Vlisco is a Dutch design company; a textile printing company, based since its birth in 1846 in Helmond, Brabant.
Its origins were in Indonesian batik designs but for over 100 years of its history Vlisco’s main markets have been in West and Central Africa.
There is no other brand nor business whose products have become part of African culture as have Vlisco’s designs.
And this is because of African women, who traded the fabrics from the outset, and gave them names and meanings that no Dutch designer could ever have imagined. It is also due to the way that African women converted the fabric into garments to express their individuality, status, achievements and beauty. Dutch imagination met African self-expression.
As the world rightly frets about the impact of fast fashion on the global environment it would do well to remember that slow fashion is the African way and a better way.
For those who want to work at Vlisco, they will discover a company devoted to Africa and to African women whilst still designing prints that are described as ‘works of art’. It is also a company steeped in tradition and generations of technical know-how but ready to adapt to new ways and new ideas.
Vlisco is a Dutch design company; a textile printing company, based since its birth in 1846 in Helmond, Brabant.