Overview
Adire is the resist-dyed indigo cloth of the Yoruba south-west, made by blocking parts of a plain cloth so the dye cannot reach them. The word describes the method rather than a single pattern, and the cloth ranges from tightly stitched geometric fields to freely painted starch designs.
Origin and history
Indigo dyeing is practised in Yoruba towns since at least the nineteenth century, and Abeokuta in Ogun State and Ibadan in Oyo State became its best-known centres. The trade was largely in the hands of women, who dyed, sold and taught it. Imported cotton shirting from the late nineteenth century made larger, smoother cloths possible and encouraged new pattern types. Demand fell in the mid-twentieth century as printed factory cloth spread, then revived from the 1990s among designers and a new generation of dyers.
Materials and techniques
The dye comes from the indigo plant, fermented in pits or pots until it yields its colour. Resist is created in three broad ways: tying and stitching the cloth (adire oniko and alabere), painting or stencilling cassava starch onto it (adire eleko), and folding or clamping it. The bound cloth is dipped repeatedly, each dip deepening the blue, then rinsed and beaten to a sheen. Synthetic dyes and wax resist are widely used today alongside indigo, and the underlying principle is the same in all versions: what the resist covers stays pale.
Cultural significance
Adire patterns carry names, and many refer to proverbs, objects or events, which makes a cloth readable to those who know the vocabulary. Particular designs have been associated with commemorations, with married women's dress and with market prestige. As a women's craft it also carried economic weight, giving dyers and cloth traders independent income and standing in towns such as Abeokuta.
Notable examples
Adire eleko
Cloth patterned with cassava starch resist, painted freehand or through metal stencils.
Olokun
A widely known stitched and tied pattern, its name referring to the Yoruba deity of the sea.
Ibadandun
A named design pattern whose title translates roughly as "Ibadan is sweet".
Connected history and culture
The wider cultural context of the cloth, its patterns and its place in dress is covered in Àdìrẹ and Nigerian textile craft, and the woven cloth it is often worn alongside is Aso Oke.