African textiles represent the rich cultural heritage of African continent. The artistic creations in the African textile segment through structural relationships of form, designs, patterns and colors express feelings and emotions which cannot be voiced in any other way. The great master Picasso introduced a revolution in Western art after breaking from the Western figure.
The textile of Africa is rich in colors and is endlessly creative in geometric design. The dyers, weavers and other textile artists of the African continent make a significant contribution in creating a lavishly elegant and awe-inspiring range of textiles. The increasingly popular African textiles include Kente, Adinkara and Bogolan while the less popular include Adire, Oruba and Ase-oke.
In the ancient ages the most significant facet of African textile was that cloth was used in form of money. In the following decades the width of cloth strip was standardized in each region of Africa and hence a regular number of such standard length cloth strips were required to make woman's wrapper cloth. Cloth was regarded as a form of money as it was used by all. The raw materials usually used in the African textile are wool, cotton, bast fibers, bark of certain trees and raffia. The various types of African textiles include Kuba, Ewe, Akwete, Adinkra, Bagolan, Nupe Clothes. African textiles are usually decorated either by dyeing the thread or the finished the product. The African textile sector inspired by the various developments in the global arena is increasingly attempting to add a local flavor and appeal in the contemporary fashion.
