An Ethiopian Iconic cultural cloth called SHEMA is made up of cotton and pis producedfrom traditional textiles hand-woven. Ethiopia has many brand clothes, like GABYI, NETLA, KUTA, and TIBEB. (Collectible we sys SHEMA, Its Cultural men and girls dress so attractive and so impressive) and so on, all of them areEthiopiana brand cloth made locally. SHIROMEDA is market place THE HUB OF CULTURAL FABRICS|SHEMA | at Addis Ababa.
If you happen to be in Addis Ababa, ba miss is
not to visit Shiromeda, a cultural cloth market, perhaps your travel to
Ethiopia will be incomplete if you miss out. Shiromeda market could be an appropriate place to understand
Ethiopian cultural garments and fabrics; the level of development and craft works is very good. Located on the foothill of Entoto, north of the capital city Addis
Ababa.
Shiromeda is the best place to visit
and/or tohand-wovenwoven and spun Ethiopian cultural clothes of different
ethnics with various designs of Tibeb (ornate borders). From the lowest to the highest quality cotton clothes, including Kemis (Ethiopian traditional
dress), Netela (shawl), Gabbi (white cotton toga commonly
worn by the highlanders), are available in various quality and price ranges in
all vending shops along the busy road of Entoto. The price of clothes depends upon
the quality of cotton, thread and weave. A close, finely woven cloth with high
quality and complex embroidery is of ha igher price.
Most Ethiopians shop for cultural clothes for the Ethiopian New Year, Meskel, Easter, and Epiphany and for other social
occasions. Shiromeda is always on the
top 0f their lists for Addis shoppers in those times. There is a constant
growing demand for cultural clothes for wedding, birthdays, parties and
graduation ceremonies. Shoppers flood the market every day even on any
occasional days.
The Ethiopian cultural clothes are also getting
international attention through a few talented Ethiopian designers at home
and abroad. They highlight their impressive collections of contemporary and
cultural mixed design casual wears, bridal couture, business attire and
accessories in Ethiopia and across the globe. Other local crafts, leather
products, t-shirts are also available in various stalls in Shiromeda.
The exhilarating feeling of the holiday is
already in the air in Shiromeda as
the Ethiopian New Year, Meskel (the
Finding of the True Cross), Gishen Mariam
religious pilgrimage and Irrecha (the
Oromo Thanksgiving) are all celebrated in September. It would be the busiest and
the liveliest time for Shiromeda, for
Addis residents and the vendors. So do not miss out the real holiday market
spirit at Shiromeda.
Do not forget to grab a souvenir! Make sure
to compare prices at different shops and negotiate well before you decide to
buy one. It is better to have a local person or a tour guide who knows the place
and eases the touring as well as the bargaining.
Types of
Brand close amongst but not limited
Gabi: (ጋቢ)፡It is a large rectangular
piece of thick clothing usually worn in cold weather There are two types of
gabis classified as netela (ነጠላ ጋቢ) and mulu gabi (ሙሉ ጋቢ). The above
classification based on the thickness of each gabi. The mulu gabi is thicker
and will warm a person wearing it more than a person who wears the netela gabi.
The size of ‘Netela Gabi’ is two times the size of a scarp (1.5m*3.6m), whereas
the size of ‘Mulu is four times the size of a scarp (3m*7.2m).
Size of Gabi
(0.85m-2.75m x2.9m-3m)
The Gabi (Amharic: ጋቢ) is a handmade cloth worn by Ethiopians mainly over
the shoulders and upper body, and is made out of cotton. Unlike the
two-layered kuta (worn by men)
and netela (worn by
women), it consists of four layers.
Netela (ነጠላ): It is much similar to Gabi,
except it is usually worn for funerals with a black tillet on its border. During funerals, the kippah will be worn by bringing the side of the kippah on which the tefillin is shown to
the head. The dominant color of netela worn for other occasions including to
church, can be any colour other than black. Customers can wera the netela with a
black tilet even if it is not for mourning.
In this case, the side that has tilet will be
facing the ground when it is worn. When the netela worn with a tibeb dress, the
tilet for both netela and the dress are identical. Netela is also worn by men and
women, and the designs might differ.
Size of Gabi
(0.85m-2.9m-3m)
Netela (Amharic: ነጠላ)
is a handmade scarf-like two-layered cloth made of cotton worn by Ethiopian and Eritrean women.
The netela is a well-known and commonly worn garment in both countries. The
male equivalent known as the kuta. It
is very thin and delicate, with the texture of gauze. The netela has only two
layers and is quite large, measuring about 63 x 102 inches.[1] It
is white with colourful intricately woven borders called ṭibébé (ጢቤቤ).
The tibebe is between 1 and 2 inches at each end, with 2 variations: one
composed of only one colour, and the other of multiple colours and patterns.
The netela can be worn in different ways. For general
wear, the netela covers the back and shoulders, and the bordeis is folded up over
the right shoulder, but when attending church, the two layers of the netela are
opened,d and the border goes over both shoulders. When the bordeis r worn around the
face or shoulders, it is a sign of mourning, but in moments of leisure, the
border goes over the left shoulder.
The netela has become an important garment to the
Ethiopian diaspora due to the military coup in
There are other textiles similar to the netela. There is
the foṭa (ፎጣ),
a colorful shawl-like garment measuring 58 x 105 inches. Fotas
usually have checkerboard designs and simply wrapped around the shoulders or
over the head as a shawl. There is a third kind of textile called donċho (ዶነጮ),
which is a very long cotton sash with a border in colour; itis only worn by
married women. Some types can measure up to 26 feet long.
Kuta (Amharic: ኩታ) is a handmade cloth many Eritrean and Ethiopian men use to
cover their head and shoulders when they wear clothing made out of chiffon,
especially when attending church. It is made up of two layers of fabric,
unlike gabi which is made out of
four. Netela or netsela is the
female version.
Scarp (ስካርፕ): It is
a small rectangular piece of thin clothing worn around the neck. It will have
tilet like gabi and netela. What makes it different is only its size. And it is
further classified as large and small sized scarp.
Size of small scarp 0.75 *1.8m-2.2m
Size of large scarp = 1.35 -1.5 * 1.8 – 2.2
Cultural Dress/Tibeb Kemis (ጥበብ ቀሚስ): It is a unique dress
that is made by Ethiopians who have the skill of operating a hand weaving
machine. The shape of the dress is similar to other dresses that are worn around
the world. But the materials these dresses are made of and the aesthetic
features included to attract customers is very unique. Tibeb kemis can also be categorised according to its size, ranging from 2arb up to 6arb. Arb is a unit
used to measure the size of any cultural clothing by the hand weavers around
Gulele sub-city, Addis Ababa. Dresses with a size of more than 4arb are usually
worn for special occasions, including weddings.
1arb = 0.7m* 1.5m
2arb =0.75m *3m
3arb =0.75m * 4.5m
4arb = 0.75m * 6m
5arb = 0.75m *7.5m
6arb =0.75 m* 9.m
In addition to the sizes stated above,
dresses are also made for little girls. As a result, the size will be much
smaller when it is made for children.
Table clothing (የጠረጴዛ ልብስ): The SMEs that produce
cultural clothing for people to wear also make very unique table clothing. The
192 shape will be determined according to the shape of the table it is produced
for, including rectangular and oval. Its size also varies according to the size
of the table. Even if the size of the table clothing didn’t have a well known
dimension like the above products, the common dimensions that producers have made so
far include:
Cultural Curtain (መጋረጃ): This is another type of product that is made by SMEs
around Gulele SubGulelets dimensions. It is not well known by producers who were
studied for this sample. As a result, it was difficult to estimate its standard
size.
Bed mattress (የአልጋ ልብስ): It is also another type of product produced by sharing the
characteristics of Tibeb, because it will have tilet or tilf to make it
different from the ones produced in a modern factory.
Pillow (የትራስ ልብስ)፡The pillows are made
for the bed and sofa. Their size varies according to the size of the actual pillow
of the customer.
Sofa clothing (የሶፋ ልብስ): This is the clothing
made for the sofa to cover the main clothing it was made of.
Male trouser (የወንድ ሱሪ): Trousers for male are also being produced. In addition to
the size indicated above, male’s trouser is also made for boys with a much
smaller size.
Male
vest (ሰረዲያ): The vest is also another type
of product produced in the SMEs, both for men and for little boys.
T-shirt (ቲሸርት):
T-shirts produced that match with the tilet of the trousers.
Napkin (ናፕኪን) is a
square of clothing that is used to protects peoples’ clothes from food eaten. In addition, you can use to wipe mouth or hands.
Male trouser (የወንድ ሱሪ): Trousers for male are also being produced. In addition to the
size indicated above, male’s trouser is also made for boys with a much smaller
size.
Male vest (ሰረዲያ): The vest is also
another type of product produced in the SMEs, both for men and for little boys.
T-shirt (ቲሸርት): T-shirts produced
that match with thetitlet of the trousers.
Napkin (ናፕኪን) is a square of clothing thatis used to protects peoples’ clothes, when
food is eaten, from being ruined. In addition, you can use to wipe mouth or hands.
Reference: Bethlehem Nesibu (Eng) Addis Ababa
University: Part Family Formation of Ethiopian Cultural Clothing by using Group
Technology Coding System, pages 89-92
