The mass production of Adire started in the early twentieth century in Abeokuta when the colonial masters introduced cotton into Nigeria. As at then, the production was limited to female members of some particular families and this ability was believed to be passed down to children by inheritance and wives are taught.
The first Adire fabrics were produced in Abeokuta by the then Iyalode of Egba land, Chief Mrs. Miniya Jojolola Soetan. The first set of productions was limited to the custom indigo-blue colour as this was the only dye available locally, pattern variation was used instead to give Adire its uniqueness.
Adire was named based on the material used to resist dye during its production, there are three popularly produced types, they include; Adire Oniko, Adire Alabere and Adire Eleko.
In the production of Adire Oniko, raffia leaves are tied round the cloth fabric in countless ways and sometimes with other objects such as pebbles to produce varieties of circular and/or stripped patterns. Adire Alabere production uses needle and thread or sewing machine to make stitches on cloth fabrics, the part stitched resist dye during dyeing to produce lovely and eye-catching patterns. Adire Eleko on the other hand uses starch made from cassava as it resist, it is spread on cloth fabrics in pattern which is retained after dyeing, this method of production gave rise to a wide variety of complex patterns being made.
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| Adire Alabere |
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| Adire Eleko |
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| Adire Oniko |
Today, adire has evolved with availability of chemical dyes which gave rise to multi-coloured production, starches are replaced with hot wax or paraffin which is made production work less complex and more techniques of making patterns are being introduced by creative fashion designers to meet the ever expanding demand for unique adire fabrics.
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