Itoku Adire Market

Adire is Yoruba resist-dyed cloth: patterns are made by tying, stitching or painting cassava starch onto cotton, which is then dipped in indigo so the treated areas resist the dye, producing white designs on blue with named patterns that carry meanings. Abeokuta has been the centre of the trade since the nineteenth century, and Itoku market below Olumo rock is where it is made and sold, with dye pits and workshops in the lanes behind the stalls and cloth hanging in quantity along the street. Synthetic dyes and printed imitations now dominate much of the market, but hand-worked indigo adire is still produced and can be found by asking.

What you actually see

• Adire stalls - the cloth hanging and sold along the market street.
• Dye pits - the working indigo vats in the lanes behind.
• Tying and stitching - the resist patterns being applied to cloth.
• The Itoku quarter - the market district below Olumo rock.

When to go

November to March for the weather. Weekday mornings are when workshops are active. The market runs daily but is busiest on the traditional market days.

Honest expectations

Much of what is sold is printed imitation or synthetic-dyed rather than hand-worked indigo, and telling the difference takes asking and looking. Prices are heavily negotiated. Workshop access is informal. The market is crowded and hot.

Nearby

Olumo rock stands above the market; Lagos lies south.