African Fabrics: How they represent their culture?

Africa is a huge continent with different people from different tribes sharing a rich history. People from diverse cultures live on this amazing continent and create remarkable, colourful fabrics. There are many fabric designs which date back hundreds and thousands of years.

The skills used in manufacturing creative African fabrics and dresses have been passed generation after generation of by African people. Fabrics are usually made of materials available to people in different regions. They may use tree bark, palm leaves, cotton, linen, and wool, depending much on the place they live.

There are some exciting ways these people prepare and decorate unique clothing.

Methods of Adding Designs

There are different ways in which the designs are added to the fabrics. Some people dye fabrics through unique methods to create designs on the surface. Others utilise colourful threads and weave them into the fabric. Some of them use embroidery methods of sewing. Patterns are created by applique methods also- in which pieces of cloth are sewn in the background. Nowadays, printing is also used to add designs and colours on cloth.

Use of African Fabrics

African people communicate using a different style of clothing. It’s an exceptional way of communicating with each other- a tradition that has been ingrained in African culture for years. There is a historical significance in colours, dyes, threads and decorative elements. There are some exotic symbols used in decorating clothes, reflecting historical events. The African clothes and fabrics are used for commemorative purposes as well.

People in the Western part of the world buy African fabrics online for their quality, historical significance and their relevance in the hot weather.

Some Types of African Clothes

Kente and Adinkra are two distinct types of fabrics from Ghana. Kente cloths are usually woven with silk and stitched with the golden threads made of cotton giving it a striking and colourful touch. On the other hand, Adinkra clothes came from the Ashanti people. Adinkra receives designs from printing blocks and dyes. In fact, artists carve out a block of prints in a pattern of different symbols on the surface of the fabric. The symbols often represent warfare and relationships of the past.

Aso-Oke clothes are the hand-loomed clothes from Western Nigeria. Aso-Oke means top cloth, and it’s woven especially by men. The fabric is used in making men’s gown and women’s wrappers. They are so common and used by famous designers around the globe.

There is no dearth of African fabric provider stores and agencies, but Fresca Fashion has been a reliable provider of superb quality African fabrics online. It’s a leading manufacturer of traditional fabrics and clothes from the continent of Africa.