African Ankara Fabric which is also known as Ankara prints is available in vibrant colors. It is also known as Holland wax, African wax prints, Dutch wax and also as African prints. The texture and designs associated with this fabric is mostly from African tribes. A wide variety of clothes and accessories can be made with it. To make it more popular, the modern textile designers are coming up with Ankara prints on other materials such as chiffon, silk etc. It is made up of a special dying technique called batik. Batik technique resists the dye from flowing all over the cloth and creates a good pattern.

Under this batik technique, patterns on the plain cloth are made with melted wax. After that the cloth will be soaked in colored dye. Though it is originally manufactured by Dutch for Indonesians, it became famous as a brand by Africa than Dutch. Due to this, the Dutch textile industrialists started printing them with African patterns. Many African women use this fabric as a means for non-verbal communication among themselves. As the process of manufacturing this fabric is little hard, there are many other countries which are emulating the material but in their versions. The others who are imitating African Ankara Fabrics are adopting a machine- made version over batik technique. But this machine-made version is not as good as the original fabric as the former has developed a crackling effect such as small lines, dots, and many imperfections of such. Hence, to differentiate original Ankara fabrics from duplicates the originals are being labeled with certain special tags.

The design and pattern made it more famous and timeless fabric around the world. Though it was manufactured during colonialism, even today many fashion designers like to use it in their designing works. The African Ankara Pattern got familiarity in western world when many youngsters of the western Africa migrated to several parts of the western world with their African prints thus, getting a universal acceptance to their Ankara prints. If the Ankara prints are made by using the original dying technique, the cost of manufacturing would become pretty low and still it will look elegant. That is also another reason for the popularity of this fabric around the world.

In many other countries, we get to see the African patterns mixing up with the local traditions thus making it more acceptable by all sorts of people. The ease of manufacturing it and at a less rate has made it more famous and acceptable all across the globe. This fabric is made of 100% cotton and remains strong even after many washes and can be machine washed. All these benefits along with its affordability made this indigenous African model popular.