‘Adi’, meaning ‘to tie’ and ‘re’ which means to
dye’ is the name given to indigo-dyed cloth
produced by the Yoruba of South Western
Nigeria using a variety of resist-dye techniques
that reflect the culture, language and art
tradition of the Yoruba people.
Te tradition of indigo dyeing goes back
centuries in West Africa.
Te earliest known example is a cap from the
Dogon kingdom in Mali dating to the 11th
century, dyed in the oniko style.
Te earliest pieces of this type were probably
simple tied designs on cotton cloth handspun

and woven locally (rather like those still
produced in Mali), but in the early decades of
the 20th century new access to large quantities
of imported shirting material via the spread of
European textile merchants in Abeokuta and
other Yoruba towns caused a boom in these
women’s entrepreneurial and artistic efforts,
making adire a major local craf in Abeokuta
and Ibadan, attracting buyers from all over
West Africa.
Abeokuta is considered to be the capital of
adire making in Nigeria

Today, there are three primary resist
techniques used in Nigeria:
Oniko: this process involves tying rafa
around hundreds of individual corn kernels
or pebbles to produce small white circles on
a blue background. Te fabric can also be
twisted and tied on itself or folded into stripes.

Alabere: Stitching rafa onto the fabric in
a pattern prior to dyeing. Te rafa palm is
stripped, and the spine sewn into the fabric.
Afer dyeing the rafa is usually ripped out,
although some choose to leave it in and let
wear and tear on the garment slowly reveal the
design.
Eleko: Resist dyeing with cassava paste
painted onto the fabric. Traditionally done
with different size chicken feathers, calabash
carved into different designs are also used, in a

manner similar to block printing.
Since the early twentieth century, metal

stencils cut from the sheets of tin that lined tea

chests have also been used
Te major Yoruba cities traditionally noted
and recognised for Adire are Abeokuta, Ede,
Ibadan, Ondo and Osogbo. Of all the centers,
Osogbo is traditionally renowned as the home
of indigo, and the “home of dyeing”; “Osogbo
ilu aro” and the people are so good as dyers as
to elicit the Yoruba saying “Aro nbe l’Osogbo,
omo eniyan ni mbe nile Ibadan,” translating it
is Indigo dominates Osogbo,
Adire wrappers were sold as far away as
Ghana, Senegal, and the Congo. At the height
of Adire production in the 1920s, Senegalese
merchants came to Abeokuta to buy as many
as 2,000 wrappers in one day from the female
traders.
In recent times however, political fgures and
celebrities have worn Adire-inspired clothes.