Indonesia’s top fashion designers and traditional crafts are attracting a new generation of fashion students in the first-ever Australian fashion study tour to Jakarta.

Eight fashion and business students from the Queensland University of Technology will begin a nine-day tour to Indonesia on 30th August.

The students have been invited to meet leading Indonesian designer Anne Avanti at the Jakarta Convention Centre and will collaborate with another top designer Merdi Sihombing.

These fashion students will visit Jakarta’s shopping malls to see prestige fashion brands as well as traditional craft and fashion

And they will visit Elle magazine’s office in Jakarta to get an insight into how Indonesia’s fashion business is conducted.

In turn, the students will showcase a stunning collection of fashion that combines the art of five Indigenous Australian artists printed on top-quality fabrics into clothes designed by the QUT fashion students.

The collection, called “AKIN”, will be showcased at the residence of the Australian Ambassador in Jakarta.

The function at the Ambassador’s residence has been arranged for QUT’s key business partners and alumni, and to support the Australian Embassy’s Arts and Culture program 2014.

The eight QUT students are travelling to Indonesia after receiving grants under the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan.

More than 1300 Australian undergraduate students are being supported to study in the region under the New Colombo Plan’s pilot phase, and over half are heading to Southeast Asian learning institutions.

“We are proud to show off the AKIN collection which has broken new ground in design collaboration, ethical contracts and manufacturing of a collection that is retail ready for international sales and we will be sharing that expertise,” said Kay McMahon, QUT senior fashion lecturer.

“Our students will visit many craft and artisan studies and take workshops in such traditional methods as ulos, batik and ikat.”

Ms McMahon said the tour was in partnership with BINUS University which had opened the doors to many prestigious workshops and events.

“The students will also tour the BINUS University campus and attend workshops with BINUS students.”

The AKIN collection was initiated by the QUT Creative Enterprise Australia’s Fashion Business Incubator with financial assistance from the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland’s Backing Indigenous Arts Program and is endorsed by Queenslandersign, an initiative of the Queensland Design Council.

The New Colombo Plan supports Australian students to gain and exchange skills, knowledge and cultural understanding with people of the Indo-Pacific region.