Dashiki is a Yoruba word that means shirt. The cap worn with a dashiki is call a kufi, and is named after the city of Kufi, Nigeria. The word means crown. Sokoto are the pants worn with a dashiki, and are named after the city of Sokoto, in Nigeria.

The dashiki found a market in America during the Black cultural and political struggles in the 1960s. A prototype was developed in 1967 by Jason Benning, Milton Clarke, Howard Davis, and William Smith. These young professionals formed a company called New Breed to produce dashikis. It was located in a 2-room clothing store in the Harlem section of Manhattan. The term dashiki begins appearing in print at least as early as mid-1968. "Dashiki" first appeared in the Webster's New World Dictionary, 1st College Edition 1970/72.

Dashiki is usually only worn by Tribal chiefs, Nigerians, or Muslims, and it consists of a dashiki, and matching pants.