Ankara, and where it actually comes from

Ankara is West African in identity and Indonesian in origin, by way of a Dutch factory. The history is more interesting than the myth, and it is also how you tell good cloth from cheap cloth.

The names

Ankara, African wax print and Dutch wax describe the same family of cloth. Ankara is the name most used in Nigeria, and the one most likely to be searched for. Kitenge and chitenge refer to related printed cloth in East and Southern Africa, which is a different tradition and should not be used interchangeably.

The origin, which is not the one usually given

The technique is Javanese. Batik uses wax to resist dye, so the waxed areas stay clear while the rest of the cloth takes colour. In the nineteenth century Dutch manufacturers set out to industrialise it and sell it back into what was then the Dutch East Indies. The machine version cracked, and the dye seeped into the cracks, and the Indonesian market rejected it as flawed.

That rejected cloth found a market in West Africa, where the crackle was read as character rather than defect. From there it stopped being an import and became a language. Designs were developed for West African taste, and patterns acquired local names, meanings and occasions that no factory chose. Vlisco, founded in Helmond in 1846, still produces it, and so do mills in Nigeria and Ghana.

Real wax against fancy print

This is the single most useful thing to know when buying, and you can check it on a market stall in about four seconds.

• True wax is resist dyed, so the pattern is as strong on the reverse as on the face. The crackle veining is irregular, because it comes from wax breaking rather than from a design file.
• Fancy or imitation print is roller printed on one side. The reverse is visibly paler, and any crackle in the design repeats, because it was drawn rather than made.

Turn the cloth over. If the back looks washed out next to the front, you are holding a print, and it should be priced as one.

What else tells you the quality

• Weight in the hand. Good wax has body and does not feel papery.
• The selvedge, where the maker's name and often a registration number are printed. Blank selvedge is not proof of anything, but a named one is a claim somebody is willing to put a name to.
• Colour depth after a rub with a damp white cloth. Excess dye lifting off is a bad sign.

How it is sold

Ankara is sold by the yard, most commonly in six yard and twelve yard pieces rather than by the metre. Six yards is the usual amount for a wrapper and blouse. Twelve yards allows for a fuller set with a headwrap. If you are buying for a tailor, ask them for the yardage before you buy the cloth, not after.

Washing it

• Cold water, and separately for the first few washes.
• Inside out, which protects the face of the print.
• Out of direct sun to dry. Strong sun is what fades wax print faster than washing does.
• Iron on the reverse while slightly damp.

Treated this way, good wax outlives most of what sits beside it in a wardrobe, which is part of why it gets passed down.