Category: History
Intangible African Knowledge
knowledge is more complex than what is written down. How do you write down the Ocacia clothing knowledge? And in Africa’s history, from KMT to Axum, how do we preserve that knowledge? This is why you look at Egypt today and Ethiopia, and despite being the same people of great times, they have lost that connection to their knowledge.
Ocacia Story
Founded in 2014, Ocacia is an authentic modern African clothing business dedicated to creating a market for those looking for African clothing but at a designer label quality.
African Embroidery
The embroidery arts: Embroidery or machine hand embroidery (zig-zag) is something we specialize in at Ocacia. It is one of those dying arts.
An empire of cloth: the textile industry of the Sokoto Empire
Hausaland region of northern Nigeria was home to one of the largest textile industries in pre-colonial Africa, whose scale and scope were unparalleled throughout most of the continent.
African Fabric
At Ocacia, we do not use a lot of cotton, except in denim. But decided to write this quick article because the history of cotton is so integral to the history of Africa, especially the West’s dependence on it and the consequences to African people
Why Ocacia
Ocacia is a designer label focused on premium handmade attire which opeates in the globalized world.
The African Diaspora
Malcolm X said, if chickens are raised in an oven they are called chickens, not biscuits. People on the continent of Africa just like people in the Diaspora have been visited by the same level of destruction. In Africa, as in the UK as in America, as in South America as in the Caribbean have devalued our own clothes.
Made in Africa
Take a look at the tag on any clothing item, or technology. Certain names are dominant: made in China, made in the USA, made in India, made in Korea. Where is “made in Africa”? Where “Africa” means owned and controlled by native Africans, and “made” means the cultural expression of African people.
