The blog that connects Africa, Vlisco fabrics and Storytelling.
July 18th will be a very special day for us, and also hopefully for our Nigerian fans. Starting that day, you can shop your favourite fabrics at Ikeja Mall in Lagos! Vlisco loves Nigeria. Not only because they at the forefront of African fashion, but because we are gratefully entwined in their rich culture.
Just like you, we are colour crazy. We are aware of the importance of colour in the lives of our dearest fans and storytellers. Colour has always been linked to social values in Africa, and we would like to know what role(s) colour has played in your life.
What do you know about this classic design Aimée (Vlisco Brand Ambassador Togo) is wearing? View this video and learn more about the Tongolese name of this beautiful design!
What do you know about these classic designs Eugenia (Vlisco Brand Ambassador Ghana) is wearing? View this video and learn more about the Ghanaian names of these beautiful designs!
Watch this video (in French) and find out how innumerous Vlisco fans in Togo have developed a love affair with our well-known authentic Vlisco Classics over the decades. These fabrics have been there since the era of these women's great-grandmothers and grandmothers, but are still popular and cherished by them today and therefore still produced.
There is a lot of storytelling behind Vlisco fabrics, as at Vlisco, our fans name the fabrics with the most diverse denominations. That's what makes our fabric names interesting and special. Read Reckya's, of Mes secrets de beauté blog, article on the stories of Vlisco fabrics (in French) to find out why and how Vlisco has become a part of the everyday life of women in Africa!
This year, Vlisco celebrated Women’s Month for the first time. A yearly tribute and award to West and Central Africa’s most inspirational and successful women and those who dream of success. The winners were elected by all of you and were revealed during festive Award nights in March. A huge success! We received more than 160.000 votes from as many as 50 countries. This great enthusiasm resulted in seven successful and inspirational Vlisco Be Your Dream Award Winners.
In a celebration of their best selling designs, Vlisco traders traditionally displayed
collages of their most popular fabrics. These exclusive patchworks, which were
also known as Zoba Zoba, featured each trader’s name and logo.
Inspired by this tradition, Vlisco has created a new design, which draws from our treasure chest of famous Vlisco icons such as the Fan and Rollerskates, presented in the characteristic panelled Zoba Zoba style.
We found this nice video animation by ARTE.tv from their 'portraits de voyages' series with beautiful illustrations from Stephanie Ledoux.
With the design of a unique 'Wax Hollandais' fabric Vlisco honours new King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. Since 30 April 2013, King Willem Alexander has succeeded the Dutch throne following the abdication of his mother, Princess Beatrix.
Maybe some of you have noticed that Vlisco appeared in the book Around The World in 80 Brands by the storytellers from CoolBrands. We asked Chief Storyteller Maarten to give us some Tips and tricks to write a short story about the naming of a Vlisco fabric. Here is his story:
Vlisco Stories connect Africa with the rest of the world. On a regular base we get letters from our community to share their personal story. On our blog Behind the Stories we post anecdotes, interviews, features and narratives within the context of Africa, African print and Vlisco 'classics'. Here is a wonderful story from Kinshasa
We received the book ‘Nana Benz - le mythe devenu discret’ from our friends from Togo.
The book is published by Editions HAHO in 2011 under ISBN 978-2-906718-13-5
Togolese writer/journalist/TV presenter Dolibe Dorothee Tabiou is herself a fan of Vlisco and she decided to write this book to leave a message about how these powerful women - called Nana Benz - have played a role in the economy of Togo and how they confront challenges of the market.
“The process of naming our collections started only a few years ago, in 2007. Because we had no winter or summer collections, we started to give each season a name. Within a week, the fabric names were used everywhere and proudly displayed on the boxes. People now associate these names with a design from the collection.
But that is only about the collection...
Stories about fabrics is one of Vlisco's proud heritage.
