By Mita Valina Liem
JAKARTA (Reuters Life!) - JLo has fluttered them. Madonna has batted them. Sequined, crystallized, befeathered or just plain, if you've ever stuck on fake eyelashes, chances are they were made in Indonesia.
Royal Korindah, based in Purbalingga town, specializes in producing regular as well as exotic fakes which end up adorning the eyes of celebrities and millions of women worldwide.
Korindah's factory in Central Java cranks out about 15 million sets of eyelashes a year for companies such as MAC Cosmetics, Japan's Shu Uemura and Germany's Kryolan, which executives says makes it the world's leading eyelash maker.
The firm, which was set up by South Korean Lee Hyun Sang in 1968, imports hair from China, processes it and then exports the fake eyelashes across the world.
"Hair from China is considered to be stronger and thicker compared to Indonesian hair," said Cheung Shu Fong, chief operations officer.
"Our founder picked Indonesia at that time because the economy and work force were calmer. Labor costs were cheaper compared to Korea, moreover the labor union in Korea was very aggressive," Cheung said.
Korindah has a wide range of fun and funky lashes made from human hair, chicken feathers and synthetic feathers. It also offers hologram lashes, glow-in-the-dark and jumbo pairs in a host of colors from bright red to purple.
Indonesia is still considered a cheaper place to produce the eyelashes, Cheung said. Low labor costs have attracted several international garment and shoe makers, including Nike, to set up manufacturing facilities.
Southeast Asia's biggest economy produces about 60 percent of Mattel's Barbie dolls and nearly a third of the world's zippers, competing with manufacturing giants in the region such as China.
Indonesia's government has been pushing exports and seeking greater foreign investment, but funds have been slow to come in as investors have frequently cited corruption, a weak legal system and tough labor laws as deterrents.
(Writing by Sugita Katyal, editing by Miral Fahmy)