What is Ankara Fabric?

At the heart of the IJAN TOLA brand is the love for Ankara fabrics (also known as African wax prints), we incorporate these bold and colourful prints to curate playful and personalised afrocentric designs. We want to push the boundaries of traditional style with Ankara fabrics and create fun fashion statement designs.

So, what is Ankara?

Ankara is the name given to a very popular wax print fabric worn most commonly by Africans, in particularly West Africa. However from West Africa, this fabric has spread to other parts of Africa and all over the world, it is now an increasingly popular fabric used by many international designers and worn by many nationalities and big screen artists.

Origination

The origination of Ankara fabric links back to the Dutch, who industrially produced these colourful cloths from inspiration of the handmade process of making of batik cloth, an Indonesian method of dyeing cloth by using wax-resistant techniques.

It was originally produced for the Indonesian market but it did not gain popularity, instead it found a more enthusiastic market in West Africa, which is why the fabric has gained an African identity and is also known as African Wax Print Fabric as well as Dutch Wax Print.

Ankara is 100% cotton and typically features very bold and colourful patterns formed from a decorative motif. One of the best things about Ankara material is the richness of the fabric print, the vibrant colours do not change in comparison to other printed textiles that can fade quickly. This is because of the “wax resistant” method used in producing the fabric.

Traditions

Traditionally for West Africans, Ankara cloth is worn for special celebrations, such as weddings and birthdays. Nigerians will wear “aso ebi” for such occasions. 'Aso ebi' is a Nigerian word meaning “clothes of the family”, like a uniform for families and close friends to dress up using the same or similar Ankara print or colours as an indicator of cooperation and solidarity during big events. Just look at the gorgeous ladies below!