The Niger Bend

This type of hat is one of the hats most commonly worn by men in West Africa. In Ghana, where these are made, the men who wear these feel they are embracing their very own, traditional rich Ashanti/Asante culture when they wear such a hat. Many Americans know it as a “kufi”, a “koofy” or a “coofy”, the hat worn by Muslims when they pray. It is also known as a skull cap or a beanie. The beauty of this hat is the band of genuine, traditional Ashanti kente cloth (not fake, reproduced cloth, made to look like kente; it’s the real cloth) around the full perimeter of this attractive men’s hat. Kente cloth is traditionally woven of silk but is now more commonly woven, by hand, of rayon. The black part looks like black leather but is a synthetic substitute for leather that African hat makers use to keep the price down. We have had these authentic African kufis made to meet American/Western sizing standards whereby the hat can cover the head, conforming to the shape of the man’s (or woman’s) head. We have a fairly large stock of these, all varying in internal circumference to fit a variety of head sizes. If you do not see your size here please ask us; we might be able to find your size among the others we have, all of which look pretty much like these. When you order please tell us the letter of the hat whose size most closely approximates the size you need.

For now we only have kufis with this blue color kente cloth. If you are interested in other colors please let me know; we might be able to get other colors.