Kente cloth, the vibrant woven fabric originating from the Ashanti, Akan, and Ewe people of Ghana, has long symbolized wealth, royalty, and tribal identity. Over time, its cultural significance has spread across the African diaspora. Today, replicas of Kente produced outside Ghana are widely available. Ghana is now taking steps to protect its authentic tradition and stand up against copycats.
Last month, the Ghanaian government announced that Kente has officially received geographical indication status through the World Intellectual Property Organization, an arm of the United Nations that collaborates with the World Trade Organization. This protection aims to safeguard local artisans and the textile’s heritage by ensuring that only Kente cloth woven in Ghana is recognized as authentic.
Susan Scafidi, founder and academic director of the Fashion Law Institute, said that while geographical indication status is similar to a trademark, enforcing it depends on both public pressure and government support.
“It is a complicated matter that does raise the question of how we balance the fluidity of culture and the joy of cultural interchange with recognizing origin and authorship at that collective level,” Scafidi told The New York Times.
While historically Kente was a sacred fabric worn by royalty, its popularity has expanded throughout the diaspora, especially in the United States, where variations of the design appear on graduation stoles, bags, T-shirts, and other clothing. British-Ghanaian designer Daniel-Yaw Miller believes it reflects Black Americans’ desire to
reconnect with African roots.“It’s a way to signify a connection to the motherland even in the absence of specific, direct relations back there,” Yaw-Miller told The Times.
After several killings of Black Americans by police in 2020, Democrats in Congress, including Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement by wearing Kente cloth and taking photos on one knee. The group faced backlash, with many critics accusing them of cultural appropriation.
As Kente cloth continues to gain global popularity, Scafidi explained that establishing a geographical indication will help ensure local artisans receive both cultural acknowledgment and financial rewards from its widespread sale.
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