If you have followed us for a while, you know this already but if not, Busayo was inspired by my deep love (bordering on obsession) of traditional Yoruba textiles. Nerding out on our textiles is one of my favorite activities. There is so much there, the cloth itself, the rich complex embroidery. The Yoruba are an ethnic group from Southwestern Nigeria and textiles and fabrics are an integral part of our culture and how we express ideas about kinship and relationships with the world. For special events, we have a tradition called Aso-Ebi, in which we select a specific textile, which all attendees will wear to communicate their relationship with the celebrant. At the foundation of our textiles tradition is the Aso-Oke (Aso means “Cloth”, Oke means local people) so local cloth. It’s a woven textile and traditionally it was woven with locally produced cotton or silk. Now is another story. Traditionally there were only 3 types of Aso-Oke - Etu (dyed indigo), Alaari (red/coral) and Sanyan (the natural beige). These fabrics are then sewn into garments like the Agbada (for men) and iro and buba (for women). Here we are knacking a traditional agbada. Knacking is another method of Ironing that also brings a shine to the fabric. Thank you Mr. Fred Ayubu for all the hard work. Shot by @neecnonso. @okeidaniel for making it happen. More in stories from our collection of these very special textiles.