Behind The Materials: From Fabric to Fashion

AFRICAP designs and manufactures beautiful cycling caps inspired by the vibrancy of West Africa and made from the very Ankara fabrics that the continent produces.

To celebrate Black History Month this year, I (Miles), challenged Hammer (Mohammad Sesay), AFRICAPS' founder and CEO to tell a story that celebrates the material and all that it represents.

Words: Mohammad Sesay

Photos: AFRICAP Designs

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If you know us then you probably know that our caps our made out of Ankara fabrics

in West Africa.

But what does that mean exactly and what does our process look like?

Africa has a rich history of fabric production, with different countries associated with

certain materials and certain techniques. A lot of these are maintained today while

some have been modernised.

Because of the requirement for our products to be light, we stick to cotton and we use

Ankara, tie dye and waxed cotton.

During the last 5 years, these materials have been purchased from markets in Abidjan,

Dakar, Ouagadougou and Niamey, but the majority of materials we use are

purchased from St Malama Thomas Street in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Our go-to store is STATUS Enterprises, managed by Mrs Kamara, who has owned

the shop since the 80s and has been collecting materials from all over the region. Here,

it is possible to get Ankara, plain cottons and linens, lace, country cloth (the official

cloth of Sierra Leone) and various batiks and tie-dye materials.

She inherited the shop from her parents, though she is unable to remember how

they first got it. She prides herself on being able to source materials that remain

popular. Which is really difficult with so many patterns available. She estimates over

300 variations but says that it’s a balance between knowledge and instinct.

You know here materials are mainly bought for ceremonies and occasions, after a

while if someone is coming for a party or an event, I am able to guide them to make

the right choice.

Mrs Kamara’s favourite materials are the laces, which are extremely popular for

dresses.

At this stage, we know that the Hirondelle/Speed Bird, Nsu Bura and Kente prints

and this seems to be the case in Salone too, as these materials never last long in the

market. Sometimes we go years without being able to reproduce the same cap.

Often our caps are one of one.

On these trips, our production assistants, Moses and Deborah, go to select materials

aiming to fit the briefs we provide, mainly based on colour combinations and patterns.

From these, we decide which ones we select, which is a fluid process.

Sometimes the materials we want simply aren’t there, and sometimes they are. That's part of the beauty of what we do. It's a perfectly imperfect process.

If you have visited one of our pop-ups, you will have noticed that we also have other

materials we use for our displays. These are a combination of Bogolan and Kôkô

Dunda (tie-dyes) are purchased from artisans all over Mali and Burkina Faso.

The variety of fabrics we're able to source from West of Africa makes for a truly unique range of cycling products, full of colour, vibrancy, energy and culture. A truly handmade, personally sourced product is hard to come by in 2025, so we want to hold on to that for as long as we make caps.

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Africap was founded by Mohammad Sesey aka Hammer.

Read his bio on Cycling Culture Club