Panama Hats... See it, feel it, love it forever!
29 april 2017 - Cuenca, Ecuador
In the Tena jungle we saw toquillo palm leafs being stripped to thin straws. The Factory puts them together as a bunch of ponytails, dries them and than Concha Women (see prior photo) wave hats from 6 'strings' within 2 days. That's the cheapest version of approx 35$.
The ones called Superfino are foldable, need about 3 months of waving 25-30 strings and costs approx. 300$
Than there is the Magnifico, 2,500$.
The original hats are made white afterwards. Or dyed in colors to the liking of the customer (that started with Hermes)
Than they iron the hats in special shapes with special molds.
The finishing touch are the ribbons, bands, deco.
All is done by hand.
The dye is synthetic but all other products are genuine: toquillo palm, silk ribbon, cotton band. The purses also have Ecuadorian shells, Tagua wood from the jungle which we also bought in Baños, Cuenca leather… And that last one reminds us of our visit to The Town for leather products: Cotacatchi
At first we thought of buying the black&white combo. Every one loved the look of it when I wore it. Yet the white is very smudgy perhaps, and not easy to rinse when very stained. This combo is so incredibly elegant that maybe I wouldn't wear it that often once home.
So I went for the soft brown tones that suit every clothing any time. The purse is a real eye catcher yet gentle elegant looks. It had Cuenca leather, shell deco from the West Ecuadorian coast. And. Tagua Jungle wood / Shell beads.
Later I will post videos of my hat being assembled. Translation will have to wait due to lack of time. Enjoy!
Deze foto werd gemaakt op 29 april 2017 in Cuenca, Ecuador.
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