The History of Cape Tweed

Prior to European arrival in Southern Africa, textiles and the making of cloth to the native inhabitants were unknown; with skins performing the same function.  The first visitors (Arabic and subsequently Europeans) traded cloth; this is a strange position as the Zulu people especially created woven baskets which rank as art treasures even today.  Most clothing worn by the early arrivals was imported from their respective home countries - and often remade several times as it wore out.  African people possibly acquired some material this way.

With the arrival of the British 1820 Settlers they brought some of the manufacturing skills of spinning and weaving with them although it remained a home craft.  Interestingly Bradshaw's Mill in Bathurst (the oldest in South Africa) was a fulling mill - a stage in finishing woven cloth.

Momentos of Africa has been involved in the development of mohair products for nearly 20 years and the directors have connections that are life long.  Having produced ranges using kid mohair, they have turned their attention to adult mohair.

The answer is CapeTweed a traditional range of twills in a virtually unlimited set of colour combinations.  This web-site shows a few and will be augmented as new designs are called for.

CapeTweed is the brand name and trademark of Momento’s of Africa and indicates that the material is hand-woven (or hand-loomed) from 100% mohair, and made in the region of the old Cape Colony of South Africa where the majority of the world’s mohair is grown. This region equates roughly to the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape Provinces of today’s Republic of South Africa.