Loading app
Aṣọ òkè — Hand-woven cloth
Category: Clothing
A prestigious hand-woven textile traditionally worn at weddings and important ceremonies.
Aṣọ òkè is woven on narrow-strip looms and the strips are sewn together to form larger cloths.
Traditional aṣọ òkè is woven on a narrow horizontal loom that produces long, narrow strips, which a tailor then sews edge to edge into a full-width cloth — a technique shared with other strip-weaving traditions across West Africa.
Common types are named by texture and pattern, such as sányán (a prestige silk-like cloth), etù (a dark indigo cloth), and àlàárì (a rich red cloth) — each historically carrying its own level of status.
Example: Ó wọ aṣọ-òkè tó dára sí ibi ìgbéyàwó náà. — "He wore a fine aso-oke to the wedding."
Related words:
- Sányán — A prestige hand-woven cloth type
- Etù — A dark indigo cloth type