What are Super Wax Prints?

Super Wax prints boast vibrant colours and striking, multicoloured designs that look deceptively modern. It’s a style of fabric that’s popular across much of Africa, including the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Benin, and Northern Nigeria; it’s been a traditional style for many years. 

Typically, you’ll find that textiles with Super Wax prints feature their bright, bold designs on both sides of the fabric, with deep intensity of colours on both the back and the front. This style of fabric was traditionally created using the wax relief method (also called batik), in which designs are applied with an ink repellent liquid or paste, like wax, resin or starch. Dye was then used to colour the fabric and when the wax or other ink repellent was removed, beautiful patterns were left behind.

It’s a technique that originated in Java in Indonesia and after being exported to the Gold Coast, the fabrics spread over west Africa and into central Africa. The style of these prints, also known as Dutch Wax prints, became assimilated into west African society, where they became an important part of local culture and self expression.

For many years now, a large proportion of Super Wax prints have been made in Holland and, as imported goods, they carry a significant amount of prestige in owning and wearing them in Africa. They also command high prices, with Dutch brand Vlisco (one of the most popular) a symbol of class akin to luxury brands like Chanel or Jimmy Choo in Western culture.

High quality Super Wax prints are made of densely woven cotton and Vlisco’s dyes are made in-house to ensure the deepest vibrancy. Natural cracking occurs throughout the colour blocks, adding interest to the designs and giving textiles a traditional feel, reflecting African pride.

Super Wax fabric is often used in garments and wrappers for celebratory occasions in African culture, but its striking style appeals to people from all walks of life; with the range of colours and prints available, there’s a design to suit everybody.

The African Fabric Is Dutch

THE NETHERLANDS, HELMOND-internet connectivity across Africa can be very slow but this has not hindered more than 9,000 affluent young women from different African states to meet online and discuss what matters to them; Vlisco, a luxury fabric that has given rise to latest designs.

They are from such countries as Angola, Ghana, Benin and Senegal among others. Their friendly repartee in English, French and Portuguese on the fabric’s face book fun page is just interesting. They focus on the smallest of the details including label that has been mistaken to be African and for centuries it has been sold by local vendors to the wealthy Africans.

While the double sided wax-printed fabric is distinctive and very remarkable, you would be curious to know that it is manufactured in a rather very small and non-descript town in the southern part of Holland.

To those West Africans who are not yet conversant with this truth, the adoration and praise directed towards the Dutch company by the cosmopolitan and mobile Africans could seem misplaced. Vlisco’s creative director-Roger Gerards who frequently moves between African cities and Holland-does not think so.       According to him, Vlisco awes its growth to a symbiotic relationship between Africa’s consumers and traders and their counterparts in Holland including the Dutch designers and manufacturers. This relationship dates back to 1846. The success of the fabric is largely consumer driven particularly by consumers from west and central Africa. So many designs across the centuries were created upon the request of particular African traders (this is evident in the giant tangerine swatch of great fabric at their offices that is decorated with red and blue stars from as far back as 1950s). They include different sizes and designs. From their archives, there are more than 300,000 Vlisco fabrics that are arranged to hand along very long rails in a seamless manner in a building that is next to Vlisco’s manufacturing block that is full of activity. This affirms the notion that Vlisco was largely driven by consumers’ tastes and preferences especially from those of West and Central Africa. 

His team of designers come from very diverse backgrounds; Nigeria, Cameroon, Germany, Mexico, France, Britain and the Netherlands. They are based in pristine studio in Helmond in the Netherlands. These designers currently gather their inspiration from such African sources like their landscape, symbolic objects like the mirror, the desktop fans, traditionally hand-woven Kente cloth and interpretations from such aspects as tribal arts. In addition, they also get inspiration from international architectural designs and movements, modern music, Islamic geometrical patterns and the pop art called tongue-in-cheek.

Through idiosyncrasy in their history of designing and fearless entrepreneurship, Vlisco managed to out-compete the many companies that were in operation during the 19th century to emerge the strongest fabric brand. Its competitors included Dutch, French and British companies who were bent on getting a bit of the lucrative trade of wax-printed batiks from Indonesia formerly Dutch East Indies. They had to start with genuine productions and then reproduce their prints.

Genuine batiks from Indonesia were labor intensive and thus expensive to produce. The Europeans had to come up with an automated system of dyeing the fabrics to make them less expensive.

By the end of the 19th century, Vlisco found its way to West and Central Africa via the ocean route. Designs and patterns continued to be adapted to those of elite Africans until they found great popularity in the region.

With the above knowledge, cultural commentators have faulted the Vlisco company for building their business on products which are not originally African (sort of a misrepresentation of facts). Tunde M. Akwinwumi has been very vocal and has published a paper ‘The African Print Hoax’ in the Journal of pan African studies 2008.

The Crowning Glory of Gele

Topping off an African ensemble with an eye-catching head wrapping is essential, particularly for a special ceremonial event like a wedding, naming ceremony or festival. It’s not quite clear where the custom originated, but a head wrap is a cultural must-have accessory across Africa, particularly in Nigeria where it is called a gele. With a resurgence in African pride in recent years, the head wrap has become stylish among African communities across the world.

Experts in the use of the gele are the Yoruba tribe, who perfected the tying of this traditional head dress into elaborate concoctions to enhance the beauty of the face, complement the outfit and act as a regal crown to grace the head of proud, dignified African women.

The fabric of choice for a gele is Aso-Oke – originally a textured, tightly hand-woven, glossy, cotton cloth crafted in a variety of traditional patterns and colours. The threads now used in weaving are mostly cotton, silk, rayon and metallic lurex fibres. The result is a shiny, stiff fabric which resembles great quality wrapping paper! Wearing Aso-Oke was traditionally a sign of wealth for both men and women; little wonder it means literally “top cloth” and was favoured by Nigeria’s kings (Obas).

For a basic wrap, you need between a half and whole yard of fabric. For most Nigerian women, wrapping a gele is as easy as tying a bow, but if you are a novice you may need some practice to achieve the look – and a can of spray starch to keep the fabric smooth and crisp.

It is difficult to explain the gele tying process in words, so it is best to study a video tutorial like this one:

7 ways to Wear your West African Head-Tie!

At Fabrics & Beyond, we’re all about statement style that helps you stand out from the crowd. West African clothing is vibrant, distinct, and very versatile, which is why we love playing around with a whole host of gorgeous fabrics and ways in which to wear them!

One of the most versatile collections we stock is our selection of head-ties, perfect for when you’re growing out your hair, after having braids removed, or simply when don’t have the time to style it! Wearing a head-tie shouldn’t have to be a second-rate solution, and there are so many beautiful ways to wear your favourite West African fabric. 

Fabrics & Beyond head-tie in orange

Rich and energetic, this bright splash of colour will cheer up your outfit in seconds! The touch of gold brings elegance and creates an exceptionally classy look. Perfect for light and dark skin tones.

Fabrics & Beyond head-tie in army and gold

This piece is opulent and sophisticated, but still keeps itself demure with a soft shade of army green. Beautiful against lighter skin tones, this delicate head-tie adds a little glitz without going over the top.

Fabrics & Beyond head-tie in chocolate

For those who like an understated headpiece, this tie is gorgeously demure. The dark shades are refined and classic, but the pop of white brings real contrast to the look. This is a modest addition to any wardrobe, and an absolute staple, capable of complementing any outfit. We think this head-tie would look fantastic on darker skin tones.

All of our head-ties are designed and chosen to match the other products on our website, so if you find yourself head-over-heels for a print then don’t fear – there’s a whole outfit with your name on it!