Shibori is the Japanese word for resist dyeing. Shaped resist dyeing techniques have been done for centuries in all parts of the world, but more than half of the known techniques originated in Japan where it was used to pattern kimono fabric. Rather than treating cloth as a two-dimensional surface, with shibori it is given a three-dimensional form by pleating, gathering, clamping or twisting. The cloth is then secured in a variety of ways such as binding and knotting and then the cloth is dyed.

The special characteristic of shibori is a soft or blurry-edged pattern quite different from the sharp-edges obtained with print, paste or wax.

The Japanese cloth was pressed flat to return it to its two-dimensional state. Contemporary shibori retains the three-dimensional shape by subjecting the cloth to further processes to set the texture.