Revealed On 12 Apr 2026
In Iseyin, a sleepy city in southwestern Nigeria, shaded areas underneath timber, makeshift sheds, and slim alleys function manufacturing hubs for aso-oke, a handwoven material indigenous to the Yoruba folks.
Demand for this material has surged each domestically and internationally, fuelled by the Nigerian diaspora and the rising international recognition of the nation’s vogue and music tradition. Regardless of this reputation, artisans steadfastly resist mechanisation, sustaining that handweaving is important to the material’s distinctive character.
Positioned roughly 200km (108 miles) from Lagos, Nigeria’s cultural and vogue epicentre, Iseyin stands because the acknowledged house of aso-oke. Beneath the extreme warmth of a muggy morning, yards of yarn and freshly woven materials stretch throughout dusty areas surrounded by weathered sheds the place weavers diligently work behind picket looms. The craft has change into an financial lifeline, attracting younger folks, together with college graduates, who flock to Iseyin to study the custom.
Naked-chested with tattooed biceps glistening, Waliu Fransisco works at his picket loom, the rhythmic click-clack filling the air as he weaves a cream-and-blue material. Ten years in the past, Fransisco deserted his profession as a Lagos nightclub singer to grasp aso-oke weaving. Although he initially discovered the bodily calls for difficult, he has no regrets about his choice.
“Now I earn an honest residing from weaving aso-oke and I’m glad,” the 34-year-old informed AFP.
Aso-oke, which roughly interprets to “the fabric from up nation”, is a thick, typically vibrantly multicoloured material that has change into a staple in Nigeria, Africa’s vogue capital. It seems in conventional ceremonial apparel, assertion vogue items, and informal put on. Strips are sewn onto different materials, including distinctive colour and magnificence, as seen when Meghan Markle wore an aso-oke wrapper and shoulder scarf throughout her go to to Nigeria with Britain’s Prince Harry two years in the past.
In Iseyin, the regular rhythm of historic picket looms supplies the soundtrack to a convention handed by way of generations. Aso-oke stays each a cultural emblem and a marker of id. Traditionally, manufacturing concerned getting ready threads from cotton or silk—cleansing, spinning, and dyeing fibers utilizing conventional strategies earlier than setting them on looms, with restricted color choices.
In the present day’s weavers more and more use loom-ready threads in numerous colors “principally imported from China”, in line with 42-year-old weaver Abdulhammed Ajasa. Artisans spend hours arranging threads on looms to create slim, tightly patterned strips which might be later sewn collectively into wider cloths for clothes and equipment.
“That is what Iseyin is thought for,” says Kareem Adeola, 35, from behind his loom. “We inherited it from our forefathers.”
