Panama Hats

[hoopdriver]

Earlier this year before Covid put paid to international travel, I spent a few weeks in Montecristi, Ecuador shooting a feature on the greatest living weaver of Panama hats - weaver named Simón Espinal whose silky fine hats have over 4000 weaves per square inch. A gallery of these images ran this week in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/travel/panama-hats-ecuador.html

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Absolutely fantastic, what a wonderful way to make a living assuming he does

 

[hoopdriver]

Absolutely fantastic, what a wonderful way to make a living assuming he does

He does. He has a deal with a US hat maker and gets money up front plus a commission based on the final sale price.

 

[MichaelW2]

I saw a BBC documentary on Taupoo hat weaving in the French Polynesian island of Rurutu. Some of the most amazing hats ever made.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06kch8y

 

[Deleted member 26715]

He does. He has a deal with a US hat maker and gets money up front plus a commission based on the final sale price.

I got slated the other day on here as I said I could not see the money in a £5K bike, not that I would actually buy one but I can see the value in a hat like that.

 

[hoopdriver]

Simón kept a log of his hours weaving a superfine hat he wove a few years back - it had 4200 weaves per square inch, a weave so fine you needed a jewellers loupe to count the rows. Weaving it took a little over five months, full time work. That one hat. Then there was the work of the finishing artisans after than, and that of the hat-maker who hand-blocked it. Many many hours of highly skilled time went into that hat...

 

[avecReynolds531]

Earlier this year before Covid put paid to international travel, I spent a few weeks in Montecristi, Ecuador shooting a feature on the greatest living weaver of Panama hats - weaver named Simón Espinal whose silky fine hats have over 4000 weaves per square inch. A gallery of these images ran this week in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/travel/panama-hats-ecuador.html

Thanks, superb article & photos. Such skill in the making of these hats!

 

[Profpointy]

Whilst I'm very much a panama man myself, and I'm sure the gentleman's hats are lovely, but I want to be able to roll my hat up, and stuff it in my rucksack, and I ain't going to be willing to do that with a hat costing presumably thousands, so they just wouldn't work for me even if I could afford one.

 

[Shadow]

I want to be able to roll my hat up, and stuff it in my rucksack

It is my understanding that this is the beauty of all panama hats, that they can indeed be rolled up. I have a genuine panama hat, made in Ecuador, sadly not a Montecristo in spite of what is stated on the inner band, that I rolled up and took to north america last year and brought it back to the UK in one piece.

Having said that, if I did own one of these gorgeous hand-made ones, I probably would be reluctant to treat it in such a fashion. Unless shown how to roll it up by the vendor/milliner.

 

[Shadow]

Earlier this year before Covid put paid to international travel, I spent a few weeks in Montecristi, Ecuador shooting a feature on the greatest living weaver of Panama hats - weaver named Simón Espinal whose silky fine hats have over 4000 weaves per square inch. A gallery of these images ran this week in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/travel/panama-hats-ecuador.html

Thanks for posting this Roff. Great article. And great images, and I would not expect any less!

 

[hoopdriver]

It is my understanding that this is the beauty of all panama hats, that they can indeed be rolled up. I have a genuine panama hat, made in Ecuador, sadly not a Montecristo in spite of what is stated on the inner band, that I rolled up and took to north america last year and brought it back to the UK in one piece.

Having said that, if I did own one of these gorgeous hand-made ones, I probably would be reluctant to treat it in such a fashion. Unless shown how to roll it up by the vendor/milliner.

Yes, it is possible to roll a cheap panama hat, but you would not be able to with one of the finer hats as they are hand blocked to a style - fedora, optima, plantation etc - and have a leather band sewn in. Nor would you want to roll one of these fine hats. It is not good for the straw.

A lot of Panama hats are misrepresented as Montecristi hats -fraud is rife, so is ignorance. Some hatters genuinely do not know the difference and buy from unscrupulous wholesalers. Genuine Montecristi panama's hats are found only in specialist hat shops. If in doubt, look at the weave. A genuine Montecristi will have a pretty herringbone style weave.

 

[Profpointy]

It is my understanding that this is the beauty of all panama hats, that they can indeed be rolled up. I have a genuine panama hat, made in Ecuador, sadly not a Montecristo in spite of what is stated on the inner band, that I rolled up and took to north america last year and brought it back to the UK in one piece.

Having said that, if I did own one of these gorgeous hand-made ones, I probably would be reluctant to treat it in such a fashion. Unless shown how to roll it up by the vendor/milliner.

Some are the roll-upable type, recognisable by a slight fore-aft crest. I've always favoured this style.. Others are made to a shape, eg fedora and. you're not supposed to roll them. I did buy a reasonably nice one in Equador many years ago (by which I mean £50 rather than £5000 !) but it got lost somewhere along the way. The most shyte one I've had was from Marks and Sparks: the straw bit was perfectly OK but the inner lining band was made of rubber - perfect next to the skin in a sun hat as you can imagine. After slicing this abomination off the hat it kind of went out of shape urecoverably.

A great alternative is a pith helmet but sadly I'm not allowed to wear mine, at least not in Mrs PP's company - can't imagine why. A canvas cricket hat is a reasonable alternative to a panama too. That said, I quite fancy a straw boater, but maybe I'd need a stripy blazer to go with it