Market Demand for East African’s fabric Kitenge In the past few years  there has been a sharp rise in demand for East African’s fabric Kitenge, Kenya is beginning to appreciate and value home grown fashion industry, and designers are dropping the cliche that African fashion has to look African more local designers are coning up with creative designs to suit the millennial most of the design are made of local fabric kitenge 

Kenyans wear the Kitenge as an appreciation of culture and creativity. As such, you are more likely to see such dresses during events such as Concur De Elegance, Koroga festival , Blankets and Wine,  among others. Fashion designers have tapped into the growing demand for the Kitenge by creating unique and beautiful pieces. Today, you can find just about anything; traditional top and down or the modern Kitenge fused with other fabrics (laces, denim, silk).

What is Kitenge ?Kitenge is an East African cotton fabric printed in various colours and designs with distinctive borders, used especially for women’s clothing,Kitenge or chitenge is an East African, West African and Central African fabric similar to sarong, often worn by women and wrapped around the chest or waist, over the head as a headscarf, or as a baby sling.

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Kitenges are similar to kangas and kikoy, but are of a thicker cloth and have an edging on only a long side. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Liberia, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo are some of the African countries where kitenge is worn. In Malawi, Namibia and Zambia, kitenge is known as Chitenge. They are sometimes worn by men around the waist in hot weather. In some countries like Malawi, Chitenges never used to be worn by men until recently when the president encouraged civil servants to buy Malawian products by wearing Chitenje on Fridays.

Kitenges (plural vitenge in Swahili; zitenge in Tonga) serve as an inexpensive, informal piece of clothing that is often decorated with a huge variety of colors, patterns and even political slogans. The printing on the cloth is done by a traditional batik technique. These are known as wax prints and the design is equally as bright and detailed on the obverse side of the fabric. These days Wax prints are commercially made and are almost completely roller printed. Fancy prints are roller printed with the designs being less colorful or detailed on the obverse side. Many of the designs have a meaning. A large variety of religious and political designs are found as well as traditional tribal patterns. The cloth is used as material for dresses, blouses and pants as well.

Content Courtesy Of Nairobi Fashion Hub