Forbes Indonesia - 07.2018

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***The story of luxury goods is about globalization, capitalization and culture, the CNN host Fareed Zakaria once concluded. In Indonesia, one might add, it is also about the country’s growing middle class. In 2017 the World Bank put its size at 52 million with a disposable income that has grown significantly in the past decade. Today, no longer are luxury goods purchased here solely by the rich and super-rich; they are also eyed and bought by the not-so-rich. No respectable shopping mall in major cities in Indonesia is now devoid of luxury goods. Dior, Gucci, Hermes or Bally, you name it, they are all available here. In a nutshell, the luxury goods industry produces and sells clothes, leather goods, shoes, silk scarves and neckties, watches, jewelry, perfume and cosmetics—all of which projects status and a pampered life. Perhaps no one epitomizes the luxury business here better than the Surabaya-born Irwan Danny Mussry, president and chief executive at Time International, which distributes a number of luxury watches such as Rolex, Cartier and Chopard. Mussry and this month’s issue convey a clear message: luxury goods have arrived and are here to stay—and grow and thrive.***