Supporting Local Makers: What Buying Kelantan Batik Actually Pays For

"Buy local" is easy to say. A more useful question for a visitor is this: when you buy a piece of batik in Kota Bharu, who receives the money, and how can you tell the seller is a genuine local maker? This post answers it through one shop, D'Rose Batik, which has traded at Bazar Buluh Kubu since 2001.

Bazar Buluh Kubu is a market of small traders

Bazar Buluh Kubu is a market building in the centre of Kota Bharu, the capital of Kelantan, near the Siti Khadijah central market. It is filled with small shop lots selling batik, songket (Malay brocade woven with metallic thread), traditional clothing and crafts, run by small traders rather than chain stores.

D'Rose Batik is one of them. Datin Nik Rosmawati binti Nik Yusoff opened it in 2001, and it now occupies Lots 1-39 and 1-40 on the first floor. It is registered with SSM, the Companies Commission of Malaysia, as D Rose Textiles. Buying at a lot like this means your money goes straight to a business that draws its own patterns, holds its own stock and carries its own costs.

What a Kraftangan Malaysia registration shows

Kraftangan Malaysia, the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation, is the government body that develops the country's craft industry, and it keeps a register of craft entrepreneurs. D'Rose Batik has been on it since 12 January 2010, in the textile craft field, batik sub-field, under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Entrepreneur Development Programme, with community ID 03-1-146. The status is active.

For a buyer, this is a way to check that a shop is recorded as a batik maker by the body that oversees Malaysian crafts, rather than a seller of cloth with no clear origin.

SME status and a SCORE rating

SME Corp. Malaysia is the agency that coordinates the development of small and medium enterprises. It certifies D'Rose Batik as a small enterprise, with an SME status certificate (known in Malay as PMKS) valid from 11 November 2025 to 10 November 2027. In January 2026 it gave the shop a 3-star rating under SCORE, the SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement, in the manufacturing and manufacturing-related services model.

These certificates put a market-stall batik business inside the same system as other Malaysian small firms. SME status lets a business apply for government SME support programmes, and SCORE assesses how the business is run, not only what it sells.

An association for the market's traders

Small traders are easier to hear when they act together. The Bazar Buluh Kubu Batik and Craft Association brings together the batik and craft traders in the building, and the founder of D'Rose Batik chairs it. She also received the Zainab Gemilang Award in August 2025, and the shop received the Cik Siti Wan Kembang Award from the Kelantan Women Entrepreneurs Club (KUWAK) the same year.

The Merdeka Batik Fun Walk 2025

On 31 August 2025, Malaysia's National Day (Merdeka means independence), the Merdeka Batik Fun Walk, a batik-themed community walk, was held at Dewan Jubli Perak in Kota Bharu. D'Rose Batik received a certificate of appreciation from the Kota Bharu People's Association and the Bazar Buluh Kubu Batik and Craft Association for its support in running it.

Events like this give people a reason to wear batik and come into town, and they are run by local associations rather than large companies. Two years earlier, in June 2023, D'Rose Batik took part in CITRA Kembara Tekstil in Kota Bharu, a programme of the Traditional Textile Lovers Association of Malaysia.

How a buyer can help directly

• Ask what the cloth is. Ask whether it is batik tulis (hand-drawn), batik cap (block-stamped) or fabric printed with a batik pattern. Printed fabric skips the wax and hand dyeing, and is usually pale on the back.
• Check registrations. Buy from a shop that can show them. D'Rose Batik's certificates are published on this site.
• Respect original designs. Five D'Rose Batik rose designs, including Ros Kembang Tiga and Ros Asmara Dana, were registered for copyright with MyIPO, Malaysia's intellectual property office, in January 2024. Copied designs printed in bulk take sales away from the artist who drew them.
• Order from local makers. For office uniforms, event wear or corporate gifts, order directly from a maker. D'Rose Batik takes custom orders for events, uniforms and gifts.

Check for yourself

Every registration, copyright and award mentioned here is on our recognition page, with dates and reference numbers. The shop at Bazar Buluh Kubu is open Saturday to Thursday from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm, and you can ask questions on WhatsApp at +60 12-679 7137.