A weaving town on the Togo road
Kpetoe is a border town in more than one sense. The Agotime area straddles the frontier, lying partly in Ghana and partly in Togo, and the town's position on the Ho–Aflao road has long made it a place of cross-border trade as well as cloth. The district itself is young as an administrative unit — it was carved out of the old Adaklu-Anyigbe District in 2012 — but the weaving is not. Agotime is one of the three great hand-weaving centres of southern Ghana and Togo, alongside the villages around Keta Lagoon and the Asante workshops near Kumasi, and in several Agotime towns, including Kpetoe, Abenyiase and Akpokofe, weaving is a principal occupation. The cloth travels: Ewe textiles have been traded across West Africa since at least the eighteenth century, and today Kpetoe's weavers sell both locally and to buyers who order specific designs from Kumasi and beyond.
Whose kente is it? A dispute told in thread
Ask in Kpetoe where kente began and you will get a confident answer; ask the same question in Bonwire, near Kumasi, and you will get a different one. Since the 1990s a heated debate has run in Ghana over whether Asante or Ewe weavers came first, and the argument is bound up with the very word: many Ewe speakers say kente is a corruption of kete, their own term for hand-woven cloth, and that the name travelled with the technique. The scholarly reading is more tangled than either camp allows — weaving has a long history in many parts of Ghana, and Ewe and Twi-speaking weaving regions have influenced each other since at least the nineteenth century. What is not in dispute is the distinctiveness of the Ewe tradition: figurative inlaid motifs, cloths that speak of daily life as much as of rank, and a freedom of design that came from weaving for open markets rather than for a single court. In 2024 the craftsmanship of traditional woven kente was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognition that belongs to the whole tradition.
The loom, the pattern, the name
The work itself is slow and exacting. Kpetoe's weavers use the West African double-heddle narrow-strip loom, worked almost entirely by men, though that division is loosening. Warp threads are counted and threaded through two heddles and then a reed; the weaver opens and closes the shed with the toes and with wooden gears, throwing a separate shuttle for each colour in the design. A young weaver's first pattern is usually Fatia Fa, which needs three shuttles at once; the most complex designs in use call for nine. Strips roughly four inches wide are woven and then sewn edge to edge into a full cloth, and a single woman's cloth can take a month of work. Every pattern carries a name and a meaning drawn from events, proverbs, religion or daily life, and Agotime weavers count well over a hundred designs of their own, among them Tritriku, Trekake, Atixali, Gabusu and Zevideka. The cloth is not only for chiefs: in Ewe areas kente has long been worn at weddings, funerals and naming ceremonies, and the meanings of its patterns often speak of ordinary life rather than of status.
Agbamevorza: the town's week of cloth
Once a year Kpetoe turns its craft into a public celebration. Agbamevorza — the kente festival, also written Agbamevo Za — was instituted in 1995 by the people of the Agotime Traditional Area, a grouping of some 37 towns and villages, to promote and preserve the cloth and the skills behind it. It runs for about a week, usually in August, and its programme mixes the ceremonial and the competitive: speed-weaving contests, kente exhibitions and dress-design competitions, the firing of musketry, drumming and dance, a re-enactment of the Agotime migration with kente treasures, and a grand durbar of chiefs and queen mothers that closes the week. The festival has had interruptions — it paused for five years around the pandemic and the passing of the third Konor — but returned in 2024 and marked its 30th edition in 2025, drawing sister communities from Togo and visitors from further afield. Dates shift from year to year, so confirm them before you travel.
What to do
Things to do in Kpetoe
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Attraction
1.Watch the weavers at the Kpetoe Kente Weaving Centre
This roofed, open-air building is the heart of a visit: a working shed where up to 25 weavers sit at their looms, throwing shuttles and beating weft, with finished cloth hung and folded around them. Because the looms are close together you can follow a single strip from the counting of warp threads to the finished pattern, and ask what a design is called and what it means. It is a workshop first and a display second, which is exactly why it is worth your time.
Tip: Only about half the weavers speak English, so keep questions simple and be patient; a small purchase is the most direct way to support the work.
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Attraction
2.Buy cloth in the village shops
Kpetoe's cloth trade spills out of the sheds and into small stores along and just off the main road, selling kente strips, joined strips, table runners, hats, accessories and clothing. Buying here means buying close to the source, and the range rewards browsing: heavy cotton titriku, indigo-and-white cloths, and the bright rayon designs that Agotime weavers adopted from the 1950s and made their own. Expect to negotiate, and treat the conversation as part of the transaction.
Tip: Ask residents to point you to shops set back from the main street; proprietors expect bargaining, so agree a price before anything is cut.
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Attraction
3.Wander into Abenyiase, the weaving village next door
The cluster of villages around Kpetoe is where the weaving really lives, and the adjacent village of Abenyiase is the most rewarding to walk. Here up to a hundred weavers work and sell outdoors, looms set up in yards and under trees, so the whole settlement reads as one long open workshop. It is a slower, less formal experience than the centre, and a good place to see how thoroughly the craft is woven into daily life rather than staged for visitors.
Tip: Go on a weekday morning when the light is good and the looms are busy; ask before photographing anyone at work.
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Attraction
4.Time your visit to Agbamevorza, the kente festival
If you can arrange your trip around the annual kente festival, do. For roughly a week each August the Agotime Traditional Area gathers in Kpetoe for weaving competitions, exhibitions, dress-design contests, musketry, drumming and a closing durbar of chiefs and queen mothers from the towns and villages of Agotime, joined by communities from across the Togo border. It is the one moment when the town's craft is displayed at full scale, and visitors are genuinely welcome rather than merely tolerated.
Tip: Dates are set late and vary year to year, so check the current year's programme with the Ghana Tourism Authority before booking travel.
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Attraction
5.Follow the cloth to Kpetoe Market
Kpetoe's market is a working town market rather than a tourist stop, and that is its appeal: it shows you the everyday economy that the weaving sits inside, alongside produce, household goods and the cross-border trade that has long shaped the town. Come to see how a border community shops, and to pick up the small things — food, cloth, provisions — that a weaving village does not sell. It pairs naturally with a morning at the looms.
Tip: Market days are busiest and most interesting; go early, and carry small notes for easy change.
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Attraction
6.See the Kente Village project and understand its promise
The Kente Village at Kpetoe is a planned weaving centre and cultural tourism project intended to become a one-stop destination for the cloth, with space for weavers, training and visitors. It is not an operating attraction: construction has stalled and the site has been described in poor condition, with chiefs and officials repeatedly calling for it to be completed. It is worth understanding because it frames the town's ambitions — and because your visit to the working sheds is, in effect, the experience the village is meant to formalise.
Tip: Do not plan your day around the Kente Village; treat the working weaving centre and village shops as the real visit.
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Attraction
7.Learn the loom, if you have longer
For travellers with time and curiosity, Kpetoe is one of the few places where you can move from watching to doing. Local organisations have hosted volunteers and interns who learn to weave over weeks rather than hours, starting with warping and heddling and progressing to simple patterns. Even a short hands-on session makes the economics of the craft legible: you feel how many movements a single strip requires, and why weavers argue that kente should not be sold cheaply.
Tip: Arrange any weaving lesson in advance through a local organisation or the weaving centre; do not expect to walk in and start.
Plan your time
Suggested itinerary
Half a day: the looms and the shops
Arrive in Kpetoe by mid-morning, when the sheds are busy and the light is good. Start at the Kpetoe Kente Weaving Centre, where up to 25 weavers work at their looms, and spend an unhurried hour following the process from warp to finished strip. Then walk the main road and its side streets for the cloth shops, comparing strips, runners and hats and asking about pattern names. If you have energy left, stroll into the adjacent village of Abenyiase, where weavers work outdoors, before heading back towards Ho or on to the coast.
Kpetoe Kente Weaving Centre→Agortime-Kpetoe Kente Town→Kente Village Kpetoe
One day: weaving, market and the border country
Give the morning to the craft: the weaving centre first, then the shops, then a slow walk through Abenyiase to see how many households keep a loom. Break for street food or a chop bar in the village. In the afternoon, visit Kpetoe Market to see the town's everyday trade, and if you are interested in the district's plans, ask locally about the stalled Kente Village project so you understand what is being proposed. Finish with a second, quieter pass through the weaving centre — by late afternoon the sheds thin out and you can talk properly with the weavers about design and price.
Kpetoe Kente Weaving Centre→Agortime-Kpetoe Kente Town→Kente Village Kpetoe
Two days: Kpetoe and the Volta Region
Day one as above, ending with a night in or near Ho. On day two, use Kpetoe's position on the Ho–Aflao road to widen the trip: travel south towards the coast and the Keta Lagoon area, the other great Ewe weaving centre, where villages specialise in hand-woven cloth and the market at Agbozume draws buyers from across Ghana and neighbouring countries. The contrast between the two traditions — Agotime's figurative, market-driven weaving and the lagoon villages' output — makes the region's textile history legible in a way no single town can. If your visit coincides with Agbamevorza in August, build the whole trip around the festival instead.
Kpetoe Kente Weaving Centre→Agortime-Kpetoe Kente Town→Kente Village Kpetoe
Seasons and festivals
When to go
Kpetoe sits in the Volta Region's forest-savannah transition, and the practical rhythm of a visit is set less by the weather than by the weavers' week. Weavers generally do not work on Sundays, and they are active from dawn to dusk Monday to Saturday, so a weekday visit gives you the fullest sheds. The single best reason to choose your dates carefully is Agbamevorza, the kente festival, which runs for about a week and usually falls in August; it has been held in August in recent years, but the dates are set late and vary, so confirm the current year's programme before you book. The festival has also been interrupted in the past — it paused for five years around the pandemic and the death of the third Konor before returning in 2024 — so treat any published date as provisional until confirmed locally.
- Agbamevorza (Agotime Kente Festival) · About a week, usually in August; dates vary and are confirmed late
- Instituted in 1995 by the Agotime Traditional Area to promote and preserve kente weaving, the festival brings together the 37 towns and villages of Agotime, plus sister communities from Togo. The week includes speed-weaving and design competitions, kente exhibitions, musketry, drumming and dance, a re-enactment of the Agotime migration with kente treasures, and a grand durbar of chiefs and queen mothers. The 2024 edition was the 29th and the 2025 edition the 30th, both held in August.
Access
Getting there and around
Kpetoe lies on the main road between Ho, the Volta Regional capital, and Aflao on the Togo border, roughly 23 kilometres south-east of Ho. That road position makes it straightforward to reach: frequent public transport runs in both directions between Ho and the coast, so you can pick up a vehicle heading towards Aflao and ask to be set down at Kpetoe. From Accra, the usual approach is to travel first to Ho and continue from there. Once in town, everything described here — the weaving centre, the cloth shops, the market and the walk to Abenyiase — is close enough to cover on foot, which is also the best way to hear the looms and to meet weavers. Visitor facilities are limited, so plan your onward transport before you arrive rather than late in the day.
Good to know
Before you go
Kpetoe is a working town, not a resort, and a little preparation goes a long way. Facilities are limited: the weaving centre has pit toilets but no running water, cold drinks are available in the village, and chop bars serve street food, so bring water and do not count on cafés or card machines. Cash is essential for buying cloth, and bargaining is expected — agree a price before anything is cut. Ask before photographing weavers at work, and accept a refusal gracefully; at the festival, by contrast, people dress to be seen and photographing the procession is welcomed. Dress modestly, greet people before launching into questions, and remember that only about half the weavers speak English, so speak simply and slowly. Finally, buy something if you can: the cloth is the town's livelihood, and a direct purchase supports the craft more surely than any photograph.
FAQ
Questions travellers ask about Kpetoe
Where is Kpetoe in Ghana?
Kpetoe, formally Agortime-Kpetoe, is the capital of the Agortime-Ziope District in the Volta Region, about 23 kilometres south-east of Ho on the main road to Aflao and the Togo border.
Is Kpetoe the same as Bonwire for kente?
No. Bonwire near Kumasi is the best-known Asante weaving town, while Kpetoe is one of the main centres of Ewe kente, known for figurative motifs and a wider variety of cloth types. Both traditions claim deep roots, and the question of which came first is a long-running and unresolved debate in Ghana.
When is the Kente Festival in Kpetoe?
Agbamevorza, the Agotime Kente Festival, runs for about a week and usually falls in August, but the dates are set late and vary from year to year. Confirm the current year's dates with the Ghana Tourism Authority before booking.
Can I visit the Kente Village at Kpetoe?
The Kente Village is a planned weaving and cultural tourism project, not an operating attraction; construction has stalled and the site has been described as being in poor condition. Visit the working weaving centre and the village shops instead.
Do the weavers work every day?
Weavers are generally active from dawn to dusk Monday to Saturday and do not work on Sundays, so a weekday visit gives you the fullest sheds.
Can I buy kente directly from the weavers?
Yes. Cloth is sold at the weaving centre and in small shops along and just off the main road, including strips, runners, hats and clothing. Bargaining is expected, so agree a price before anything is cut.
Keep exploring
More destination guides
Sources for this guide (12)
- Agortime-Kpetoe — Wikipedia
- Agotime-Ziope District — Wikipedia
- Kpetoe Kente Weaving Village — Visit Ghana
- Agotime, land of rich kente — Graphic Online
- Origin disputed. The making, use and evaluation of Ghanaian textiles — Malika Kraamer, Afrique: Archéologie & Arts
- Ewe Kente Cloths from Ghana — Adire African Textiles
- Kente — VARAS
- Agbamevoza: Agotime Traditional Area Kente Festival — AfricanCraft.com
- Government is committed to Kpetoe Kente Village Project — Minister — Modern Ghana/GNA
- Agbamevorza 2024: Showcasing Agortime's Unique Heritage and Artistic Expression — Modern Ghana
- Thousands attend Agortime Kente Festival — GhanaDistricts.com
- Chiefs and People of Agotime Celebrate 30th Kente Festival — The Ghanaian Chronicle
Written September 29, 2026 from these sources and reviewed by the VisitGhana.app team. Confirm practical details locally before travelling.