A woven story
I discovered the second-generation family run factory, located outside the capital of Gaborone Botswana whilst I was living in the capital with my young family; this is where our kids collection is created.
Poppy took over the factory from her mother and at the time was sewing school uniforms employing a team of five women. I knew I wanted to collaborate with a local business and after sharing the vision for Beabond with Poppy we soon started working on what is my core collection.
The collection is made with 100% cotton shweshwe and a lot of work goes into each piece; before cutting and sewing the fabric needs to be washed to remove the starches and excess dyes and allow for shrinkage.
We hand wash the fabric to preserve water, its then folded together and hung to dry under the African sun. The patterns are marked and cut by hand, then each garment is sewn and finished with tagua nut buttons - also known as "vegetable ivory".
SOTHO KING
The origin of this iconic African print is interwoven with African and European histories. It was originally dyed with indigo, which has been found throughout the African continent for centuries, but it was European textile makers who introduced the printing method making the delicate prints many of which are inspired by flora and fauna, such as the popular guinea fowl print.
There are many theories about where the name shweshwe came from, the most common is that it was named after the 19th-century Sotho King Moshoeshoe, who was given a bolt of indigo blue fabric from French missionaries as a gift and endorsed it as a cloth of choice.
In Botswana the fabric is called 'Leteise' and forms part of the Tswana traditional dress often worn at weddings and national events.
FROM MANCHESTER TO CAPE TOWN
At the turn of the 20th-century shweshwe was produced in England the fabrics were heavily starched to protect it on the long journey by sea to Cape Town. Since 1992 shweshwe has been manufactured by DaGama Textiles at its factory in Zwelitsha, outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Authenticity is important to DaGama each roll is back stamped with the manufacturers logo and its made in the traditional way with the original copper rollers from England and 90cm wide fabric. The fabrics are starched to the create the authentic feel, touch and taste of Three Cats The Original Shweshwe.
