An Ankara Advocate

Ifeoma Ubby, founder of label Oliveankara, brings the West African fabric to Singapore.

- Rachel Tan

Ankara, also known as African wax prints, is a cotton fabric characterised by its colourful print designs. And like Ifeoma Ubby, it has a mixed cultural background.

First created by the Dutch using a batik-influenced fabric dyeing method, ankara received a lukewarm reception in the Indonesian market, which it was originally meant for. It later found popularity in West Africa, and is now widely used there for everyday as well as special occasions.

Ankara was ever-present in Ubby’s youth, even though she was raised in Italy; her parents are Nigerian, and her mother and grandmother were skilled seamstresses.

“We used ankara for everything – as pillowcases, to cover the sofa, as a robe for after showers, and as a fabric to wrap babies with. My mum also made dresses with it. It was all around the house,” Ubby says.