When it comes to Panama hats, you may not be familiar with them, but when it comes to jazz hats, they are absolutely household names. Yes, Panama hat is a jazz hat. Panama hats were born in Ecuador, a beautiful equatorial country. Because its raw material, Toquilla grass, is mainly produced here, more than 95% of Panama hats in the world are woven in Ecuador.
There are different opinions about the naming of "Panama Hat". It is generally said that the workers who built the Panama Canal liked to wear this kind of hat, while Ecuador's straw hat did not have any trademark, so everyone mistook it for a straw hat produced locally in Panama, so it was called "Panama Hat". But it is the "President with Goods" Roosevelt who really made Panama's straw hat famous. In 1913, when President Roosevelt of the United States gave a speech of thanks at the opening ceremony of the Panama Canal, the local people gave him a "Panama hat", so the reputation of the "Panama hat" was gradually expanded.
The texture of Panama hat is delicate and soft, which benefits from the raw material - Toquilla grass. This is a kind of soft, tough and elastic tropical plant. Due to the small output and limited production area, a plant needs to grow to about three years before it can be used to weave straw hats. In addition, the stems of Toquila grass are very fragile and can only be made by hand, so Panama hats are also known as "the most expensive straw hats in the world".
In the process of hat making, hat making artists will not use chemicals to bleach to show cream white. Everything is natural. The whole process is very time-consuming. From the selection of Toquilla grass, through drying and boiling, to the selection of straw to make a hat, the intertwined structure is compiled. Ecuador's hat making artists call this knitting technique "crab style". Finally, the finishing process is carried out, including whipping, cleaning, ironing, etc. Each process is complex and strict.
After all the processes are completed, a beautiful Panama straw hat can be regarded as a formal graduation, reaching the sales standard. Generally, it takes about 3 months for a skilled knitting artist to make a high-quality Panama hat. The current record shows that the top Panama hat takes about 1000 hours to make, and the most expensive Panama hat costs more than 100000 yuan.
Post time: Dec-28-2022
