President Joko Widodo has become quite the unlikely fashion icon as of late. The jacket that he wore during his press conference following the November 4 protest become such a stylish hit that it quickly sold out of Zara outlets around the country, and the blue umbrella that he used as he walked out to the center of the National Monument last Friday in the rain to join protesters for Friday prayers also became a trending topic.
Although the president has sheepishly shrugged off his sartorial celebrity in the past (he said the Zara jacket was actually borrowed from his son), it looks like he is now trying to put his fashion fame to good use by putting the style spotlight on Indonesian products.
Specifically, he showed off these sleek and sporty blue sandals from Indonesian manufacturer Fladeo, which he picked up for a bargain price yesterday:
“Popped into Balikpapan Superblock to buy sandals. Not bad, could get a discount of 50% and an additional 20% discount. The original price was Rp. 299,000, after discount just Rp. 119,000. Indonesian products in good quality.”
The Facebook post has been over shared 3,000 times and a similar sandal touting tweet from Jokowi’s official account has been retweeted over 1,700 times. If Jokowi needs another gig after he leaves office, he could easily clean up as a social media influencer.
According to Kompas, the president went to Balikpapan yesterday with the main purpose of socializing his tax amnesty program, which has been highly successful in some areas but still has low participation rates in some parts of the country. He will be returning to Jakarta today.
