Cultural Preservation Framework

Global Kente Registry Standard

Edition 1.0 · Published March 2026

Kente cloth is one of humanity’s most celebrated textiles, a living heritage woven in colour, symbol and meaning by master craftspeople across Ghana for centuries. Yet until now, no formal global standard has existed to govern how Kente weavers are documented, how cloths are authenticated, and how designs are recorded and protected.

The Global Kente Registry Standard (GKRS) changes that.

Developed by KenteRegistry.org and grounded in Ghana’s landmark 2025 Geographical Indication (GI) recognition of Kente, the GKRS is the foundational reference document for everyone who works with, studies, collects, exhibits or trades in authentic Ghanaian Kente cloth. It establishes the rules, procedures, formats and principles that govern the Registry’s three pillars of registration: Weavers, Cloth and Designs.

The Standard is issued as a public document, freely available for educational, research, archival and institutional use. It is intended to serve:

Intended Audience

  • Kente weavers and their communities
  • Museums, galleries and cultural institutions
  • Universities, historians and researchers
  • Government bodies and trade agencies
  • Collectors, traders and anyone seeking to verify authentic provenance

Edition 1.0 was published on 21 March 2026. The GKRS is a living standard, subject to periodic review and revision in consultation with weaving communities and stakeholders. We invite institutions, researchers and heritage organisations worldwide to adopt, cite and build upon this Standard in the service of Kente’s global legacy.

Citation

Nyakpo, P. (2026). Global Kente Registry Standard (GKRS), Edition 1.0. KenteRegistry.org. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19149655

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19149655

Author: Phillip Nyakpo | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8784-9905

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

This document is permanently archived on Zenodo, the global open-access research repository operated by CERN. The Zenodo record provides a citable, permanent reference for academic and institutional use.

View the Zenodo record →

For enquiries regarding the Global Kente Registry Standard, institutional licensing or collaboration, contact: contact@kenteregistry.org

Read the full Standard on Zenodo: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19149655