Kente and adire go global: Ghana's Kente Village, Abeokuta's Adire Hub and the Adire Lagos fair
A weaving town in the Volta Region, a royal palace in Abeokuta and a bank's showroom in Lagos are all working on the same idea: turning West Africa's most famous cloths into businesses that sell to the world.
West Africa's two best-known cloths are being built into export businesses. In August the weaving town of Kpetoe, in Ghana's Volta Region, used its Agotime Kente Festival to rally support for a Kente Village and Centre of Excellence. In Nigeria, an Adire Hub at the Ake Palace in Abeokuta is preparing dyers to sell under the African Continental Free Trade Area, and in June Ecobank's Adire Lagos fair drew more than 100 exhibitors.
Photo: Kwameghana — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kpetoe: a permanent home for kente
Kpetoe, in the Agotime-Ziope District, is one of Ghana's five main kente-weaving hubs: three in the Volta Region and two, Bonwire and Adanwomase, in Ashanti. Its week of celebrations closed with chiefs and queen mothers in regalia, drumming and displays of the town's cloth.
The talk of the durbar was the Kente Village and Centre of Excellence, started by the festival's governing council. The guest of honour, Alex Segbefia, chief of staff to Ghana's vice-president, said it could widen training, back artisans, shield old designs from copies and draw cultural tourists, and asked development partners to help finish it.
Our weavers, designers, and other creative professionals must be able to turn their knowledge and talent into sustainable enterprises and decent livelihoods.
Alex Segbefia, guest of honour at the 2026 Agotime Kente Festival
The Konor of Agotime, Nene Nuer Keteku IV, sees the village as an engine for local jobs and foreign earnings. The cloth already has strong protection: UNESCO listed kente craftsmanship as world heritage in December 2024, and in 2025 it became Ghana's first protected geographical indication, a label tied to named weaving communities, Agotime Kpetoe among them.
Abeokuta: an Adire Hub built for export
Adire, the Yoruba tie-and-dye cloth, is made by artisans across Ogun State and the south-west, and Abeokuta's Egba producers are now organising to export it. The Adire Hub, set up by the Global Adire Egba Development Company at the palace of the Alake of Egbaland, trains producers to meet international standards. The Guardian Nigeria reported that the industry minister, Jumoke Oduwole, was due to launch it on 3 September, with Egba families from the United States and Canada invited.
Photo: Abolanle1612 — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The hub is the first phase of a planned Adire Village, led by Professor Olajumoke Familoni, who made adire clothing in the United States in the 1990s. In 2025 the Alake put ₦5 million into 1,000 metres of cotton so local dyers no longer wait for cloth from Aba or abroad. Part of the aim is to win buyers back from machine-printed copies sold as "China adire".
“Any adire producer can now place an order at the palace and get their fabrics.”
Lagos: a fair that brings the buyers
In Lagos the market comes to the makers. The fifth Ecobank Adire Lagos Experience filled Ecobank's Pan African Centre for four days in June, mostly with Nigerian labels such as Obida Design Associates and Miné by Ejiro Amos Tafiri, plus about a tenth from elsewhere in Africa.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo used his visit to call for a national adire association and an Adire House in Abeokuta, where visitors could watch the cloth being made and pay to try it. Ecobank Nigeria's managing director, Bolaji Lawal, replied: "We all accept the challenge."
“This is a national issue, not a regional issue and not even a township issue.”
One plan, three places
Each project joins an old craft to the business around it: training, steady supplies, protection from copies and a place for buyers and tourists. For the diaspora, that means more ways to buy kente and adire straight from the people who make them, and good reasons to visit Kpetoe or Abeokuta.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between kente and adire?
Kente is a woven cloth from Ghana's weaving towns in the Ashanti and Volta regions, such as Bonwire and Kpetoe. Adire is a Yoruba tie-and-dye cloth from south-west Nigeria, made by artisans in Abeokuta and across Ogun State.
When is the Agotime Kente Festival?
The 2026 festival was held in Kpetoe, in Ghana's Volta Region. It ran for a week and ended with a grand durbar on Saturday 15 August.
Where is the Adire Hub in Abeokuta?
At the Ake Palace of the Alake of Egbaland in Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was set up by the Global Adire Egba Development Company as the first phase of a planned Adire Village.
When was Adire Lagos 2026?
The fifth Ecobank Adire Lagos Experience ran from 11 to 14 June 2026 at the Ecobank Pan African Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos, with more than 100 exhibitors.
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