Product Description

An important characteristic of the famous "Panama Hats" or Wrap Straw Hats is that each hat is unique. The weaving of these hats is a craft industry carried out chiefly in the districts of Manabí and Azuay in Ecuador. This skill has passed from generation to generation. Each knot or return determines the quality of the hat. In the more common and cheap quality hat that can have three or four "returns", while in the finest quality or "fine" hats could be as many as forty knots or returns. The refinement of these hats varies for the time it takes to be woven. Some of the rougher hats can be woven in a day, while the finest hats from the towns of Biblian and Montecristi can take up to 5 months to be woven. The finest straw hats have a smooth texture as silk and its weaving is hardly perceptible.