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By Isaac Samuel (Support work on his Patreon)

Hausaland region of northern Nigeria was home to one of the largest textile industries in pre-colonial Africa, whose scale and scope were unparalleled throughout most of the continent.

As one German explorer who visited the region in 1854 noted, there was ‘something grand’ about this textile industry whose signature robes could be found as far as Tripoli, Alexandria, Mauritania, and the Atlantic coast. Centers of textile production like Kano were home to thousands of tailors and dyers producing an estimated 100,000 dyed-robes a year in 1854, and more than two million rolls of cloth per year by 1911.

Much of the industry’s growth was associated with the establishment of the empire of Sokoto in the 19th century, which created West Africa’s largest state after the fall of Songhai, and expanded pre-existing patterns of trade and production that facilitated the emergence of one of the few examples of proto-industrialization

Do you know what I know?

Do you hear what I hear?

Do you see what I see?

If I played Debussy would you hear what I hear? of course not. Can we test this? No. Because I know red and I cannot share what the color red means to me. I assume we share the same view of red because when I saw point to the red ball we all point to the red ball. But that doesn't mean we are seeing or experiencing the same red experiences. My worldview is unique. When I hear Prince in Purple Rain as an ex-guitarist I actually know what he is playing and am way more appreciative of it than another person who doesn't understand/appreciate the guitar. I listened to Claire De Lune (Debussy) and explained why it is such a masterpiece. I am 100% sure not everyone is hearing what I am hearing and clearly unable to extract what I am extracting from the music. 

8bits has less data than 10bits. HD is less than 4K. More data = a higher resolution of appreciation. 

When my son

Premium Fabric does not mean expensive fabric, and expensive fabric does not mean premium fabric. Confusing? The price you pay for something is not always a measure of its objective quality or subjective quality. Our Ramie linen costs almost the same as our premium heavy-weight linen. Sometimes we get a deal and it is cheaper (price-wise) than the ramie lightweight linen. The price of our Indian fabric was very low (because we got a deal on all of it) when it got burnt during the looting it became exclusive and its value went through the roof. Bazin is ridiculously expensive but it is not higher quality compared to snow linen (which is used for work wear). Fabric from Dubai is very unique, cheap in Dubai but after customs not so cheap when landed in South Africa. So the price of a fabric does not usually indicate its value or quality.

When a big company like Woolworths ends a season they might have 100m of left over fabric that was used on one design. The supplier is not going to

When we build wealth we build value. Reward should never be divorced from merit because that is a form of corruption. And everyone suffers. Human progress historically has been built on the back of exceptional talent. The great European classical works, the great African American work with jazz, the pyramids, the Taj, and the architecture of Japan. I could go on, all of it without exception represents the best of the best of that era in those fields. Today we have a very contrive hand behind every field including music and fashion. Mediocre artists holding top positions. Funded so well that if they fell they would still not touch the ground. 

You ask yourself what song by Taylor Swift is so notable to earn her top bucks?  Dont ever underestimate capitalism and what it does to make wealth. We go to the cinema and spend our money on a film that has RAVED reviews but the film sucks. All the critics are in on it. Or the film is amazing and the pro reviews suck. In the case

Designs are unique, they should have certain characteristics to discern them from a tornado passing through a sewing room and randomly scrambling fabric together. They must show signs of an intelligent process. 

At Ocacia we do not use a lot of cotton, except in denim. But decided to write this quick article because the history of cotton is so integral to the history of Africa especially the West dependence on it and the consequences to African people (being enslaved) due to their need for labor.  Native Americans were observed growing cotton by the Coronado expedition in the early 1540s. I am not sure but no one from West Africa had cotton knowledge. They did come with skills in agriculture But I am not sure cotton specialization was one of those skills. The earliest reference to a cotton spinning wheel comes from the Muslim world in the 11th century, it then is said to have gone from Iran to India. 

From an economic standpoint cotton made by slave labor accounted for 40% of all British exports (which went back to Africa to procure more captives). 80% of Birtisns essential raw material. Prior to cotton, which came late to Europe via Arab traders, wool was the fabric of choice.

10 people dedicated to quality and 1 not. In the mathematics of quality that means 10 -1 =0 . So the tailors are top-notch, the embroidery artist is top-notch, the designers are top-notch, and then it goes to one person trusted to iron a trim a shirt who does not give a hoot and all the work that came before it is ruined. The customer gets a poorly presented product from the most talented people on Earth because of one person that holds to different values. As for the image of Africans matching and beating Europe and Asia? Well, that just went out the window. 

Malcolm X said, if chickens are raised in an oven they are called chickens, not biscuits. People on the continent of Africa just like people in the Diaspora have been visited by the same level of destruction. In Africa, as in the UK as in America, as in South America as in the Caribbean have devalued our own clothes. We have Nike in Africa as our uniform just like in the UK. A friend of mine from Tanzania at uni told me we in the Diaspora have no culture. I forgave him because he had never been to the Diaspora and Africans globally have a terribly poor education which goes both ways. It is shamefully poor. And it was made that way by the forces which enslaved us. The last thing they want us to do is to unite via our common identity. But the Diaspora, just like Ethiopia is Ethiopia and Benin is part of the African world. It is just that we are in the West now. In Africa, just as much as in the Diaspora, we do not wear our cultural clothes preferring to add value to Nike and Puma. In Africa,