Adire is a textile consisting of resist-dyed cloth produced and worn by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria in West Africa. The Yoruba label adire, which means "tied and dyed”. The material was made with Teru (local white attire) and Elu (local Dye). Formally known to be a family business. Mothers passed the techniques down to their female children and the wives of their sons. For a long time, people who were not from a certain family were not allowed to partake in adire production as it was a part of the family’s heritage. Traditionally, adire was dyed indigo (dark blue) made from elu leaf which is planted in the Saki area of Oyo state. Indigo has a lot of health benefits. Today, new multi-colored adire uses simple technology and hot wax or paraffin are used as resist agents in place of the indigenous cassava paste.

Adire was dyed indigo (dark blue) and it is still the most popular color. Indigo dye is made from elu leaves or elu grains. The leaves are grounded with water and soda ash cooked together. Soaked for days to create the color. Resist-dyeing which involves creating a pattern by treating certain parts of the fabric in some way to prevent them absorbing dye.

This indigenous indigo resist-dyeing technique first originated in Abeokuta, a city that was historically the center of cotton production in the nineteenth century.

Production of indigo-dyed adire involves the input of two female specialists-dyers (Alaro) with control production and marketing of adire, and decorators (Aladire), who create the resist patterns.

In the oldest forms of adire, two basic resist techniques are used to create soft blue or white designs to contrast with a deeply saturated indigo-blue background

Tie and dye process typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment and binding with string or rubber bands, followed by application of dye(s).The decorator works with a 1 x 2-yard fabric rectangle as a design field, making two identical pieces to sew together creating a square cloth most commonly used for a woman's wrapper.


Most wrappers have repeated all-over patterns created with one or more resist techniques with no one focal point of interest. The motifs used in adire and the labels attached to them reflect the concerns of indigenous and contemporary Yoruba life: the world of nature, religion, philosophy, everyday life and notable events.

This Process involves trying raffia hundreds of individual corn kernels or spiral designs knows as "Alakete" because it comes out like the raffia mats used for covering ones head in the sun. The ring shaped pattern created by the thread can be seen in areas that have been untreaded. This randomized design completed in intervals creates a big tie representing a moon with surrounding stars. It is known as "Oniwaro ati osupa" (stars and moonlight)

Stitching raffia onto the fabric in a pattern before dyeing small portions of it can be pulled up into peaks and then tied with raffia or thread at the base to make bunched areas once the thread is removed post-dye it will reveal a ring-shape undyed area; a portion of the cloth can wrap over a seed, small stone or other object before being tied with thread at its base.

Cassava paste acts as a resist when the cloth is dipped into the indigo dye (the more dips the deeper the blue), allowing for wonderful hand-drawn batiks. Before finalizing the cloth for sale, it will be hit with a mallet, softening it and creating a lovely sheen, owing to the indigo dye.

Designs are created by folding, crumpling, and randomly sprinkling or splashing the hot wax onto a cloth prior to dyeing. Hot wax or paraffin is substituted for the indigenous cassava paste as a resist agent