About the habesha kemis

A habesha kemis is the handwoven cotton dress worn across Ethiopia and Eritrea for weddings, baptisms, Genna and Timket. What separates one from another is the tibeb — the coloured border woven into the hem, cuffs and neckline, and often carried down the front as a panel. Tibeb is woven on the loom rather than printed or embroidered on afterwards, which is why the pattern reads from both faces of the cloth and why a wide hand-woven border is days of a weaver’s work rather than hours.

The pieces listed here come from sellers in Addis Ababa and from Ethiopian designers in the diaspora. Cloth weight varies: lighter shemma for everyday and summer wear, heavier cotton for ceremony. Most sellers will make to measure and will talk through tibeb colours with you before they start — message the shop directly and ask. Alongside the woven cotton there is a dressier modern register in chiffon (shifon, ሽፎን), where the tibeb is embroidered or printed rather than woven on the loom.

Common questions

What is the difference between tibeb and tilet?

People use both words for the woven pattern, and usage varies by region and family. We wrote out where the two part company in tibeb vs tilet.

How do I get the size right?

Most sellers here make to measure rather than working to standard sizes. Send your measurements when you message them; a kemis is cut loose, so length and shoulder matter more than an exact fit.

How should it be washed?

Hand wash cold and dry flat in shade. Hand-loomed cotton softens with washing, and the dyes in a tibeb border can bleed on a first hot wash — ask the seller what they used.

Does it ship outside Ethiopia?

Each listing states where its seller ships. Canada, the USA, the UK and Europe are the common destinations; you can narrow the results above by ships-to.

What is worn with a kemis at a wedding?

Usually a netela over the shoulders, matched to the tibeb rather than to the dress. What to wear to an Ethiopian wedding goes through it properly.