All About African Wax Print Fabric

ALL ABOUT AFRICAN WAX PRINT FABRIC/ANKARA FABRIC It is a culture in Ghanaian civilization to gift your wife-to-be something valuable as she enters her family life. Wax prints are textile-like no other, which can also be gifted to her. African wax fabric can hold shades while other textiles cannot, and the designs themselves serve as a cultural currency for us. Ankara, essentially associated with Africa, is a 100% cotton fabric that comes in vibrant colors and patterns. Wax resins and different dyes are applied to the fabric to have a batik-like impression on both sides of the fabric. The wax used ‘resists’ the paint from penetrating the entire cloth, forming a pretty pattern. Ankara has a connection with Africa because of its tribal-like designs and patterns, all of which hold particular significance.

Though Ankara fabrics are linked with the African culture, it has originated somewhere else. It began in Indonesia, where the locals practice the wax-resisting dyes' technique to produce batik. In the middle of the 19th century, an association of West African men (slaves and mercenaries) was appointed to reinforce Indonesia's army. The African guys loved the fabrics and purchased them and bought them in their home countries. This drove to a taste emerging in West Africa for these Indonesian designs, and thus African wax print fabric was born. The African women named the patterns on Ankara fabrics, letting the fabric deliver some sort of messages between them. CONTACT US 134 W. 29th St. Suite #903 NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001 212-683-7358 [email protected] www.aknfabrics.com