Have You Heard About SHWESHWE?

To so many in Western and Northern Africa, shweshwe may sound strange and unrelated to fabrics. Shweshwe is a printed dyed cotton fabric widely used for traditional South African clothing. Originally dyed indigo, the fabric is manufactured in a variety of colours and printing designs characterized by the intricate geometric patterns. Due to its timeless popularity, shweshwe has been described as the denim, or tartan, of South Africa. 

Shweshwe Fabrics

Shweswhe is the only fabric proudly claimed as South African. Like colourful wax fabric in West and Central Africa, shweshwe fabric’s history in South Africa has been weaved in a circuit of cultural exchanges and interactions between three continents: Asia-Europe-Africa.

It is said that German missionaries and traders introduced this fabric in the region, immigrating to the Eastern Cape and elsewhere in South Africa in the mid-1800.

Indeed it echoed the traditional German dress the “blaudruck”: an indigo dyed fabric, white printed floral patterns on a blue ground. These fabric which was used in Central Europe for peasants and work clothing originated with the indiennes (Indian cottons) which spread in Europe in the 17th century. Europeans produced then their own cotton printed fabrics (in UK) and imported it in South Africa. Starch, used to preserve the fabric from the elements during the long sea voyage, gave to the fabric its distinctive characteristics: stiffness and smell. After washing, it becomes softer.
Originally the cloth was dyed using natural indigo.

Today shweshwe fabric is still an indigo-dyed discharge printed fabric, but it also comes in several different colours, mainly earth colours described as the South African colours: brown, red, orange, yellow. There are three main tone prints: blue, brown, red/orange. It is a double tones 100% cotton printed fabric with flora, fauna, figurative and geometrical patterns, manufactured with copper rollers which have patterns on the surface, allowing the transfer of a weak discharge solution onto the fabric. It has been produced in South Africa for many decades now by the enterprise Da Gama Textile located in the Eastern Cape.

ShweShwe is used to make traditional garments as well as high fashion outfits. Like beadwork which is typical of South Africa, shweshwe fabric is a national symbol. Today, dresses, skirts, shirts made of shweshwe are worn by any men and women from whatever community. This fabric is no longer marking an ethnic identity, rather it is about a South African dress, and even a global African dress.