Consumers’ Preference and Further Uses of Kente Cloth

Abstract

Kente the pride of Ghana traditional clothing, very colorful, its patterns full of Ghanaian traditional proverbs and hand woven cloth. Recently, its traditional usage is paving way for kente appropriation products in Ghana. This paper delves into consumers’ preference of kente appropriation cloth and further uses of kente cloth. Questionnaires were used to gather the consumers’ preference information, analyzed statistically using SPSS and TOPSIS was used to rank consumers’ preference of kente appropriate cloths. The results suggest that: (i) consumers’ preference for kente appropriate products (dress, shirts, bags, shoes) are growing steadily, (ii) there are infinite room for further development of kente cloth, (iii) teachers, government officials, local seamstresses, kente weavers should collaborate to educate Ghanaian and the world on kente history, draft and designs, and (iv) kente weavers should not neglect kente characteristics when weaving kente cloths.

Keywords: Kente Cloth, Ghana, Consumer Preference, TOPSIS