[Weekend Lifestyle] ADIRE; A FASHIONABLE TREND

Adire ( Yoruba — tie and dye) textile is the indigo dyed cloth made in south western Nigeria by Yoruba women, using a variety of resist dye techniques.

As the translation of the name suggests, the earliest pieces of this type were probably simple tied designs on cotton cloth handspun and woven locally.

New techniques of resist dyeing developed, such as "adire eleko" (hand-painting designs onto cloth with a cassava starch paste prior to dyeing), along with a new style more suited to
rapid mass production (using metal stencils cut from the sheets of tin that lined tea chests, using sewn raffia and/or tied sections, or folding the cloths repeatedly before tying or stitching them in place).

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 but by the end of the decade problems over quality caused by the spread of synthetic indigo and
caustic soda, coupled with an influx of new less skilled entrants into the craft, led to a collapse in demand from which it never really recovered.

Today simplified stencilled designs and some better quality tie & die and stitch-resist designs are still produced, but local taste favours multi- coloured wax-resist cloth usually known as "kampala," though a few people still call this adire.
Good examples of the older styles are
getting harder and harder to find in Nigeria, it is higly forecast by experts that in a few years time, the masterpieces of indigo dyeing may also disappeared altogether.

Economic and Fashionable trend

Economically, adire has been a major source of income for abeokuta women, creating a whooping sum beyond imagination, it can also be seen as a form of entrepreneurship for  the young and old at thesame time, educated, non educated, graduates, undergraduates just anybody can venture into the business.

Adire can be used to make so many beautiful things which includes:
Hand bags
Sandals
Pillows
Shirts
Gowns
Trousers
Short pants
Curtains
Bracelet  e.t.c

Celebration of Adire carnival
Like any product that has evolved over the years, Adire has a carnival dedicated to it which holds in the month of December. According to president of the Adire Carnival Festival, Chief Micheal Ogunfidodo, “in Kemta we know nothing else apart from the adire and in other to celebrate our culture and do other things we decided to introduce the Adire Carnival and also a cultural fashion festival through which we intend to sell this clothing to the rest of the world. The carnival is to give thanks to God and we invite people to come and celebrate with us and we usually celebrate it during the festive seasons.”

BUY IT,  USE IT,  ADVERTISE IT! SALL IT!  AND  CHERISH IT.