Panama Hat Centers

The Panama hats are made in Ecuador and not in Panama. The natives of Ecuador have been mastering the art of weaving the Panama hat from the toquilla straw since 4000 B.C. Ecuador is the only place where the Panama straw hats are produce throughout history. The true name of the Panama hat is Sombrero de Paja Toquilla (toquilla palm hat). This name is known to the Ecuadorian people and to the rest of the world the straw hat is famously known as the Panama hat.

The straw hats were weaved in small villages but in small quantity. However, there were no big productions of the straw hat. After Ecuador got independent from Spain, Manuel Alfaro, an entrepreneur who settled in Montecristi, a little coastal town in the Manabi province, realized the profitable potential of the straw hat. He established a straw-hat production business in 1835. He used his own straw plantations and hired skilled weavers for his hat business. His hat business began to boom and the straw hats were exported to Panama as it was a prime commercial center during the time. He opened hat shops in Panama attracting many buyers that passed by. Manuel Alfaro had made Manabi the hat-producing center but with the demands rising up sky high, the production of Manabí could not meet up the satisfaction.

Since the demands were overflowing and the hat production was going slow in Manabí, Cuenca located in Azuay province soon took over the action. In 1836, a hat factory was opened in Cuenca. However, the sole motive behind this was an attempt to boost the local economy. For this, master weavers were brought in to train the locals who were interested in learning the art. The Panama hat industry in Cuenca became a powerful economic booster for the city of Cuenca. Today the Panama straw hats are produced in large numbers by weavers of Cuenca. These days, they utilized modern methods to finish the Panama straw hats meeting the demands easily.