Girl Boss
When the first wax prints arrived on the Gold Coast at the end of the 19th century, no one could have predicted that these colourful fabrics would become such symbolic elements of African cultures. The secret of this success story lies in a group of Togolese women known as Nana Benz.
Guest edited by Anne Grosfilley
Wax prints would have never reached the African continent if everything had gone according to plans. In the imperialism context of the 19th century, Holland was expanding its influence in Indonesia, especially in Java, where it was participating in the Padri War against the Wahhabis. They discovered the batik technique on the island and decided to industrialise its process to sell the prints back to the Javanese market. Unfortunately, this industrial batik (renamed “wax,” a reference to using wax in the resist printing process) did not meet expectations. Convinced by the product’s quality and novelty, the industrial company thought it could seduce another market elsewhere. A Scottish trader, Ebenezer Brown Fleming, felt the potential of West Africa, as he knew that Christian missionaries had just introduced the sewing machine there, creating a demand for fine fabric to be cut and sewn to distinguish from the heavy local hand-woven wrappers.
Gold Coast (Ghana) became the first market for wax print around 1895. From the late 1930s, this unusual type of print, initially dyed in indigo, with bold, striking patterns and random cracking effects making each yard of cloth unique, attracted young Togolese women to Accra weekly to buy beads and fabric to sell them back in Lomé. Coming from the small town of Aneho, they had received no formal education but could speak several local languages. This ability proved critical to their success, as they transformed wax print from a simple piece of cloth into a symbol of women’s voices. By the 1950s, they managed to get Vlisco Dutch and English ABC wax prints delivered straight to Togo with a negotiated tariff regime. On top of that, they got a commercial monopoly on the designs for life as long as they ordered hundreds of pieces to be paid in advance.
Becoming an official Vlisco or ABC wholesaler was a considerable risk and responsibility: the women had to make the right buying choice and have the intuition to predict what would be popular.........................................................
Guest edited by Anne Grosfilley
Wax prints would have never reached the African continent if everything had gone according to plans. In the imperialism context of the 19th century, Holland was expanding its influence in Indonesia, especially in Java, where it was participating in the Padri War against the Wahhabis. They discovered the batik technique on the island and decided to industrialise its process to sell the prints back to the Javanese market. Unfortunately, this industrial batik (renamed “wax,” a reference to using wax in the resist printing process) did not meet expectations. Convinced by the product’s quality and novelty, the industrial company thought it could seduce another market elsewhere. A Scottish trader, Ebenezer Brown Fleming, felt the potential of West Africa, as he knew that Christian missionaries had just introduced the sewing machine there, creating a demand for fine fabric to be cut and sewn to distinguish from the heavy local hand-woven wrappers.
Gold Coast (Ghana) became the first market for wax print around 1895. From the late 1930s, this unusual type of print, initially dyed in indigo, with bold, striking patterns and random cracking effects making each yard of cloth unique, attracted young Togolese women to Accra weekly to buy beads and fabric to sell them back in Lomé. Coming from the small town of Aneho, they had received no formal education but could speak several local languages. This ability proved critical to their success, as they transformed wax print from a simple piece of cloth into a symbol of women’s voices. By the 1950s, they managed to get Vlisco Dutch and English ABC wax prints delivered straight to Togo with a negotiated tariff regime. On top of that, they got a commercial monopoly on the designs for life as long as they ordered hundreds of pieces to be paid in advance.
Becoming an official Vlisco or ABC wholesaler was a considerable risk and responsibility: the women had to make the right buying choice and have the intuition to predict what would be popular.........................................................
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