Africa’s story is told through cloth, yet South Africa’s indigenous textiles seem to have been silenced. While Egypt has linen, Nigeria has adire, and Congo has kuba, our country lacks a widely recognised pre-colonial textile tradition that still endures to present day. What did our ancestors wear? Why did they stop wearing it? And how did South Africa become a nation defined—perhaps even colonised—by cotton?
In an attempt find South African clothing history, we’ll look at San dress culture, 15th century Southeast African cotton, and the endangerment of leopard skins and animal hides while looking at how our sartorial practices have been shaped by colonisation and capitalism.
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Part 1: The Naked Bushman
08:14 Part 2: Cotton Is King
14:45 Part 3: Leather Daddies
19:11 Part 4: Who Cares?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okbaddiek
Substack: https://www.khensani.substack.com
Podcast: https://linktr.ee/clothes_minded
Patreon: https://patreon.com/khensani?utm_medi...
Buy Me A Beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/khensani
Sources:
Genus: Gossypium (Cotton) (no date) Biodiversity Explorer. Available at: https://www.biodiversityexplorer.info/plants/malvaceae/gossypium.htm (Accessed: 02 February 2025).
(No date) Gossypium herbaceum subsp. africanum | plantzafrica. Available at: https://pza.sanbi.org/gossypium-herbaceum-subsp-africanum (Accessed: 01 February 2025).
Cotton Facts (2023) Cotton SA. Available at: https://cottonsa.org.za/cotton-facts/ (Accessed: 02 February 2025).
Davison, P. and Harries, P. (1980) ‘Cotton weaving in South-east Africa: Its history and technology’, Textile History, 11(1), pp. 175–192. doi:10.1179/004049680793691167.
Gillow, J. (2016) African textiles: Color and creativity across a Continent. New York: Thames & Hudson.
Leeb-du Toit, J. (2017) Isishweshwe: A history of the indigenisation of blueprint in Southern Africa. Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Ramsay, S. (2016) #ShockWildlifeTruths: Will the Zulu traditional dress wipe out the SA leopard?, News24. Available at: https://www.news24.com/news24/shockwildlifetruths-will-the-zulu-skin-trade-wipe-out-the-leopard-20160229 (Accessed: 02 February 2025).
Venkatachalam, M., Modi, R. and Salazar, J. (2020) Common threads: Fabrics made-in-India for Africa. Leiden: African Studies Centre Leiden.
Viestad, V.M. (2019) Dress as Social Relations: An interpretation of Bushman Dress. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.