The local name shweshwe is believed to be derived from the fabric's association with Lesotho's King Moshoeshoe, also spelled "Mshweshwe". Moshoeshoe was gifted with the fabric by French missionaries in the 1840s who subsequently popularised it.

The printing on the cloth is done by traditional batik technique. Many of the designs have a meaning. A large variety of religious and political designs are found as well as traditional tribal patterns.

African trade beads came about as a result of the need for traders along the route between Europe and Africa for a currency to trade with the Africans.  Beads fitted here as the most appropirate medium of exchange due to the affinity that African people had for various types of beads.  The trade beads were therefore used for purposes of bartering goods of value from the people of Africa such as ivory, gold, palm oil and slaves.  The history of African trade beads dates back as far as the fifteenth century with the coming of the Portuguese.