs. Later it changed to the meaning of sublime clothing for traditional ceremonies, like official big events for people from different regions of Sumatra. Nowadays, the concept has gained in usage as a word for the wedding outfit of the groom. We want to combine abstractly all the meanings in Marapulai, because it contains the ethnic side of culture, the quality of clothes and the young side of modernity.
About the owner and designer of Marapulai
Muhammad Ilham Nirwan
Since his childhood in Bukittinggi (island Sumatra) in Indonesia, his life was connected to art and creativity, like making his toys out of bamboo and wood. So he started to make his dream come true. While his study of Product Design (B.A.) at Institut Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia he successfully created the Shirt brand “Padeh”. But he decided to move further and went to the foreign country Germany for studying Digital Media (M.Sc.) at University Bremerhaven.

Marapulai – our idea and our target
We, as beginning entrepreneurs, want to support other start-ups and company enlargements. That´s why we didn´t want to produce in a big fabric. Therefore, our partners in Indonesia are business start-ups with a small business, like a home industry. Some are not bigger than two by three meters, but even so the quality is excellent and they work very well. So our target is also the social aspect of being an entrepreneur and the responsibility. Our target is that the shoe producer, the seller and the user is happy.

We make sure to comply with the guidelines of the social responsibility concept for companies in our manufacturing process. This means compliance with social standards in low-wage countries, paying fair and living wages, no child labor and sustainable production. And we agree with campaigns like "Clean Clothes". Of course we think on the environment, too. That is why the shoe boxes are made of cardboard.

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Thank you

18 January 2012

Searching help for the first steps of business start up in Hamburg

The idea of Marapulai was born and the plan was made, now there was the question of "how to start" the business planning.
At this point it was really good, that there was free help for the start up in Hamburg. We went to the chamber of commerce and they kindly helped us with collected information. There is a special start up information center. With a bunch of prospects and information we go home for looking through.

We found a project called "Hamburg Business Starter” (HBS), it is a project of AQtivus gGmbH in cooperation with the Association of independent migrants e.V. (ASM) and the city Hamburg. They have set the target to sustainably support business start-ups in Hamburg, through consultation, workshops and coaching sessions, and to qualify - before, during and after their formation. The project is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Department of Economics and Labour (BWA) financed. 


This project Hamburger Business Starter is for free. Seminar topics are e.g. accounting, definition of target groups, tax, marketing, bank discussion, online marketing and so on. What helped us for Marapulai Clothing is that you directly work with your own business idea.

Help for the own terms and conditions and the imprint for your german homepage are on AGB for free available. It´s really easy and thanks for that.