Gentle Elegance: The Panama Hat
Ashley Cornil | October 29, 2017
There is something truly beautiful about the process of hand weaving a Panama hat. Yes, it takes skill and precision but the patience and history behind the weaving process is the most romantic part.
Our Artisans in Cuenca, Ecuador live and breath this history. It's a living art that is past down from generations with unique weaving techniques at the core of the family tradition. Our hats take upwards of 10 hours to gently weave a single KIN THE LABEL hat body.
To start, the center of the crown is created using only a few fibers. After more straws are added to form the crown, they continue in this manner to form the hat body using a wooden mold to shape it and then finish with the brim.
The inter-weaving process is unique to Panama hats. The tied off fibers at the edge of the brim are tightened and excess fibers trimmed. The final stage requires the straw be ironed to smooth and flatten the fibers before the hat goes through blocking and shaping process in the USA.
The beauty of an individual artisan's technique in weaving a Panama, no one hat is alike. The patience to interweave every strand of fiber becomes an elegant work of art.