Rudy Hertanto’s #1 Mission #FromShoretoShorts

Bali, the enchanting Island of Gods and the Goddesses, has one of the strongest connection signals on earth. This is where many Elizabeth Gilberts find their Felipes, Sumatran rescue elephants reunite with loved ones, and Rudy Hertanto, answers his calling from the ocean. Behind the Island’s gracious composure and the countless highlight reels we see of the Bali Swing, perfect sandy beaches and the holy water springs, Bali’s bloodstream is not well. Native to Indonesia and educated in the States, Hertanto quit his job two years ago to work on a glocalized solution for the plastic waste crisis. I feel fortunate to be meeting this dear friend of mine to learn about the driving force and vision for his current chapter in life, and a cause that affects all residents on this planet.

LoP: It is so good to see you, Rudy. Thank you for accepting this interview and taking the time to check out our platform.
Rudy Hertanto: I am so honored! Luke Satoru’s story is my favorite. Reading his journey and how he discovered his passion in drawing serendipitously by channeling his shyness, and later seeing it unraveled into his career as a tattoo artist, is very empowering. We may not always realize our passion but it will show itself in time, if you pay attention. Also, I have seen his murals at Aloft Hotel! My place is literally 5 minutes away.

How cool! And thanks for your positive feedback. As you have read, on Lens of Passion, we try to dissect the word “passion” from multiple perspectives. What does the word passion mean to you in your mother tongue? What do you think of when you hear this word? I am aware that you are multilingual so feel free to answer this the way you prefer.
Passion is “gairah” in bahasa Indonesian. Gairah is something that burns. The way I interpret it is that there is already a flame inside of you, and gairah fans the fire. I think that passion is innate, it’s almost like something you are born with, something you don’t have to learn it from the outside world. You may have to hone it but somehow you just know before achieving anything with it, that it is something you can’t let go.

Is “gairah” a commonly used word, a concept the Indonesians in your environment talk about often?
There is a lot of societal pressure in Indonesia I think, to perform, to meet the expectations, to do well for the family over oneself. I personally know quite a few friends who chose their family businesses over their own desire, passion. 

I consider myself quite lucky because I have a cool mom who is so full of life and loves new experiences. Okay, when we were at Six Flags, she was this mom who tricked her son to jump on the craziest roller coasters with her. She’s that kind of person you know, she knew I was going to love it and she did this awesome thing, which was to help me take the first step. Also, she loves adventurous food, I mean bugs in Cambodia and Thailand, we tried them! She definitely inspires me.

How did you identify your passion?
Say, in your Google map history, you have been to many destinations but if you look closely these places may share certain similarities, pointing to one “direction”.

If you look at this map of yours from a helicopter perspective, you will see a pattern or thread among the different things you do. I suppose I am speaking about “passion mapping”.

What is your passion?
To educate, to share the things that I know that work and are beneficial to other people. When I look at my own “passion map” from a helicopter perspective – when I started UNICEF club in high school and university; joined Rotaract in San Francisco and the Rotary Club in Surabaya, I see the main and shared reason behind the decisions was me wanting to learn and become an example for my peers, while doing something fun and educational. You know the “red string of fate”? I think of that for my relationship with my passion. 

What are some things you educated people on recently?
A friend I met in Bali said to me not long ago, “Just the way you’re so unapologetic about the things you’re interested in and working so hard for them, is the best way to influence others without screaming”.
l was a little startled and thanked her for the powerful comment because sometimes we’re not aware of the influence we can have on others unintentionally. 

I feel like by just being myself truthfully and telling people about my business, how I quit my full-time job and started my entrepreneurship journey, creating Patémar, is one kind of manifestation in itself. I do not really “teach” anything but I try to walk my beliefs and in this instance, it was humbling to know that my energy has influenced my friend on her similar, digital nomad path positively. 

What is Patémar? 
Patémar is a sustainable premium lifestyle brand. Our first product is swim shorts for men that’s entirely made out of plastic landfill or wastes from the ocean.

The idea started with me and my good friend in college. We both were scuba divers and we both saw problems with trash and plastic waste in the ocean firsthand. Me being from Indonesia, a country with over 17,000 known islands, I thought the problem was very close to my home and heart…so I thought, “Can we turn part of this humongous volume of trash into something useful?”

Three years later, Patémar was born. We offer high-quality, comfortable and multi-purposed shorts, handmade by experienced local tailors in Bali. The shorts are made and designed purposely to be worn in and out of the water. All of our swim shorts are quick-drying and tailored to have sartorial fit delivered by earnest craftsmanship.

Turning repulsive ocean waste into refined swim shorts is ingenious, and it is amazing people can wear them from the beach to cocktail bars, back to the ocean then a stroll in the city! Tell us more about the material.
Constructing the fabric we use now is extremely difficult because it’s 100% made by recycled plastic. Recycled t-shirts and jeans have been done by big companies before but what we normally find in the market is a blend of spandex, cotton and recycled polyesters, and the products are branded as “recycled”. Personally I think that is a big oversight because when it is a blended material with spandex, which is very hard to be regenerated, the method is still not cradle-to-cradle and it does not achieve the ultimate circular economy I am going for.

Of course, there are a lot of greys in any “green journey”, which is understandable. With Patémar though, I intend not to compromise and hope I never have to. We don’t blend. Also, right down to our tags and boxes, everything is recyclable. We hope not to create more waste.  

What is the intention, and goal, for your entrepreneurship crossover passion project, Patémar?
I think creating a beautiful and functional product from something so dreadful in its past life is a great agency to spark conversations around ocean plastic waste and move the recycled apparel industry forward. 

We want to make green conversations more approachable, bringing them closer by swimwears that look and feel good. We want to communicate with ocean and pool lovers, people who may not be vegans or wear hemp clothing, about this situation we have. We hope a new group of fashion users will enjoy these shorts with a sense of pride and speak about them with an ignited awareness.

Honestly, we are not going to solve the problem by making and selling shorts. For every pair of Patémar shorts sold, about 8 pounds of plastic waste is lifted from Balinese water but this is not enough to change the picture. We hope to raise awareness, make high-quality durable goods that are pleasing to the eye; and as a business, we want to look into initiatives that are helpful for the environment our capacity can reach. 

Which organizations does Patémar partner with to help the plastic waste issue in Bali?
I feel very honored to work with Make a Change World’s Sungai Watch (sungai means river in bahasa Indonesian) to help with this issue. Gary Bencheghib and his two siblings who started this project are originally from France, their family moved to Bali when they were children. I think Gary is one of the most passionate persons I’ve ever met. He has cleaned Bali’s rivers every single week for seven years now.

I joined his initiative personally and invited many friends to clean rivers and subak (irrigation channels for rice paddies) together. The siblings started this as a grassroot movement and now it is backed by hundreds of people and also the WWF (World Wide Fund)!

These are very dirty waters we’re talking about. I found lots of things – carcasses, dead puppies, diapers, plastic bags, straws. The firsthand experience left a dent in me and I decided to partner up with Gary because he’s super passionate about both the issue and the solutions. Like I mentioned before, for every pair of shorts Patémar sells, 8 pounds of trash is taken away from Bali’s rivers and subak. The funds from us also goes to installing new trash barriers and sponsoring Sungai Watch’s operation such as labor cost for heavy-duty work. 

I hope that through sharing my experience and this partnership with Make a Change World, I can quietly advocate on what I believe is good for the world, to the best of my current capacity. 

Can you describe the problem you have witnessed in your region?
Indonesia is the second biggest ocean waste “contributor”, which is not very good at all. From my own experience here, what I see is the lack of information and proper waste management system. It is definitely a national challenge.

However, I also see progress. In Bali alone there has been huge improvements when it comes to recycling. The “Bye Bye Plastic Bag” campaign started by Melati and Isabel Wijsen when they were only 12 and 10, is an amazing one. The Balinese government responded positively to their call and it is a little more “plastic bag-free” in Bali now.

There is also a sign of local schools, NGOs and the government working together more than before. Locals are the true homeowners of this place ultimately, it is great to see awareness risen among them.

Globally speaking, many of us know that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our ocean. In terms of plastic, 8.3 million tons of wastes are discarded yearly into the ocean, so that’s equivalent to 22,739 tons daily. Plastic and other wastes become fish food, and humans eat the fish, so whatever harm there is will come back to us eventually.

You mentioned the helicopter perspective before. If we descend and view the plastic waste problem from the street-view, what are the hurdles you are seeing?
To work with the circulating plastic waste accumulated from the past is already a very wild one. Another hurdle I see is “selective thinking”. I read an article that talks about how we demonize a certain type of plastic waste but forget about the rest. We are oblivious to the huge amount of plastic straws, individual wrappers for snacks, IndoMie, shampoo sachets, etc.. Littering into the water is still a common sight and that baffles me. 

What can we do to help?
First and foremost, less is more – if you can, don’t buy. It’s a dilemma. The most ethical option is to wear nothing and be naked! But we may not have that option.

Secondly, use what you already have and care for them. The care guide is very important and I want to push this into the messaging of Patémar. We use synthetic fiber which is plastic and is not organic (cotton is) so the shorts will still extrude micro plastic fiber if you throw them into the washer carelessly without reading the care label. These things will also end up in the ocean. I want people to be aware of this impact, and the truth for 80% of a regular person’s wardrobe. This is the reality I want to share with people. We created a care guide which encourages people to wash (electronically) less and rinse by hand instead. You can help the environment by just doing that.

What is next for your story of passion?
Continue to raise awareness and develop products big companies don’t bother to do so yet. I want to spark more conversations about our water system revolving a person’s needs. Women’s swimwear is on my mind. Besides that, sunscreen is a personal struggle. It’s really hard to find coral reef-friendly sunscreen! Coral bleaching is a big problem right now. What happens if corals die? There’ll be a chain reaction of unfortunate events. They are key in our planet’s breathing and protection system.

The other one is to celebrate and uplift Bali’s craftsmanship. The tailors we hire have worked with export goods and are very dedicated. We want to share and spread their passion for tailoring, high quality and integrity. I’m more than happy to share our resources on our suppliers and tailors. 

Third is to slowly change the perception of recycled goods equal second-grade quality. This is not entirely true. It is the production method and quality control that determine the outcome, not the fact that a product is made by recycled materials.

What are the main lessons you learned since beginning this entrepreneurship journey?
It’s now or never. I am lucky to be pursuing this at my age because there are many “reasons” to fail, as weird as it sounds. In case it doesn’t work out, I can pivot into the second best thing. The older we get the more risk-averse we may be, so I encourage people who have a dream to action now. 

Also, passion is crucial for an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur’s life can feel very lonely. You’re accountable for every single decision you make that is understood by sometimes only you yourself. Regardless, working on something I am truly passionate about is very exciting and it offsets the uncertainty. I really enjoy talking to you and friends about river clean-up and a brand I started that tries to help. For me this feeling of happiness is sufficient for me to quit my full-time job.

Another one is structure in freedom. When there’s nobody telling me what to do anymore, I keep a daily schedule every morning and I feel better and greater as I cross out the items throughout the day.

We are coming to the end of this interview, Rudy. I look forward to meeting you again soon in Bali, the magical place, and go clean the rivers with you! As we close, is there a message or belief that is Indonesian and beautiful you want to share with us?
I recently learned about this Balinese philosophy called “Tri Hita Karana”: Oneself with God; Oneself with others; Oneself with the Nature. I think if we just base our hearts around these three guidelines, the world will already be a much better place. I carry this philosophy with me on my life’s journey.

You can find information on Patémar at 

www.patemar.com &  @patemarshorts

You can contact Rudy directly at rudy@patemar.com 

Here are some of Rudy’s favorite projects:
MAKE A CHANGE WORLD | LUMINOX – BEAR GRYLLS x TIDE

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