Ecuador also established its first railroad system in , further boosting the trade. Rival hat makers in the province of Azuay and other areas attempt to undercut his business with cheaper products, but their manufacturing methods were vastly inferior. At this point, the growing Panama hat industry splintered into two sectors.
Cheaper Panama hats flooded the market from rival competitors while the Manabi region proudly continued to make a superior product using traditional weaving techniques and hundreds of years of experience. To this day, hats from Montecristi are considered the finest, most authentic Panama hats in existence — and rightfully so.
Once the people of Paris fell in love with this unique Ecuadorian headgear at the World Fair, London, Rome, and other countries soon followed. The rare and precious toquilla straw from Ecuador used to make the hats was not popularized until the 18th century when it was cataloged by two Spanish botanists for King Charles the IV.
Until that point, it had been somewhat of a local Ecuadorian secret. Ecuador eventually authorized toquilla straw trade with Peru and Columbia, though these countries could not compete with the refined crafting techniques of Ecuador.
His excellent sensibilities and growing reputation would one day go on to make him the leader of Ecuador and also lead the Liberal Revolution of Panama hats became the Ecuadorian fashion accessory of independence and newly-celebrated nationalism. New railroads spread the hat industry even further as the stylish hats gained more momentum. Panama hats continued to enjoy worldwide press and admiration throughout the turn of the next century.
Consequently, the Spaniards in Ecuador began to refer to the straw from which the hats were woven as toquilla straw, or paja toquilla. As you might expect, Ecuadorians themselves do not call their hats Panama hats. Hat weaving and wearing grew steadily in Ecuador through the 17th and 18th centuries. Hats woven there gained a reputation for being better quality, finer, than hats woven elsewhere.
To the south of Yucatan, in Belize, a young boy offered me some small baskets woven of a kind of straw that looked surprisingly familiar. I asked what the baskets were made of. In , Manuel Alfaro emigrated from Spain to Ecuador. He settled in Montecristi and launched himself in the hat business. He organized production better than anyone had previously by developing a large network of weavers and other artisans necessary to the making and finishing of the hats, and by creating a smooth-flowing production system.
His goal—export. Soon, his hats were leaving the port cities of Guayaquil and Manta, bound for Panama. He established a company in Panama that traded in hats, cacao, and pearls. As noted in the previous section, he had chosen his location well and fortune favored him with the California gold rush, which dramatically increased traffic in Panama as well as demand for his hats. Alfaro sold his hats in Panama and exported them from Panama to other countries, especially the United States.
By , the U. The revolution was a success and Eloy Alfaro was twice appointed President of Ecuador. In , Cuenca declared itself in the hat business. Officials there decided to open a hat factory in order to boost the local economy by capturing a share of the rapidly increasing export market.
Within a few years, their workshop was making hats and training anyone who was willing to learn. In , Don Bartolome Serrano dramatically speeded up the development of the Cuenca hat industry by taking a more comprehensive approach to the task at hand. He went to the coast and set up straw supply lines from the largest toquilla-growing areas.
He bought thousands of wooden hat forms, all the tools of the trade, bleaching powder, even weavers. Serrano and others in the Cuenca hat industry exercised their considerable political influence, and soon apprenticeship in hat making was compulsory throughout Azuay Province. Adults as well as children were required to learn the trade.
Failure to do so could result in prison time. Soon, hat making was one of the most profitable and powerful economic activities in the region.
Some reports claim that there was no law that sent people to prison if they did not weave. They maintain that weavers were recruited from prisons and that was how the rumor started. One of the largest exporters in Cuenca today is Serrano Hat.
They say they are the same company that was started by Don Bartolome Serrano and are, therefore, the oldest hat company in Ecuador. There are good reasons for that. But you must know that the real origin of Panama hat is found in Ecuador. Read on if you want to know the amazing story of the Panama hats and how the finest Montecristi Panama Hats is created. If you have read something about the origin of the Panama hat you might know already that it comes from the Coastal region of Manabi in Ecuador, where the Toquilla palm is cultivated.
If they only knew they had been the precursors of such fashionable work of art! The history of these straw hats, though, starts with the colony times in Jipijapa village hence the name in the Manabi province on the coast of Ecuador, where at the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, these kinds of hats were already been used and hand made by the local communities. Eventually, with the increase of the local demand, it formally became a great source of economic, cultural, and social development of the region.
The hats were mainly used by field workers for their practical characteristics of being robust and lightweight and great protection from the sun. In the the hat produced in Jipijapa and Montecristi started to be exported to the nearby countries of Peru, Colombia and Chile. However, the big turnaround was when the hat was exported to Panama, a huge hub for many travelers especially those coming from the east coast of the US going to the west, even more, when the California Gold Rush started..
The process to make the authentic Panama Hat is long and laborious and starts from the cultivation of the toquillales , the toquilla palms. They harvest the stems before separating the fiber, called cogollos the unopened, central leaf spikes , from the green outer skin. These parts of the plants must be boiled in order to remove the chlorophyll and then dried before being bleached with sulfur over a wood fire. The bleaching process is done twice and then the raw material is left for the night to dry under the moon light.
The following day it will be dry and ready for the leaves to be split into small threads by hand simply using the nails. Then professional weavers, that have been passing this art from generation to generation, will take this raw material and begin weaving the crown. It has become a cultural matter, an heritage of the Ecuadorian tradition that unifies generations and the people from the southern and coastal region.
Weaving is an art, an extremely complex and laborious art, that implies a lot of physical efforts and precision. However, according to Brant Black , the best weaver of all times is a man, Simon Espinal, now transmitting his skills over to his son.
Montecristi means the highest standard in the Panama straw hat trade. The single most important factor in determining the value of a Panama hat is 1 fineness of weave. Three other important factors that affect the price are 2 evenness of weave, 3 color of straw, 4 shaping and finishing.
The 5 size of the hat can also affect price. With the warmer months of summer comes the need to dress cool. The Panama hat brings an elegant boost to any summer outfit, however casual or formal. Straw hats with a tighter weave will allow very minimal sunlight to come through and will provide more sun protection.
In general, the finer and tighter the weave of the sun hat, the more work was put into making it and thus the more expensive it will generally be. There are two major grading systems used for panama straw, fine, extra fine, etc, and also a number grade.
Panama hats are designed for protection from the sun. Do not wear them as a rain hat. If you are caught in a shower and your Panama gets wet, let it dry naturally without heat, with crown and brim in the proper shape.
When you put your hat down temporarily place it on its crown, so as not to distort the brim.
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