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The old brown wood building with the nuances of the Ulos cloth stood upright in the A.R area of Judge Gang of Field City Education in early October. There are three female statues of them and a man wearing the cloth. One afternoon, I visited the Ulos Sianipar Gallery with dozens of other reporters on behalf of the Indonesian Bank (BI).

Ulos' motives were seen from a few meters away when he set foot on that gallery porch.

The Ulos Sianipar Gallery stands since 1992 by the owner, Robert Sianipar. At first he hired only a dozen workers, but today has reached hundreds. It also empowered 300 more local craftsmen who weaved Ulos traditionally.

"Ulos was first from Omati, and now entered the third generation," said Nelly Simangungsong, one of Ulos Sianipar Gallery employees. "It is an attempt to lift the heritage of Batak culture."

Ulos is a typical cloth of Batak weaves developed hereditary to this day. In her official description, the cloth is dominated by red, black and white woven thread of gold or silver. It's also produced from a weaving device, not a machine.

Nelly claims that the owner wants to enlarge the cultural heritage together.

Therefore, he said, Sianipar continues to hold craftsmen in all regions of the Northern Sumatra to expand the reach. Not only the fashion, but also by any kind of food until the souvenir was sold in the gallery. We also got a wide range of Ulos from Rp200,000 to Rp7 million.

The most expensive, hanging from the fabric to dilution. Nelly's partner in the gallery didn't bore himself to show all kinds of Ulos' motives and colors, and the other buyers were involved when we got an explanation for the fabric.

Nelly said that in addition to domestic sales, the Ulos cloth was also exported to various countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Australia to the United States and Germany. That woman exposed the export market contributing about 40 percent of the total sales.

"The total omzet per month reaches Rp1.5 billion," he says.

What about the story behind the Ulos Sianipar Gallery through export?

Dani Sutanta, companion of the UMKM BI Field, said her side of her conduct was to introduce a broader market. The Ulos Sianipar Gallery itself was persistently following the title of Trade Expo in Jakarta for the range of the larger buyers.

"BI gives access to marketing information, introduced to buyers," Dani said.

The Ministry of Industry recorded the development of Ulos at least reflected in the performance of export tenuon of Indonesian ties.

In semester I / 2026, export value weaves to US $34 thousand or increases 150 percent compared to the same period the previous year was US $13 thousand. While from the production side, between the BPS, there are 43 centra Ulos in Sumatra North in Medio 2020, among other in the North Tables, Toba, Samosir, and Simalunun.

Not only has the capacity increased, the BI also accompanied the UMKM partners to improve the skills to weave the Ulos cloth.

Dani has taken a number of schools to teach her skills.

In addition to increased capacity, central banks also provide training as product quality reinforcement, access to information against mobility to foreign markets. As a result, the Ulos Sianipar Gallery has the honor of designing fashion for the number one man in the republic.

"Ulos Sianipar prepares the custom clothes of two presidents," said Nelly proudly. "Mr. SBY and Mr. Jokowi."

That afternoon, more than an hour ago, me and the other reporters got an explanation from Nelly and the other employees at the Ulos Sianipar Gallery. I didn't forget I bought a green ulos fabric bottle sewn into the gallery to make a shirt. I also came home with my heart full.

From an old brown building on A.R Gang Judge of Field City Education, it turns out there's also a way to penetrate the world market.