Fabric here is very vibrant (and it is called cloth, not fabric). Local methods of creating fabric include weaving (like the kente cloth), dyeing by hand (like batik, which uses wax to prevent dye from adhering to some portions of the fabric in a predetermined pattern or tie dyed), or companies like Akosombo Textiles Ltd (ATL) and Ghana Textile Prints (GTP) who also wax print or print using a complicated multi-silk screen-like system. Additionally some fabric is imported from Europe. According to a Fulbright researcher/artist who is currently working at ATL, ATL produced 25 million meters of fabric last year, which is about 2.3 million meters per month.
The reason the second hand clothing market thrives is both money and time, I am told (and understand some from personal experience). Used clothing can be had for two or three cedis a piece, and is available right away. To buy cloth can cost from three cedis a yard to much more for "designer" cloth (the outfits you see the girls wearing below usually demand up to six yards), and then you have to pay a seamstress to make it for you, and wait for it to be completed (i.e. not available right away). As one of the articles linked below argues, the secondhand clothing market is destroying the local cloth markets - although with ATL producing 2.3 million meters of cloth per month, it seems hard to believe!
Above you can see the vibrant colors. On the top are students at Achimota showing off their Sunday best. I often think that they look like a garden full of flowers. Below that is a cloth seller in Lome, Togo; this method of stacking cloth is common in Ghana as well.
As is mentioned in one article below, fabric is often created to commemorate a certain event. Here is fabric printed for the American inauguration. It features the Presidential seal, a photo of President Obama, and text indicating him as the 44th President of the United States. I bought some to use on my classroom bulletin board next school year.
Most cloth shown below was sported by students or colleagues at Achimota.
I thought the cloth on the left perfect for teachers to keep an eye on their students! The middle is the Ghanaian flag (red for blood, yellow for gold, green for agriculture/foliage, and the black star for African independence). I just liked the spider with the web.
Household items: combs, garden hoses, and whistles.
The office supply trifecta! Paper clips, pens, and scissors.
Other patterns I have seen, but been unable to photograph: perfume being sprayed on the neck of a woman, handbells, dominoes, the word "Paris" and the Eiffel Tower, traffic lights, a message in a bottle, and a hand holding a cue and three billiard balls.
Please check out the articles as well. I look forward to feedback on this issue.
‘Dead White People’s Clothes’
How the used clothes you send to Africa are killing the local textile industries.
How the used clothes you send to Africa are killing the local textile industries.
Why I'm Sending My Tutu to Ghana
It may hurt local textiles, but being fashion-forward is all about fusing the old and new.
It may hurt local textiles, but being fashion-forward is all about fusing the old and new.
