page_title: Shweshwe
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Shweshwe / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Brown shweshwe fabric (close-up of dress sleeve)
context_page_description: SeShoeshoe is a printed dyed cotton fabric widely used for traditional Lesotho clothing. Originally dyed indigo, the fabric is manufactured in a variety of colours and printing designs characterised by intricate geometric patterns. Due to its popularity, seshoeshoe has been described as the denim, or tartan, of Lesotho.
context_section_description: Shweshwe is manufactured with an acid discharge and roller printing technique on pure cotton calico. It is printed in widths of 90 cm, in all-over patterns and A-shaped skirt panels printed side by side. The fabric is manufactured in various colours including the original indigo, chocolate brown and red, in a large variety of designs including florals, stripes, and diamond, square and circular geometric patterns. The intricate designs are made using picotage, a pinning fabric printing technique rarely used by contemporary fabric manufacturers due to its complexity and expense, although the design effects have been replicated using modern fabric printing techniques.
  Previously imported to South Africa from Europe, the trademarked fabric has been manufactured by Da Gama Textiles in the Zwelitsha township outside King William's Town in the Eastern Cape since 1982. In 1992 Da Gama Textiles bought the sole rights to Three Cats, the most popular brand of the fabric made by Spruce Manufacturing Co. Ltd in Manchester, and the original engraved copper rollers were shipped to South Africa. Da Gama Textiles has made shweshwe from cotton imported from Zimbabwe and grown locally in the Eastern Cape.
  The local textile industry, including shweshwe production by Da Gama Textiles, has been threatened by competition from cheaper inferior quality imitations made locally and imported from China and Pakistan. The genuine product can be recognised by feel, smell, taste, sound, a solid colour from dyeing and trademark logos on the reverse side of the fabric, a smaller than average 90 cm fabric width and stiffness of the new fabric from traditional starching which washes out. As at November 2013, shweshwe production by Da Gama Textiles had reduced to five million metres per annum.
caption: Chocolate brown shweshwe
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