Adire

Àdìre means: ‘to put something together and dye it’. Àdìre refers to hand-designed fabrics in Nigeria, some of which are hand-dyed with natural indigo. The patterns are applied to the fabrics using cassava starch, wax batik techniques or the ‘tie and dye’ technique. The diverse patterns are closely linked to the Yórùbá culture of western Nigeria and in part to the indigenous Yórùbá religion that originated there, based on the Ifá system of wisdom, which is recognised as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Since the beginning of 2023 at the latest, the Nigerian fabric market has been flooded with cheap Chinese counterfeit Àdìre fabrics, which are also made from polyester rather than cotton, as is the case with traditional Àdìre. Many Àdìre designers have already suffered painful losses in sales due to the Chinese counterfeits, which, against the backdrop of the current high inflation in Nigeria, has reached a level that is destroying their livelihoods.  Nigerians are therefore faced with the challenge of communicating and marketing the value of their traditional handmade Àdìres in a new way and protecting them from being displaced by cheap goods from China.