How it began
The hat comes from Ecuador, not Panama. When Spanish conquistadors reached the Ecuadorian coast in 1526 they saw local people wearing a brimless woven headpiece that reminded them of a toque, and they named the fiber paja toquilla, or toquilla straw. The fiber comes from Carludovica palmata, a palm-like plant of the coast.
By the mid 1600s hat weaving had become a cottage industry along the coast and in small Andean towns, and it grew steadily through the 17th and 18th centuries. Principal, in the Chordeleg canton of Azuay province, is named as one of the first Andean towns to take up the craft.
How it works
Coastal farmers cultivate the toquilla stands and harvest the stems, then separate the fiber from the green outer skin. The fiber is boiled to remove chlorophyll, dried, and bleached with sulfur over a wood fire. Weavers then work the crown and the brim by hand.
A hat can take from one day to eight months depending on the quality and fineness sought. Quality is judged by the tightness of the weave. Two common weaves are the cuenca, which looks like a herringbone, and the lighter brisa, which looks like small diamonds or squares. After weaving, the hat is blocked into shape. The skills are passed down inside families, mostly peasant households.
How it spread
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ecuadorian hats were shipped first to the Isthmus of Panama and sold on from there to the Americas, Europe and Asia. Buyers named the hat after the place where they bought it. The term Panama hat appears in print by 1828.
In 1835 Manuel Alfaro set up an export business in Montecristi, shipping from Guayaquil and Manta to the Gulf of Panama. The California gold rush lifted demand, since prospectors crossing the isthmus needed sun protection, and exports to the United States are reported to have reached 220,000 hats a year by 1850. In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt was photographed wearing one at the Panama Canal works, which widened its popularity further.
What lasted
The misleading name stuck, and the hat became a standard warm-weather accessory. In the 1920s and 1930s the Panama overtook the straw boater as the usual summer hat in Western dress. Its success also drew imitators: in the early 20th century the tamsui hat, made in Formosa (now Taiwan) from pandanus fiber, was sold in East Asia as a cheaper competitor.
Where it stands today
UNESCO inscribed the traditional weaving of the Ecuadorian toquilla straw hat on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012. The craft still provides a living for thousands of Ecuadorians, and Ecuadorian exporters supply designer and retail brands.
The finest grade is at risk. Fewer than a dozen weavers are reported to be able to make Montecristi superfinos, and cheaper hats produced by companies in China compete on price.
