Mudcloth and it's history
The Significance and History of Mudcloth
We're sure you've seen this uniquely printed fabric that most are obsessed with do to its usage across runways and in every day consumer stores. It comes in various colors and have the most striking lines and shapes to create a very intriguing and emotional response to its look. The feelings of a tribal and protected connection is evident when wearing it. Why is that?
Read on to learn about the history of mud cloth fabric below to gain a little more insight to your relation to the cloth.
Mud cloth - a cotton fabric with an abundance of cultural significance throughout Africa. In its place of origin, Mali, West Africa, mud cloth is worn by hunters as ritual protection and as a badge of status. Immediately after childbirth, women are wrapped in the cloth, as it is believed to have the power to absorb pain and deflect anything negative or dangerous.
How is it made?
It is a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed using tea leaves and branches with fermented mud, then dried in the sun. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture and has, more recently, become a symbol of Malian cultural identity.
Where did the name come from?
Mud cloth also is known as as “Bogolanfini.” In the Bambara language, Bogolanfini is made up of three words: Bogo, meaning “earth” or “mud,” lan, which means “with,” and fini, which translates to “cloth,” which is how the fabric gets its name.
Overall, culturally relevant textiles is just another way of using Western design to connect cultures to their natural roots. It's how Sun Gods uses fashion to connect our consumers to their birth rights and original birth locations. As soon as you put the garment on it's an unexplainable feeling of ancestry. It's just a feeling of connection, of pride and of royalty. We forever are intertwined with the cloth and have a true love and respect for the design.
- Sun Gods
