Fabric was designed as a "once-off" and was sold out.

Just over a week past the World Cup kick-off, soccer balls are everywhere and have even bounced onto the historic, Eastern Cape-made Shweshwe cloth.

Da Gama Textiles, which has been manufacturing the traditional fabric for decades, has already sold out of the football motif Shweshwe fabric which was designed and made to celebrate the Fifa World Cup.

Bolts of the material, which is made in the Da Gama factory near King William's Town, have been snapped up by wholesalers and retailers to be fashioned into soccer-themed merchandise mainly for the tourism trade.

Da Gama marketing manager Helen Bester said the factory's studio had designed the soccer shweshwe as a "one- off" product for the gift market early last year and the sold-out fabric had been made into shirts, placemats and bags.

"We developed it well ahead of the World Cup and sold it to the Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban markets."

Gauteng store owner and shweshwe fan Rees Mann said he had bought "huge quantities" of the cloth which he had turned into "high-end handbags" at his Johannesburg CBD store, the Fashion Shack.

He will also be selling bolts of the Easter Cape-made cloth at his adjacent wholesale fabric store.

"During the Confederations Cup six members of the Brazilian team specifically asked for Shweshwe cloth - they wanted an authentic, 100% cotton South African fabric to take home with them," said Mann.

He said he was hoping the fabric would once again attract foreign shoppers, saying he thought it would "endure" once the last whistle had blown.

"I think this will be a historic piece of Shweshwe."