Focus on Fabrics: Bogolanfini

Bogolanfini, otherwise known simply as bogolan has recently taken the Western design world by storm, with the distinctive geometric cloth popping up in all sorts of homewares and decoration sites. Despite this recent emergence in the Western design world, bogolanfini has a long history in Mali, where it originates and where it continues to play an important cultural role.

Bogolanfini by Naktune Diarra, The Smithsonian

West African Textiles: Indigo

Malian Woman Producing Indigo in the
Dogon Country

Beginning this project in Ghana, where African-produced wax print is ubiquitous, I thought sourcing locally made textiles would be as simple when I arrived in Senegal. Once I started visiting markets and speaking with textile importers, I quickly realised it would be much more difficult to find textiles for Madame Tây that had been produced in Senegal, if not impossible.

As we were developing this project, we realised we had the unique opportunity to be able to explain how our garments were produced. For us, ethical production starts with the materials used to create a garment, but as Steph remarks in her earlier posts about the cotton industry (All About Cotton - Part I and Part II), the production processes involved in creating the fabric we purchased are completely closed off to us.

Working in West Africa, where most young people prefer buying mass-manufactured clothes imported from China, or second hand clothes imported from all over the world,  this was particularly poignant for me as I hoped that Madame Tây would not only be able to support Senegalese artisans, but also the local textile industry. When I realised that there was no local textile industry in Senegal (You can read more about  the wax print used to create Madame Tây garments here), I started looking further abroad.

Know Your Wax

Wax Prints at a store in Tamale, Ghana

When purchasing wax print fabric here in Dakar it can be hard to really know where the fabric you find in the big markets comes from and who was responsible for its design and its production. Often the fabric sellers won’t be too sure themselves, and some prefer to feign ignorance when the wax they sell is foreign, out of worry their customers won’t pay a decent price if they know the fabric is made in India or China. Adding to this, most people I’ve spoken to here just don’t know where the wax they wear comes from - in the same way that I couldn’t tell you where my Cue shirt was produced, or where the cotton used to make it was grown and manufactured.

Whilst I can’t tell you where the cotton for every wax print I bought came from, I want to share with you what I’ve learnt since being here in Senegal about the different wax prints that are available and particularly those that are used in Madame Tây garments. Most of this information I learnt from talking informally with a few Senegalese textile industry professionals who import textiles into Senegal. For a country whose second main export is cotton, there is an incredible amount of importation of textiles – mainly from Asian countries. This is due to the lack of processing plants in Senegal to turn the cotton they grow into thread or fabric. When I’ve asked any of the Senegalese designers or tailors I’ve met here why such processing factories don’t exist, they have all thrown up their hands in exasperation and been unable to answer! 

When you purchase a Madame Tây piece from Senegal, please don’t hesitate to ask us for more information about the fabric – we’ll be happy to share with you what we know!

Read more after the jump

Markets in Dakar: Sandaga and HLM

Madame Tay’s adventure into West African textiles began here, in Marché Sandaga – the biggest market in Senegal’s bustling capital city, Dakar. Fire ripped through the market’s main building in October, but that hasn’t stopped the commerçants from dealing their wares – the streets around the market were as busy as ever!

Marché Sandaga [Image credit: www.panaramio.com]

Lucky for me, I had a whole team behind me helping me negotiate the windy labyrinth of Sandaga. Our tailor Diogomaye, his Aunty and his cousin Arame had offered to come along to help buying the first round of fabric Diogo would turn into our samples. So we piled into a taxi and headed off to centre ville.

A Trip to the Fabric Market

Let's start at Ninh Hiep fabric market, twenty kilometres from Hanoi - where it all begins. Tucked in between rice paddies and a rapidly encroaching urban sprawl lies Northern Vietnam's largest textile market, where everyday more than 1,000 local household traders gather to sell a plethora of different fabrics, zips and buttons. 

One of my favourite parts of the trip to Ninh Hiep is travelling across Long Bien bridge – a shared train-motorbike overpass which hangs over the Red River. Built by a pair of Parisian architects, the bridge survived numerous assassination attempts during the American War due to its strategic importance as the only bridge connecting the capital of Hanoi to the strategic port-side town of Hai Phong. Driving over the bridge you will pass palm-tree lined fields on your left and couples taking impromptu photo shoots on the train tracks to your right.

The street leading up to the market is lined for almost one kilometre by individual fabric stores – here you can see the stores preparing for the upcoming Typhoon Haiyan by lining their roofs with tarp.

These streets prepare you for the onslaught of choice that lies ahead. It is easy to lose several hours at Ninh Hiep wading through various fabrics and colours. There is no shortage of cheap synthetics as Ninh Hiep falls directly on Vietnam’s trading route with its neighbours in the North. Sellers have no qualms telling you that their cheap polyester fabric is actually 100% top-quality cotton. However, beautiful linens, silks and cottons lie amongst the masses even if they are not always easy to find.  Almost every Hanoian tailor who has spent the better part of their lives stitching and sewing by hand can tell you in a matter of seconds what each fabric is made of.

©Flickr/TrungHieu

Favourite purchases from the market include:

• Cotton-silk fabric – I brought 55 metres in navy blue
• Gold coloured buttons sold by the gram
• Twilled-cotton blend in a unique blue/pink hazy floral print