Fabric wars: Ghana’s colourful prints face renewed Chinese competition

Cheap China-made African print wax brands have been present in markets on the continent for decades, initially as badly-made replicas, but increasingly, as high-quality alternatives.

Accra, Ghana – On a weekday this December, the fabrics section at Accra’s frenzied Makola market was unusually quiet for the festive end-of-year period. Female traders with big woven hats sat in front of their stalls chatting and tiredly swatting away flies. Behind them, colourful African wax textiles were stacked in rows from ground to ceiling, waiting to be bought.

Vida Yeboah, one of the traders, said the stalls would normally be teeming with customers hunting for the latest designs to take to their tailors to cut up and sew into different styles from wide-mouthed A-Line dresses, to tops and skirts, for the New Year festivities. But Ghana’s shaky economy has forced many to shun that tradition.

“Since COVID, schools have started resuming in December and that means most people are thinking of how their sons and daughters would go to school,” the 55-year-old said. Schools are usually on holiday in December, but schedules for many schools changed after the long pandemic break. “Now, there is no money. People prefer to spend on other things, or they will go and buy the small ones.”

The ‘small’ brands Yeboah refers to are the much cheaper versions of African wax print that have flooded markets in Ghana and across Africa for years now, and that are giving “original” manufacturers tough competition. Imported from China, the fabrics often carry designs imitating more established brands and sell for between a third, to a tenth of the price. Some are outright counterfeits, claiming in typo-ridden labels to be recognisable brands.

But although these Chinese-made fabrics get a bad rap, some say they are increasingly of good quality, with their gaudy designs becoming more chic, and their colours no longer fading after a wash.