VPF van Vlissingen & Co (Vlisco) was founded in 1846 in Helmond, South of Holland by Pieter Fentener van Vlissingen. For more than 100 years, the business was run by the Fentener van Vlissingen family but it is now a listed company own by Gamma Holding. The aim of the company was to produce and sell hand printed fabrics in Holland and abroad. In 1952, Vlisco started exporting hand printed batiks to Indonesia then known as the Dutch East Indies after an uncle of Pieter Fentener van Vlissingen so an opportunity in the market for the printed fabrics. By 1876, Vlisco started shipping to Africa where ‘Eastern batik’ was becoming very popular. The demand increased when African soldiers from Indonesia between 1837 and 1972 went to settle in Ghana bringing printed batiks. By the 1900s Vlisco was fronted with competition in Indonesia. They decided to look elsewhere for business and turned to the African market. They transformed their prints to suit the African taste. Now Vlisco is widely known throughout Africa and has become an essential part of fashion in the West and Central African culture.
Vlisco has an innate sense of the expressive and creative strength of African consumers and, for generations, has succeeded in surprising and inspiring her passionate clientele with unique designs. Vlisco is unparalleled when it comes to quality, professional skill and innovation.
I love how every quarter, Vlisco releases a themed collection featuring a new set of exuberant and colourful prints. The prints are both timeless and seasonal! The prints are very well designed and are truly made of the finest quality. In recent years, they have launching their quarterly collection edgy designs on ever edgier models. I sometimes think the garments seem to good to wear. They look so magical and dreamy yet fierce and glamorous!
When I was younger I used to love circling all my favourite prints in the swatch books they used to post to my Mum. I would list all the prints I liked and say to myself, ‘When I grow up I will get them!’. Now I have a great collection of prints from a variety of textile companies including Vlisco.
The swatches in the Vlisco swatch books years ago were about 15cm x 15cm or 20cm x 20cm. I remember always asking my Mum if I could keep them to make something with them, and she would always told me ‘No’. She subconsciously decided to send them to her sisters in Ghana. On my first trip to Ghana in 2004, my Aunty was wearing a beautiful outfit made of varies squares of wax block print. My Mum complimented her on her outfit and asked where she got the fabric from. She used the Vlisco swatch squares my Mum had sent years earlier, took it to my seamstress and asked her to make something out of it. She sewed all the squares together turning into a mass piece of fabric and then made a traditional Ghanaian outfit with a head scarf as well!!! I was so amazed. Pure innovation!!! There were probably at least 300! It was like a quilted fabric – Absolutely amazing!!
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