The Beauty of Aso-Oke Fabrics

Aso-Oke Store

Aso oke fabric, is a hand loomed cloth woven by the Yoruba people of south west Nigeria. Aso oke means top cloth in the English language. Usually woven by men, the fabric is used to make men's gowns, called Agbada, women's wrappers, called iro, and men's hats, called fila. There are three types of traditional aso oke worn by Yoruba people, Alaari - a rich red aso oke, Sanyan - a brown and usually light brown aso oke, Etu - a dark blue aso oke, Aso oke fabric is often worn with aran, a brown velvet with concentric designs.

First, Etu (fowl), via blue and white stripes in the warp direction with a light blue checkerboard having pattern weave structure, a type of traditional Aso-Oke with blue and white stripes in the warp direction with a light blue checkerboard with a pattern weave structure. The strips are woven using local wild silk fiber, thus Etu is dyed repeatedly in traditional indigo blue dye, which is brought out at intervals for drying and stretching. In the ancient times, Etu was used as important social dress by chiefs and elders among the YorubaSecond, we have Alaari, crimson in colour, it is traditionally woven with locally spurned silk yarns dyed in red cam wood solution severally to achieve permanence in colour fastness. The use of alaari is not limited to a particular ceremony but traditionally used for all events among the Yoruba of Nigeria. The third, Sanyan, an expensive Yoruba hand-woven fabric, grayish in colour with white strip running through the middle of the cloth; traditionally produced from fibers made from the cocoons of the anaphe silk warm. Hence, the silk fibers are hand spun into silk threads, washed and soaked in corn-starch to strengthen the yarn for fabric production in the ancient times. In addition, sanyan is regarded as the most expensive of all Yoruba woven fabrics, thus, the Yoruba refer to it as baba-aso, the ‘father of fabrics'.

See pictures of Aso-Oke below:

Aso-Oke fabrics

Aso-Oke for wedding