Fake Tie & Dye imports threaten survival of Adire industry 

The backyard of her husband’s house was once an exhibition of colours, buzzing with activities as she worked tirelessly alongside her daughter and an apprentice to meet demands from traders and individuals.

However, in the past five years, her business has dwindled, while her backyard lies idle.

For generations, makers of hand-tied, creatively dyed Adire fabrics, have told stories of cultural richness and elegance with their creative patterns, while making an honest living, but today, their livelihoods are threatened.

Fake and cheap tie & dye imports, primarily from China are flooding the market, undermining the authenticity of the indigenous Adire and jeopardising the survival of the ancient craft.

“There are weeks and even months that we don’t get new requests for Adire designs, the sellers are not selling like before. I thought people were not interested in it but I found out there are many fake Adire in the market that are cheaper,” Mrs Shofidiya lamented.

Mr. Oludayo Oluyinka, who makes and sells Adire in Abeokuta, Ogun state, described the situation as “a threatening competition.”  

He explained that the fake adire designs mimic the original designs and sell for about half the price of the original, making people buy the former out of ignorance or to reduce cost while thinking it is the same adire.

“They have created a threatening competition, and it has become difficult for us to sell ours. If we are selling ours for N8,000, they will sell to traders for N3000 and the market will sell N4000.  

“If you have a family of six and all of you want to wear Adire for New Year or any other festival, you are not likely to buy the original one, you are likely to go for the faux one which is cheaper.  

“The costs of the materials we use are going up and have become more expensive, so we don’t have a choice but to jack up prices for ours too. So, we are finding it difficult to sell,” Oluyinka lamented in a chat with Naijaonpoint.

It has been going on for years… 

Makers of Adire fabrics say the importation of counterfeit adire has been going on for years and their efforts to get the attention of the government have yielded no significant results.

“It is disappointing that the government is indifferent towards our plight. The china-made fake adire is taking away our jobs and they are not doing anything about it,” she lamented.

Naijaonpoint found that as far back as 2022, there had been some awareness by concerned citizens and stakeholders over the influx of counterfeit tie & dye fabrics in markets, yet the situation persists.

In her monologue, she said:

In her monologue, she said:

“To you the rich and influencers, whose names are connected to this act. Please permit me to appeal to your conscience, that before you take that decision, i need you to consider that old woman, whose only means of survival is to tie fabrics of adire, that widow who does not have any other job than tie and dye, that father who is either an ironer or a textile artist. Most of these people are breadwinners of their families. The craft of adire making is a chain of activities and every actor involved is affected by your decision.” 

In the same year, precisely August 2023, traders of Adire marched to the office of the Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun to help them end the importation of counterfeit Chinese adire.

Meanwhile, Governor Abiodun had earlier pledged to collaborate with the National Assembly and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to end the importation of adulterated Adire fabrics into the country.

Abiodun made the pledge in 2022, at an event held at the June 12 Cultural Center, Abeokuta, and organised by Ajose Foundation, a pet project of his wife, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun.

It’s been over two years and counterfeit tie & dye fabrics are still in the market, according to Adire makers and sellers who spoke with Naijaonpoint.

The only positives from the industry are a directive by the Ogun state government that all Civil servants should wear original adire to work on Friday and a similar directive the Osun State Governor Ademola Adelek asking all civil servants in the state to wear Adire to work on Wednesdays.

Meanwhile, this is not a problem limited to the adire-making industry, data show that Nigeria’s textile industry is comatose as it continues on a trend of decline for years.

“I think we have lost more than 150 textile mills, and no government should sleep over that and do nothing because it’s a great industry employing over 250 000 workers and the country enjoyed it because it was the second largest employer of labour.”  

He added that the collapse of the industry has resulted in massive loss of jobs especially in the Northern part of the country and the consequence is the scale of banditry and terrorism witnessed in the region.

While the whole textile industry faces a looming collapse due to unchecked importation and lack of investments, thousands of Adire makers in the Southwest like Mrs. Shofidiya and Mr. Oluyinka face a greater economic quagmire as importers of counterfeit Adire fabrics rob them of their livelihoods and bastardise their cherished cultural heritage.