Batik, which adorns kitschy trinkets and T-shirts at souvenir stores here, or brings to mind the famous Singapore Airlines air stewardess uniform, is getting a revival.

New independent local labels, such as womenswear label Baju by Oniatta and leather goods label Oakmoon Crafts, are offering something that big department stores here do not, weaving batik into their designs and giving the traditional method of wax-printing a modern twist.

The traditional textile is being paired with ever-trendy materials such as leather or used to make everyday work clothes.

Last month, contemporary fashion label Ong Shunmugam incorporated batik into its latest collection, Gadis Perkasa (Mighty Woman in English) - using the textile in her skirts and kebaya tops, mixed with lace.

Independent local bag and accessories label Girl With A Radio Mind uses batik - sourced from around Asia and as far away as Africa - to handmake bags and also uses them as centrepieces for accessories such as coin purses.

The designers source authentic, hand-drawn batik from villages in Indonesia and Africa. Some of the products are then manufactured in Indonesia or handmade by the designers themselves.

Batik, a technique which uses wax on fabric to create designs, can be found in different Asian countries, including Singapore and India, but the most sophisticated designs are found in Indonesia.

Patterns and motifs are hand-drawn or copper-stamped onto a rectangular piece of cotton or silk, typically 2m-long, using melted wax.

The cloth is then dyed and the design is revealed when the layer of hardened wax is removed after the dye has dried.

Depending on how complex the design is and how many colours are used, the process of applying wax and dyeing is repeated many times to achieve the final result.

Ms Oniatta Effendi, founder and designer of Baju by Oniatta, says that it takes about three to six months on average to produce batik.

She adds: "Batik with finer patterns may even take up to a year, but I have heard of artisans who now take up to two weeks for fairly simple ones. So it really depends on how complex the artwork is."

Designs vary by region and artist, but batik from Java, Indonesia, is broadly grouped into two categories: inland and coastal batik.

Inland batik, especially from Yogyakarta city in Java, is the oldest form of batik. It is typically dark, with colours, such as black, brown and dark blue, and tends to be geometric in design.

Coastal batik, which can be found in northern Java on islands and in port cities such as Madura and Cirebon, is a lot more colourful and vibrant, with floral and animal motifs.

It is coastal batik that Ms Oniatta, 43, prefers to use for her Utama pants - long pants that come with a front skirt-overlay.

For her latest collection, she used batik from Madura, an island off the north-eastern coast of Java, as she likes the "tastefully colourful" use of red, blue, green and yellow.

Shoppers such as Ms Noorshidah Ibrahim is surprised at the variety of batik on the market now.

The 42-year-old visual arts educator, who is currently pursuing a master's degree, says: "I started loving batik only recently, when I started seeing more modern and fresher ways of wearing it.

"I grew up seeing my late mother and grandmother wear batik, but the dull browns, ochre and beige tones put me off."

Teacher Ms Anna Ng, 49, who has been wearing batik since she was in her 30s, likens putting on batik to wearing art.

She also loves that no two pieces of handmade batik are the same.

"It's an art form that has been passed down for generations and I love the idea that I'm wearing a piece of history and art."

Motifs are symbols of hope and community

Each 40-piece collection of batik clutches designed by Ms Nur Aqilah Zailan takes less than a month to sell out.

Most of her customers are working women between 25 and 40 years old and many are repeat customers who buy her colourful fold-over or zippered batik clutches in hopes of passing them on to their daughters.

The 28-year-old says: "The surprising response I've been getting is that customers say they can keep it for their daughters, which intrigues me. I feel like that is what people are looking for in this day and age, to connect with something."

Ms Aqilah, who launched fashion accessory and home-decor label Gypsied in 2013, designs and releases a new collection of batik clutches every two months, with each collection having up to 40 clutches. Each is priced between $40 and $60.

The clutches make up about 80 per cent of the items she produces and are her bestsellers. She also makes batik cushions, headbands and necklaces. All items are sold at www.shopgypsied.com.

Ms Aqilah, who has a full-time job in the e-commerce industry, says that she was drawn to batik because of its ability "to be a form of expression through colours, patterns, meaning and its connection to Malay arts and culture".

The university graduate in business travels to Indonesia three times a year to source for the batik herself. She chooses textile from only fair-trade textile collectives that ensure artisans are paid a fair wage.

She says: "I think what makes batik so personal is that the motifs reflect Javanese philosophies of life and are symbols of hope and community which are still applicable today."

She highlights the sekar jagad (flowers of the universe) motif, a repeated flower pattern usually worn by brides and grooms to convey joy at having found each other, and the kawung motif, a four-lobed pattern inspired by the palm tree that signifies the wearer as being useful to his community.

As popular as her clutches are, Ms Aqilah keeps quantities low to control the quality.

She says: "Unlike machine- printed textiles, you cannot produce batik in bulk. If I do this, it's not possible to control the quality.

"This is a slow approach to fashion and the nature of the textile as batik is made by hand. You cannot produce them fast."

Ms Aqliah, who is married to a freelance photographer, initially made the products herself at home with a sewing machine, but started outsourcing production to Bali, Indonesia, in 2015, as she wanted to improve the quality of the sewing.

Coincidentally, choosing to work with batik has also made her feel closer to her paternal grandmother, who died before she was born.

She says: "Recently my father told me that although my grandmother was of Thai descent, she loved wearing the kebaya and batik sarong. I don't have any of her clothes, but I feel a sense of connection to my grandma through batik.

"In a way, I feel that a big part of my attraction to batik is about looking for identity and meaning through heritage."

Remembering the past

For Ms Oniatta Effendi, founder and designer of fashion label Baju by Oniatta, batik is more than just a fabric.

The 43-year-old, whose paternal and maternal grandparents are from Java in Indonesia, says she wears batik almost every day - she has numerous batik tops, dresses and pants - and that it serves as a reminder of her Indonesian heritage and culture.

Her favourite batik motif is the parang rusak. Meaning "broken knife" in English, the symbol was worn only by court officials and royalty and is widely associated with a 17th-century ruler in Central Java, Sultan Agung of Mataram.

Adds the mother of five: "It was seen as having symbolic royal power. I like to see myself being clothed by courage."

Her curiosity prompted her to explore the stories behind various motifs and she soon discovered the rich narrative of Indonesian culture behind each one.

Ms Oniatta highlights a particular batik motif that piqued her interest - an image of the mythical Garuda bird at first glance, but actually a woman's reproductive anatomy surrounded by swirling phallic symbols.

She says: "It's really intriguing and it's only natural to embrace the idea that if a person dons this to a wedding, the wearer brings with him or her blessings of hope and fertility to the couple."

Ms Oniatta, a drama teacher in a local polytechnic who is married to a lawyer, started her womenswear label last October. Her signature Utama pants design, long pants with a front-skirt overlay, is priced between $129 and $179. Her current collection combines two different batik prints.

She says with a laugh: "I'm a mother of five. I want to look like a beautiful Malay woman, but I still need to be able to chase my children around."

The majority of her customers are Singaporean women who love the pants as they find them quirky and versatile enough for formal occasions. The fabric is sourced from different cities in Indonesia, such as Cirebon, Yogyakarta and Pekalongan, and her designs are made by tailors in Jakarta.

Response to the label has been overwhelming, with some customers buying as many as six pairs of pants at a go, says Ms Oniatta. "I'm not producing enough to meet demand - taking into account the constraints of my full-time job."

She also makes dresses, kebaya tops and bespoke men's shirts. She operates the label from home and the designs will be sold at multilabel boutique En Pointe in North Bridge Road from Sunday.

Through her label, she hopes to educate shoppers on the history and culture of batik, so that it can be appreciated by many, as she feels that batik is "entrapped in a time capsule".

She says: "The association people have with batik usually has to do with women in P. Ramlee films, where they are clad in sarongs and sing along riverbanks; our mother's ragged house coats they continue to wear even with holes at the armpits; and the cloth that covers the deceased.

"I think we need to reinvent how it is worn and appreciated. Batik is more than just a piece of fabric. It has culture, a livelihood and a narrative of its own."

This 14 x 9cm handmade purse has a front cotton flap featuring a geometric African motif and a braided hemp handle. It has two main compartments and another one at the back of the purse.