The history of isiShweshwe is a colourful and vibrant story and while many associate the name with the pre-wash rustling of the fabric, it is said that it was gifted to Lesotho’s King Moshoeshoe I by French missionaries in the 1840s and therefore became known locally as shoeshoe and later shweshwe.
The cloth was introduced to the Xhosa women in the mid 1800's who gradually added the Blue Print to their red clothing and further integrated the use of Shweshwe into traditional Xhosa weddings and culture, cementing the cloth in South Africa'S heritage. Dialects differ today with the Sotho's calling it seshweshwe, the Zulu’s calling it isishweshwe and the Xhosa’s Ujamani.
Indigo Dyed Discharge print fabric used to be exactly that... INDIGO in colour, until production of the fabric started in South Africa at which point new colourways of rich browns and vibrant reds were added making it truly ours!
Today this fabric has become fashionable beyond its traditional sphere of usage, with young South African designers often showing interest in this bit of national heritage.
- Fully lined with faux fur
- Features an unfoldable cuff
- Available in ALL shoe sizes ranging from Baby to Adult
- Our ShweShwe slippers are made in a mix and match of colours and prints
- Not a single piece of fabric is wasted.
- Each Pair is hand crafted and unique and therefor colour and print variations will occur - how exciting!
- Eventhough these slippers are unisex, you can order "pink" for a pink colour on top and "blue" for a blue colour on top matched with other colours and print patterns at random
