Straw hats woven from the toquilla plant in Ecuador, like many other 19th and early 20th century South and Central American goods, were shipped first to Panama before sailing to the rest of the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The hats are also known as Panama hats because of a series of purchases and events:

1. In the mid 1800s, the hats were bought by gold seekers from South America crossing through Panama as they made their way to California.

2. During the Spanish American War, in 1898, the U.S. government bought 50,000 hats in Panama for the troops heading for the Caribbean.

3. In the early 20th century, many of the workers during the construction of the Panama Canal wore these lightweight hats as protection from the sun.

4. Theodore Roosevelt visited the Panama Canal during construction and was photographed wearing a Panama hat. In the U.S. the Panama hat quickly became the most fashionable summer hat.

The straw for the hats is cut five days after the moon reaches its waning quarter, when the straw holds less moisture, is easier to cut and more flexible to weave. The outer sheath of each stalk is stripped away, and the inner fingers are split and separated, leaving dozens of yard-long thin strands attached to the leaf stem. The prepared stalk is then boiled and then hung to dry. The straw is then sent east to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, and then to Cuenca, a town in the Andes that is at the center of hat production.

The finest Panama hats have a smooth texture in which the weave is barely noticeable. When it is held up to the light, a spiral of rings can be seen spanning out from the top of the crown.

England’s love affair with the hat created the tradition of the black band. This was in mourning for Queen Victoria, originating in the year of her death, 1901. In 1985, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Panama Hat was selected as being one of the “100 Best Best Designs Ever”.

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Filed under: History on April 3rd, 2008