The History of Adire

Indigo dying is an ancient tradition in West Africa, however, the adire techniques date back only about a hundred years. It was developed when factory-produced cotton shirting became widely available and affordable. The finer, more even structure of the cloth allowed women to experiment with stitching and tieing before dyeing. In Abeokuta and Ibadan, adire artists developed the use of starch as a resisting agent. These two cities became the centers of adire production, with Ibadan especially noted for free-hand starching. By the 1960's, adire production was common all over Nigeria

 Women in Nigeria make a type of dye cloth that they call adire. They make some adire by folding, tying, and/or stitching cloth  before dyeing. This is called adire oniko, after the word for raffia, iko. They also make another type, adire eleko, by painting or stenciling designs on the cloth with starch. Both types are dyed in indigo, a natural blue dye.