African Print- 'Friday Wear'

It is great to know that we are getting back to our roots with African print. Nowadays, workers patrol the streets of Ghana in African prints especially on Fridays. Friday wear has come to stay in our communities.

Most organizations and schools in the country have their own crest embedded in the cloth showing the organization or school's name, year it was founded and sometimes founding fathers.

 Below are Friday cloths for SG-SSB (bank in Ghana)

SG-SSB Friday wear cloth

SG-SSB Friday wear cloth

 Some schools have also made 'Friday wear'  compulsory for both students and teachers/ workers.

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Friday wear for JUC

African Print Fabric- Styles.

This article is based on pictures only.

straight pencil dress with stones, cut in a v-neck

 

from left-(straight bare-back and off-shoulder-three-sisters)

straight dress with pleats and straight flair dress with flower( flower made from the same cloth)

from left-puff straight dress with gathers and straight pencil dress with flair -(from shoulders.)

from left (v-neck straight dress and high-neck straight dress)

flair straight dress

African Print Fabrics- Originals and Pirated ones

As a way of making money, people or traders have been found importing pirated goods , specifically, African prints into Ghana. these traders steal designs from the local print industry here in Ghana and make replicas.

If you do not know, it is very difficult to distinguish between the original designs ( the real designs and fabrics produced by our own fabric producing factories), from the fake or pirated ones because of the resemblance.

The most annoying thing is that, these pirated ones are selling faster on the market than the originals. This is so because, they ( pirated fabrics) are sold at a cheaper price on the market.

These people have been caught on several occasions for this act as they are making the sellers of the originals run at a lose due to low or lack of purchase of goods( the fabrics).

 Below are examples of original fabrics produced by Ghana Textile Printers and the pirated ones.

original

fake or pirated

With these two fabrics, you can never tell the difference by just looking at it. The difference between these two fabrics is the texture. the original is quite heavy as compared to the pirated one.

fake or pirated

original

 With these two you can tell that the original is deeper than the fake or pirated one.

There are more like these four above. It is a very bad habit to copy designs of people and make them yours. people who are are fond of this habit should refrain from it.

African print fabrics -Names and Meaning

Ghana is one of the leading countries in the production of African print fabric. So to speak, there are two major companies that produce these fabrics; Ghana Textiles Printers (GTP), and Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL).

These fabrics are mostly designed to mirror various African culture and traditions. Many of the designs found on fabrics portray events or adages. Others also depict highly respected people.

Most of these fabrics produced in Ghana have local names. 'Yaw Donkor', 'Bosu', 'Ama Serwaa', 'Efie mmosea' etc. are some of the names of the fabrics in Ghana.

 Below are some pictures of the cloths and their names. 

sika wo nntaban

This fabric is known as sika wo nntaban or sika tu. It is translated as money flies. This simply means that, if you get hold of money, you must take care of it else you will loose it and money lost is difficult to regain.

Efie mmosea

Efie mmosea is the name of this fabric. This, in English is gravels. Gravels because, the design in it looks like small stones. The meaning is that if your sister or a relative hurts you, it is more painful than an outsider. The popular adage is, efie mmosea s3 etwa wua, eye ya-when a member of your family hurts you, it is very painful.

Bonsu

We all know that the whale is one of the biggest, if not the biggest animal in the sea. It caries its weight around showing that no animal can tackle it. In Twi, a whale is called 'Bonsu' ( Twi is one of the local languages in Ghana). This very fabric is called 'Bonsu', literally, the whale in the sea. so when a person puts on this cloth, the message he or she is trying to put across is that, no one can tackle him or her.






This fabric is known as 'Yaw Donkor'. This is a name of a person, meaning that the first person to

Yaw Donkor

have used this cloth was called Yaw Donkor and he was a very rich and popular man. Thus, because of his popularity and passion for African fabric, this particular one was named after him.









Names are given to fabrics so that it becomes easy to identify and purchase.

Brief History on African Print Fabric

Akwaaba!

 Welcome and thank you for visiting this blog on African print. Hope you like what you are about to read. Feel free to visit anytime.

African Print Fabric

African print fabric has been in existence for as long as one can remember. Much to my amazement, the batik was first discovered by the Indonesians and later, by the Dutch, who realized that entering the print business would be very lucrative. It was however first brought to Africa by the Indonesians, then later, the Europeans, specifically the Dutch.

African Print Fabric

The fabrics spread through African market and later, these fabrics were modified and designed to mirror various indigenous African culture and traditions. Many of the designs found on fabrics portray events or adages. Others also depict highly respected people.

Currently in Africa, African print fabric can be found in Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and other West African countries.

In Ghana, the two most important producers of African print fabric are Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL) and Ghana Textile Limited (GTP).