Nigeria's Adire Fabric

Adire is the name given to indigo dyed cloth produced by Yoruba women of south western Nigeria using a variety of resist dye techniques. Adire translates as tie and dye, and the earliest cloths were probably simple tied designs on locally-woven hand-spun cotton cloth much like those still produced in Mali.

In the early decades of the twentieth century however, the new access to large quantities of imported shirting material made possible by the spread of European textile merchants in certain Yoruba towns, notably Abeokuta, enabled women dyers to become both artists and entrepreneurs in a booming new medium. New techniques of resist dyeing were developed, most notably the practice of hand-painting designs on the cloth with a cassava starch paste prior to dyeing. This was known as adire eleko.

Alongside these a new style was soon developed that speeded up decoration by using metal stencils cut from the sheets of tin that lined tea-chests. Another method was to use sewn raffia, sometimes in combination with tied sections, while other cloths were simply folded repeatedly and tied or stitched in place. The basic shape of the cloth is that of two pieces of shirting material stitched together to create a women's wrapper cloth. Most of the designs were named, and popular designs included the jubilee pattern, (first produced for the jubilee of George V and Queen Mary in 1935), Olokun or "goddess of the sea", and Ibadadun "Ibadan is sweet."

In the 1920s and 30s adire was a major local craft in the towns of Abeokuta and Ibadan, attracting buyers from all over West Africa. Today Adire and African Fabrics Centre of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Foundation, among other Adire fabrics promoters, are determined to put the Adire, Tie and Dye fabric on the world runway. Its production, training and marketing of the fabric have been redefined to accommodate modern styles and glitz in accordance with international fashion standards.

Adire and Fabrics Centre of OOPL is at present taking up research and studying people’s fashion tastes and desires as well as a studying the mechanisation of Adire processed textiles, garments and accessories production with a view to produce in large quantity.

Modernisation, creativity and professionalism have now been added to the production and marketing of Adire, leaving room for the production of Adire crafted products such as garments, bags, shoes, slippers, sheetings, pillows, among other valuable products, that have subsequently created jobs for teeming unemployed youths.

The centre presently partners Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) on the production of tie and dye and other basic chemicals used in the production of the Adire fabrics, and also partnering the office of the Ogun State first lady, Olufunsho Amosun on training and acquisition of skills on Adire and African fabrics production. This is in order to sustain and improve on Adire fabrics production, generate employment and create means of livelihood for Nigerians