Panama Hat articles from the web

[HungaryTom]

Superfino case study vol 2.

Dear All,

You saw in the previous post the superfino case study of Brent Black.

Now it is time to show the same from Panama Hatworks of Montecristi.

I do that through my order. The Montecristi ‘climbing’ seems to come close to its end. Yesterday I saw the height coming out of the clouds: K2.

I got the news from PanamaBob that my hat has arrived from Montecristi.
Bob wrote that hat body has 1700 wpsi.
I asked Bob to take photos of the unblocked body.
Finally you will have URL to my photos in this thread not only my plain text.

http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/...rrent=PHMfinofino1700wpsicloseupHungaryTo.jpg

Why K2? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2?

Because I think you can find the toquilla Mount Everest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest in another FL thread.

Here:http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=9655&highlight=Arcantales

The making of those hats you can find in a third FL thread:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=20126

For anything else in matters of Montecristi I recommend PanamaBob.

Once the hat is blocked by Art Fawcett I will post also the blocked photos. You will find them at the Panama Canal.

 

[cookie]

Now Sharpetoys Knows Where the Original FDR Hat in his Anecdote Went

Sharpetoys riddle of the lost FDR Hat is now solved - it's gone to a nice new home - in the FDR Museum.

 

[tinmanzzz]

Tenzing Norgay

So you have found your sherpa Tenzing Norgay, I am Happy For You.
can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Panamabob]

Here we are measuring me for my first Montecristi.

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/990/PreviewComp/SuperStock_990-812.jpg

 

[RBH]

Here we are measuring me for my first Montecristi.

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/990/PreviewComp/SuperStock_990-812.jpg

Long oval, I see! lol

 

[Panamabob]

I did find the letter where one of them threatened a lawsuit and another about raising my prices up to standard. Maybe that is why they are so "nice" with me.

 

[HungaryTom]

Disclaimers

SORRY-JUST WANTED TO RE-EDIT (TRIM BACK) THIS POST AGAIN BUT I MESSED UP. THERE IS NOTHING NEW IN THIS POST THIS WAS JUST ACCIDENTALLY RE-LOCATED HERE.

HungaryTom received some PM, it is time to give some disclaimers.

Did HungaryTom receive a discount?

Yes.

Why?

HungaryTom ordered October 2006 when there was a 20% discount at www.panamas.biz. Discounts begun at 10% when Ecuador did perform well during the Soccer World Cup in 2006

Those buyers who could hold back some more - were even luckier. They could have 25% TWENTY FIVE percent by end of 2006. And that discounted from Bob's prices... Bob is really a terrible salesman.

Thereby HungaryTom paid some 8% EIGHT PERCENT of the price for his order if we take the superfino price from the other case study with the similar weave count: "a toquillo straw “thread” count of 1600 threads per square inch."

Is HungaryTom a shill of PanamaBob?
No. Indeed they had differences. Climbing K2 without oxygen mask did cost sometimes their nerves. Sometimes there were storms, sometimes artificial avalanches started by others. Some of that is documented in here. Verba volant scripta manent.

HungaryTom did not receive any bucks from others he weaved in here: the newspapers, the hat sellers, the historic people, the Pile weavers, the Incas, the Gringos, the Polynesians, the moon goddess Hina/Sina, fellow FL contributing loungers, and his kind visitors.

The only one who paid here was HungaryTom. With his time, money and trust. He had also his weak moments of doubts…

In the meantime HungaryTom did simply browse the internet and blog here: he was not bound by any strict literary forms. He re-edited his posts many times.

HungaryTom thinks that from all the involved parties the superfino comes the closest to perfection.

Superfino is a real myth. The produce of these lost Polynesian coastland weavers can 'unite' belligerent duos like 'Hirohito-FDR' see at FL/WW2 or ‘Harry Truman/Nikita Kruschev’ etc…

Anyway some day it even might happen that the banned group photo of Brent Black, Panamabob and Milton Johnson sporting their superb Montecristi will unearth here at FL.

They are also 'united' in their obsession for the Montecristi.

Casa Arcantales case? Yes, it was quite fun to weave some 'superfino' stories and people together and to become woven in here at FL.

Ah yes, the real life Mount Everest and K2 are perfect.

 

[Panamabob]

Oh, yes, Hungary Tom is not a shill. I hope the hat lives up to the hype!

 

[HungaryTom]

Paradox of multiple prices-an attempt to solve them

How is it possible that the same product -a blocked Montecristi- can fetch so many different prices?

Common-places help here a lot.
I have listed them with Numbers.

Nr. 1. Nothing is FREE – the price consits of sacrifice to a few other things besides money.

ARTS
• Representatives: weavers, finishers, blockers. They produce beauty. Which is very powerful. Nr.2. FL threads prove that too.
• Getting a palm turned into a superbly blocked beautiful hat is art. Each step must be respected and it is a sacrifice to be learned. There are lots of master hatters who work with felt bodies and even straw, but can’t turn Montecristi bodies to hats. Learning this rare skill is also sacrifice.
• Symbol of the arts genius: in this case the Montecristi

…&HUMANITIES
• I name only one representative here: the founder of the ’Lozuk collection’. That late missionary received a priceless toquilla hat body collection from the weaver community for ’FREE’. But that is naturally not true. He received them at that price-less price because of his SERVICE.
• Service is a part of Humanities. Nr. 3.
• The Genius of selfless service inspires: hat museums, photo documentary work, press campaigns, schools, volunteering, etc.
• Service is also very powerful. Nr. 4.Find examples at FL threads. Since I took a missionary as an example I stick to ’Don’t mess with the missionary man’. Therefore - hats down to any kind of service –whatever form it was -it is a service.
• Symbolized by the logos of the organizations and religions promoting and practicing service.

MONEY
• Represented in this case at best by the $$$$$ prices. 100% quantified and measurable. $$$$$: good thing, $$$: bad thing.
• It is also powerful.Nr. 5. Makes customer to a ’king’.Nr. 6. Please expect everything for your money. Expect instant delivery, expect instant gratification, expect luxury, expect psychology/psychiatry therapy-also quite expensive, expect show, expect caprices to be cheerfully swallowed by your seller. Machine block your seller.
• The more you need all that inclusive to be delivered to you besides a hat from your hatter - the higher the price climbs.
• Symbol of money? I assume no introduction is needed.

The quantified price depends on the sacrifice to those 3 powerful Geniuses. Nobody sacrifices to only one of those.
• High-priced hatters didn’t pay the high prices either for reasons: they have thrown in also lot of things besides their money (learning and practicing arts, they give also service – not only to ’discerning’ clientele. And it was not those small up-market hatter enterpises who did globalize the world and polarize its wealth since the 1949 Panama hat film was done in Montecristi. Some of them were even escaping from the gloriuos corporate world which did that Nr. 7. - it stands in of what they reveal from their CV.
• The $$$$$ prices are paid most probably by those who moved the world to this state where it is –polarization of wealth- Nr. 8.and whose authority is measurable in money. Their sacrifice to Arts and Humanities is higher in price since it is payable in their genius. Lots of money.
• Historical and famous toquilla wearers weren’t/aren't paying $$$$$ prices: they didn't achieve their position and fame with $$$$$ prices either.Nr. 9.

The $$$ hatters at last but not at least- dear 'discerning' clients, please focus here on the Montecristi only and respect their sacrifice to the Arts&Humanities. It is more difficult to do so from $$$ revenues than from $$$$-$$$$$.

Dear Winner of the $$$$ Montecristi raffle. Please read this post-I re-edited this extra for you

9 commonplaces in a single post-instead of 9 muses :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh:
Low oxygen levels at K2

 

[HungaryTom]

Panama hats die out again - and resurrect

http://hartfordyorkhats.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-your-authentic-montecristi-panama.html

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=192702007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Passengerpigeon.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alice_and_Dodo.gif

This was just rather a case study about the spreading of news: from primary sources to secondary sources to fora.

The articles are rather depressing - due to te fact that they were written in the dark winter of 2007.

Summer 2007 news from FL threads however are optimistic: Panama hats aren't on the verge of extinction, au contraire they seem to rise.
The sentence from the 1993 Cigar Aficionado article on Panamas came true, that each purchased hat generates another to be woven.

 

[HungaryTom]

Reign of quantity – and the master hatters

Here are two articles on master hatters I found. It is important to remember also them - those who turn the finished toquilla bodies into Montecristi hats. Themselves being a rare kind of people:
Vince Corvelli:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37832-2004Dec30.html
Gary White:
http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/10-97/10-05-97/e04li188.htm

Art Fawcett:
If anyone has articles, please post them inside/outside this thread.

You find the other master hatters (A-Z): Brent Black, Michael Harris, Milton Johnson, Trent Johnson, Grant Sergot, Graham Thompson on their webpages. The International list is even more vague (please help here) ?/Bel Y Cia, ?/Borsalino, Herr Franz Breiter in Munich, ? Chapellerie Brosson/Tolouse, ?/Pierre Degand Brussels, ?/Chapellerie Gelot&Motsch/Paris, ?????/???...Apologies for the other masters I did not mention here - I am really just browsing.
No worries for sellers of real Montecristi hats in the next 50+ years-rather for the buyers:

• Supply: 5000 hat bodies woven/year made by 200+ weavers now - how many will be there in 2050?
• Demand: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5732657/ 2050: “the population of developed countries would rise by 4 percent to over 1200 million” – minus the number of the poor in there w. + the wealthy/rich in the “rest” of the world. This is the THEORETICAL pool of potential Montecristi clientele.
• Season: there is an all-year Montecristi hat season: there is always summer somewhere in the world: either 365 days like in tropical arid climates or just for a few weeks – I envision there Sir David Attenborough wearing an Optimo talking about global warming in the polar summer - a media milestone. Other reason: people are optimistic – they hope to survive till next summer! Buying a summertime classic outside the season is by no means madness.
• Price: Buying a Montecristi is not a matter of wealth – people spend same/more on ephemera. It is a tasteful choice. We will see that 1000 USD gets at PHM a top quality specimen and even with high priced competitors a decent grade - where they make the most sales. Fellow loungers you earn your bucks all around the year and the price can be divided by 12. With PHM Montecristi the prices are anyway in the hundreds...That is not that much of an expense if you amortize it for 20+ years…
• Genders: I believe in Lady Montecristi buyers too! Dames seem to have it even more difficult in the field of Montecristi – models with wide brims take longer to be woven and most Montecristi are blocked to Fedoras/Optimos, etc. for gentlemen. Although the Montecristi would crown dames heads even more. In the Panama Hat Book there is placate Pour Dames et Messieurs – the world of taste seemed to be emancipated already AD 1900. Sina, the moon goddess – who brought the weaving technique and was the originator of this miracle, was also a lady!
• Common sense: e-bay is scanned for vintage specimens by expert hatters too – same easy for them but they spot gems easier than laymen. Other thing: inheritors of a promising toquilla consult yellow pages/internet to look up hatters or an auction house (which in return consults an established hatter). Either way they end up at the same small circle of established hatters, who block and deal vintage/new Montecristi. In other words: who would put something on sale at e-bay for $$ which he/she thinks is worth $$$$$? With all respect, I consider e-bay as an electronic flea market where anything is possible but the chance of getting a $$$$$ toquilla at $$ price without real knowledge - it is like winning the lottery.
• Source: – you are most safe in getting a REAL Montecristi where the hatter lives in Montecristi or regularly pilgrims there for purchasing.
• Economics of scale: 5000 bodies with variable quality from cottage industry… What interface/black box could convert that into industrial size output with standard and uniform norms on the other end of the pipeline? That amount of raw hat bodies would be most probably blocked&dressed in a hat factory within a week or so. What would they do in the remaining 51 weeks of the year? Rice paper hats?

Long story short – you will never find real Montecristi in malls or chain-stores. Also not with those well-known hatter companies which themselves started a few centuries ago as one-man-shows, still bearing the name of the founder…but got re-organized as large-scale manufactures producing in volumes that is designed to supply the international demand. They could deliver that original and sought after grade only if they would return to the basics: a workshop with some old fashioned master-hatters. If that is the case than no problem - if they just have the logo and the old image but the actual makers died out, no way*. It is tell-tale whether they offer factory visits - if you see there machinery or just the workshop of an artisan displayed on their catalogue. Hungarian comparison again: Vass shoe manufacture operates in Budapest – having similar problems with skilled workers, most of them are in their fifties and sixties and lack the manpower re-supply– young workers! Vass admitted in an article that they were posting an ad in a newspaper that a company seeks a cutter of shoe upper leathers - and 1 candidate came - a lady who went to retirement a few years earlier from his workshop.
• Montecristi master blocking is the domain of just a few master hatters in the USA – don’t know how many Montecristi blockers are there worldwide. Masterly blocking a Montecristi is a lengthy process, the finer the hat is the longer it takes – and good hatters have waiting list.
• So, the chance to get a fine Montecristi instantly custom blocked is close to zero.
• It is also not a sacrilege if one custom Montecristi hatter’s hats aren’t processed from A-Z by the hatter in person: that is how apprentices get trained. Apprentices do the basic jobs, later they get entrusted with more complex tasks. The master does the instruction, supervision, finish, adds the value and controls the production. The master needs to do also the non-hatting part of the business:acquiring clients, raw materials, doing some sales&marketing, logistics, etc. - which takes also time. Also: in the absence of an apprentice and in high seasons masters must rely on fellow masters, who deliver the same quality. It is not Vass Úr - a master of his trade - either who makes the 3000+ pairs of shoes leaving his workshop/yr but the crew of 25 workers. His name guarantees the quality.
• It would be really helpful if the few master hatters would not only commute to Ecuador for purchasing their raw material - finished toquilla bodies but at a certain point in time they should select and train their Ecuadorian successors – the pool of toquilla blockers with the proper attitude towards handwork is the largest there, so their competence and skills in toquilla master hatting won’t get lost! Nobody is prone to ageing – the continuation of the knowledge chain is important!

The listings of masters were not in the order of their talent, just really random. I did not list PanamaBob - since he is not blocking the Montecristi - he openly admits that, and redirects to the master hatters with whom he co-operates.

CORRECTION: I was wrong again. Getting a real Montecristi from a large scale hat manufacturer is also possible even if that company hasn’t got own master hatter artisans, just workers operating industrial machinery. How? By purchasing real hand blocked Montecristi hat bodies from a master hatter and RE-LABELLING the hat with the famous brand. Even that way is right and honourable business. The buyer gets 2 in 1: the brandname and a Montecristi– in the 500 wpsi range for example where PanamaBob told he gets his most commissions from hatters.
In that case you can even get Montecristi off the shelves - your head must match the ready-made.
Only incorrect thing is when the buyer pays Montecristi price just for a label and the denomination Montecristi.

 

[HungaryTom]

D?©j?° vu ‚Äì 12 times

No article this time - fftopic:

As a Hungarian thread starter I take the opportunity for another Hungarian parallel. While writing here I saw too many parallels, I decided to share them.
1. National pride: the Tokaji Aszu. Which most probably most of you have heard about of but much less of you have enjoyed it.
Pride of a small nation: in this case a dessert wine the other case a summer straw hat. Both nuances. Re the Tokaji there is more specific and correct info, from Wikipedia to Monographies - I give only a brief overview with emphasis on the parallels.
2. One town as the originator of the name: Tokaj- the name comes from Tugai, riverine forest in Turkish. An elder version -when the Hungarian were still accounted by Arab historians as ’Turks’. You find that word a lot in the Turkestan: from where we came as members of the horse-riding, arrow-shooting syndicate (1 theory). Maybe that is why our nobility and Hussar officers had panther furs as attire-remembering the top predator of that habitat thus the old roots? Tokaj is also the name of the flagship town – hiring its name to the provenience: a wine region with a few dozen winemaker smalltowns and villages- a couple in Slovakia, the overwhelming majority in Hungary.
3. Special provenance: Tokaj is a volcanic mountain located by a river; generating a special microclimate for the Bothrytis causing the phenomenon of the shrivelled berries in the Indian Summer which don’t rot but kinda get "noble rot" -and added to the normal grapes.
4. Dying out? Almost, but the grapes survived the Phylloxera disease in 1878-1889, medieval grape types disappeared and new resistent wine types got introduced. Luckily no traders operate nowadays with the Grimm styled fairy-tale of a few ole dying-out families…
5. Favourite of kings, etc. Aszu has a same rank among wines like the Montecristi toquilla among straw hats; both aren’t for everyday use; the finer they are the rarer they should be enjoyed. An Aszu takes min 3-5 years in oak barrels to leave for the market.
6. Tradition&history: written records begun also some 400+yrs ago but the winemaking tradition was also older. Lots of nations involved. Chronological list: Magyar, Polish, Scotch(!) -religious exilants in Poland, Greek, Armenian, Rusyn, Russian, German belonging to all religions. Nowadays added by Spanish, French. Traders, Investors, Winemakers, ’strangers’ meeting the legend, converting to fanatics and fighting in their own genial way for this case. Drank by emperors, tsars, kings, statesmen and a tool applied in diplomacy: „Vinum Regum Rex Vinorum”- the quote came ostensibly form Louis XIV.
7. Faded fame. Traditional Tokaji became old-fashioned and impractical. Glory days were in the 19th century until WW2 – this heavy dessert wine lost somewhat its image, in the age of light wine plus we seem to be also better in winemaking than marketing...
8. Museum quality: Aszu has also this; bottles can be enjoyed after centuries. Really. It happens in some winecellars in Tokaj. Habsburg collection has 200-400 years old bottles in Vienna. Some bottles from some year by a certain producer and a specific hill slope scored 100/100 on the wine spectators list.
9. Mass market misfit & safe sources: Aszu also chickens out in the mass market! There is simply not enough especially of the finest grades. To find those gems you really must pilgrim to Tokaj-to the producer or a specialist store. You don’t find them too much outside Hungary.
10. Grades: there is a fino, extrafino, superfino, fino fino: 3, 4, 5, 6 puttonyos than come Aszúeszencia and Eszencia also called Nectar- with the same age-old strict criteria (leftover non-metric measurement units) to get those latter denominations. Prices: 3-4-5-6 puttonyos follow linear functions but there is a point 6 puttonyos and upwards, especially the ’museum grades’ where they ’go crazy’ and change to the exponential growth.
11. Religious worship: Nectar is included in our National Anthem. It is more like honey than a wine - like a fino fino is more a hymn to that moon goddes than a straw hat. 2 strange nations praying to a noble rotten grape juice and to a vampire skin hat - much more strange wearers and drinkers.
12. Forging and the name: Naturally even great winemaker nations tried to forge and start up imitations that were also great wine- but we fought fierce fights against the misnomers. Déjá vu?

Moral of the story: "Tokaji wine was cause of the creation of the world's first appellation control, established in 1730"... APPELLATION CONTROL!!!! There is no hat grade police- but yes there should be a-p-p-e-l-l-a-t-i-o-n c-o-n-t-r-o-l, and grading standards and there should be fight against Cuencas misnamed as Montecristi! I never promote dogfights among HONEST Montercisti traders but measures against traders misnaming Cuencas or non-Ecuadorean toquillas as Montecristi.
’Panama hat’- maybe it is nonsense to erase this name – it has historical roots - Montecristi and Cuenca hats arrived both through the Isthmus of Panama to the World since centuries and became part of the the collective consciousness accordingly.
The Cuenca/Montecristi distinction and the grading of BOTH should be really taken seriously - it deserves that.

 

[HungaryTom]

Commercial AND standard denominations

There should be also a discussion with lawyers about the right of companies including the name of Montecristi and Panama since these two names came first not the recent companies. IMO it would make real sense to think about it.
'American' or 'Made in' -those words also can NOT be copyrighted property of some company either. What should the other jillions of companies do then?

There is a lot of complaints about platinum museum etc. grade names with Panama hats and that is all misleading.
This paradox can be easily resolved by also adding the standard measurement units. In this case the Vueltas and Weaves per square inch or square centimeters. Those measurement units are namely already there!
Museum quality: Denomination existent with commercially traded Tokaji too. The adjective ’muzeális’.

Premium product lines must be indicated somehow as the product is the pride of the respective seller, but the standard denomination (3-4-5-6 puttonyos etc.), MUST be also there!
With ’museum quality’ , 'platinum grade' the client knows that it is the respective seller's best quality.
But like in Classic Arts there are differences between museum and museum quality: Mona Lisa (the most famous picture, I think) and the painting of an artist in your smalltown. Both are ’museum quality’ and nobody has belied you whenyou have heard that.
No worries about platinum, etc. adjectives until sellers of Ecuadorian panama hats COMPULSORY indicate weavecounts (with the current accuracy of hundreds 300, 500, 700, 900, etc.) and vueltas also on their hats.
Sorry for this extra work proposed, maybe that industrial scanner is needed maybe not: an experienced eye can learn that grading by heart and if a discerning client wants to know exactly: anyone is free to count ALL weaves in her/his Panama at homelol .

 

[HungaryTom]

Panama hat fair

Sorry this morning was terribly brainstorming for me – there was a storm outside.

Was there EVER a Panama hat fair or EXPO? Where: in Ecuador! Quito, Cuenca, Guayaquil for example? With all Panama hat dealers and blockers of the world? Do you think it would be feasible? It would give a strong country marketing and also a concentrated media event to push the Panama hats and ALL merchants!
Like a wine championship! With categories: 300 wpsi category, 500 wpsi category fino fino, etc. Cuenca hats can also have fine grades: it could be demonstrated there. The side by side comparison between vendors would be easier there - in a noble competition.
I think each hatter could be represented there! This could develop a nice tradition for revival. Invite some 'Panama hattin' movie star as guests-I guess they would do that in return for some nice price Montecristi, etc...
Participant exhibitors wouldn’t be each others ’lovers’ they are competitors, but it would be a forum where some vague communications, etc. could begin in the direction of the ceasefire. Maybe also for settling some 'Cosa Nostra' for the REAL Panama hatters: cleaning the market, getting clear standards. Maybe some hatter companies having seemingly ’forgotten’ about Montecristi/Cuenca distinctions could be invited there to listen&learn. One of their representatives could get a free invitation.

Sorry for bothering you with also such kind of non-how beautiful is my hat? stuff...My great granddad was a rotaryan businessman, grandpa worked at the Chamber of Industry until it got dissolved after WW2. I worked in the Agricultural Chamber for a while - I saw there Hungarian quality winemakers -competitors- meeting each other consulting about chances on the mass market...

 

[HungaryTom]

Counterstrike & Comparison

Counterstrike & Comparison
I think it should be the Ecuadorian state not an NGO or a group of dealers who should implement the appelation control and the grading standards – the state has the most power and tools.
It was also the King of Hungary who implemented COMPULSORY standards of ’puttonyos’ (3-4-5-6 hods / á 25 kg of noble rotten berries added to 135 liters of grape) to get the denomination of Tokaji straightened.

This was not a matter of choice, like or dislike, but compulsory for everyone intending to deal with Tokaji. In return all dealers were free to use the name Tokaji (since it was true) on the Tokaji they merchandised. On the other hand the dealers of fake Tokaji face an inconvenient courtmarsh vs. the Hungarian state as opponent party even nowadays.

Misnamed Montecristi
misnamed non-Ecuadorean Jipijapa
misnamed non-toquilla straw hats and their dealers should face the same countermeasures.
There is no other way to fight against mass production – even Cuenca straw is NOT a junk- it is hand-woven!

C’mon Nigeria –an even poorer state- could also EFFECTIVELY fight against the Nigerian scam letter with an international media campaign besides other measures. And I think the Panama hat misnaming does similar damages for Ecuador.

***

Enthography comparison - just to know why Cuenca and Montecristi are top in straw.
I was praising and defending Panamas all the time as a member of a nation that itself has a tradition of weaving straw hats: Hungarian conscripts returning from their 7-8 yrs service in the opposite end of the Habsburg empire – Milano- imported the know-how of weaving ’Milan’ wheat straw hat in the 1750’s. Even folk songs tell about ’Majland’ and the sorrow of soldiers serving there far away from home.
We have plenty of wheat in Hungary they used to sow ’hat weaving’ wheat more densely so the straw got more thin and flexible than the ’ordinary’ wheat for bread. The best wheat for weaving came from Italy. Accounts in the early 1800’s tell about weaver villages where women’s hands and mouth never stops, and even men jumping in for weaving in the wintertime when there is not much to do on the fields. Believe or not here was also straw harvesting, straw washing, pummeling… Yes they also begun with the top of the hat, continued with the sides and finished with the brims. And believe or not they did bleach the ready hats with sulphur or painted with anilline pigments.

The hats were woven for 1-2 days in maximum – as rustic farmers hats. The straw making was also cottage industry here but some clever guys between 1880-1890 introduced cottage grade weaving machines weaving 40 hats/day. This ’mechanized’ production peaked in 1910 with 1 million straw hats/yr. Target: agricultural labourers in Central Eastern Europe.
Even now there are still some weaver villages left in east Hungary and some ethnic Hungarian poor villages of Transylvania. I think it is always in those lesser developed areas –far from industrialization- and human populations where such traditions die out at last. Those hats also have a museum (displaying the tools and machinery with some old straw etc.)

Weaver village where the weaving techniques were recorded: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hencida

Weave techniques:
http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02152/html/03/img/3-477.jpg
Fig. a) beginning inserting marked with arrow
a) thick weave (1,3 cm); b) medium grade (1 cm); c) thin weave (0,8 cm) overall thickness of the strands

http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02152/html/03/img/3-478.jpg
Five fold weaves – five strands: a) (1,7 cm); b) five strands(1 cm); c) six threads weave (1,2 cm)

http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02152/html/03/img/3-479.jpg
a) Sevenfold weave – 7 strands in thin weave (0,6 cm); b) sevenfold weave (0,9 cm); c) medium 1,2 cm); d) coarse weave(1,7 cm)

http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02152/html/03/img/3-480.jpg
Ninefold weaves- nine threads (0,8 cm); b) raster-type ninefold weave(2,2 cm); c) raster-type elevenfold weave-11 strands (2,2 cm)

Schematic depiction:
http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02115/html/img/2-716a.jpg

Wide brim model:
http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02115/html/img/4-541a.jpg

Farmer hat:
http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02115/html/img/4-541b.jpg

Straw hat-seller on the marketplace:
http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02115/html/img/4-541d.jpg


VERY NICE BUT Pallas lexicon of Hungary 1930 mentions toquilla palm as far superior to wheat straw. There is always hierarchy which one should respect – either you stand on the top (Montecristi, Nectar) or just somewhere on the ladder (these wheat straw). So we never thought of copyrighting those hats, but Ecuador should think about copyrighting their straw hats - being first class in something means also obligations!

 

[HungaryTom]

Miscellaneous

Panama hat company showroom in Arizona
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/136997

French Panama hatter
http://www.createdinfrance.com/pages/companie.asp?ref=28

It was just too hot again: 40 Celsius. That is about as hot as what paja toquilla needs. I just figured that I could plant some Carludovica palmata in my garden from the Botanical gardens greenhouse and consult some weavers from the Hungarian villages to begin with ’Pannonia’ toquilla straw hats.
Seriously: real humid tropical climates and fertile soils are also abundantly available in Asia, where they could plant Carludovica palmata (Hainan? Vietnam? Java? etc.) and where is alive tradition of straw hat weaving and where are many-many disciplined artisans in need of making money with flink hands. We have the Hopp Ferenc East Asia Museum in Budapest with MUSEUM QUALITY ARTWORK from Asia - you don't see there 2 dollars sportswear replicas . I think not only 2 Frenchmen could learn this weaving in 3 months besides a masterweaver in Ecuador!

So therefore please position/copyright/whatever all Panama hats Made in Ecuador before its too late.

I sincerely hope that some Ecuadorian state officer finally takes action in that direction of appellation control. Hevea brasiliensis was exported the same way to Malaya and the guys knew to process it there as well.
Why a state officer: the ’invisible hand on the market’ will NEVER do the regulation - I never believed in that dogma. You see the 'deregulated' and 'free' market conditions and ’methods’ which competitors apply with the toquilla: check the threads Panama hat information plus see PanamaBob's post in this thread where he wrote about threatenings with lawsuits from his competitor due to his pricing policy.
I can't imagine the mentioned Montecristi competitors uniting but they would all introduce standard denominations if that was compulsory. PanamaBob does it anyway on his commercial website-he is a natural. Dorfzaun and Ortega (Cuenca focussers with Montecristi output) don't like each other either I just read that. I am not a freak of STATE POWER but sometimes you must use it vs. perfect chaos[huh] .

The standardization of gradings and appellation control MUST come because I think Panama hats are really in revival (articles multiply on that topic)- this might raise interest also on the other shore of the Pacific – from where the weavers came: Asia and Asia-Polynesia! And I dont want to see the Undercut by China prophecy come true...

If it comes true there will be most probably all grades/weaves up to 400-500 wpsi toquilla hats, which can be easily done by trained workers and which seems to be MOST sought after by hatters as well. Businessmen from Asia have also the sample hats, can watch the videos and can also travel to Montecristi or Cuenca and get some weavers, finishers there to train their Asian successor toquilla weavers, finishers etc. At least the toquilla hats will not die out: that will be a well-organized industry with outputs, damn sure! Chinese will undercut toquillas with toquillas not with rice paper hats. Their silk and porcelain know-how was also taken at some point in time by the rest of the world so they don't have problems with taking others know-how nowadays either.
And again, the quality toquilla niche market players will survive in Ecuador.

 

[HungaryTom]

Jipijapa hats?

What is your opinion on these hats?

Has anyone seen them / come across them - they seem to be woven from the same plant family as the Montecristi and Cuenca.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jipijapa

Jipijapa may refer to:

Cyclanthaceae, a palm tree

Articles:
http://www.mayadiscovery.com/ing/handicrafts/default.htm

See there 'The Sombrero Capital'

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/vi_17942.html

http://www.visitcancun.com/handicrafts.htm

http://www.sinequanon.it/site/article.php?ID=1882&l=

60+ - 70+ years old diligent weavers, in this case Maya, 12+ hours/day weaving, price ratios 150 USD at weaver vs 3000 USD at shops? ....Hm, quite familiar, but at least not 30K...

Is there a reason that none of the Montecristi hatters (dealing with fine toquilla) are interested in these hats? Why should they hide them if they are of similar quality? Or have we found a new Eden?

I know this is also a 'secondary' weaving culture but 'imitations' can be sometimes quite good.

 

[Panamabob]

Jipijapa, or Xixijapa, is a city down the road from Montecristi on the way to Guayaquil. There haven't been hats woven there in ages.

The Becal hats that I've seen were not very good.

They weave some very nice hats in the Piura Department in Peru. I'll try to get one up so that you can see the difference. They start the center of the hat out differently than in Montecristi, but if you look at the hats side by side, they are very similar.

 

[cookie]

That would be good Bob (eg Peru). I went to Yucatan in 1981 and some guy sold me a straw hat in the plaza in Merida which I needed at the time. Years later in the Community Aid abroad shops I bought another but they have no hat band and they were quite heavy. I gave mine to a friend[huh] .

 

[HungaryTom]

Tom Miller -A.D. 2000

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_5_109/ai_62685107

Moral of the story:

Hat pilgrimage to Pile already happened:
there were Montecristi fino aficionados who did actually pilgrim to Pile just to meet Jose Raul Alarcon, a master weaver - there are enough obsessed people who take this topic dead serious!

Their soul mates without knowledge of www.panamas.biz commissioned grade and with a lots of money are the possible target group for those high-priced panamas.