The History of Toquilla Straw Hats: From the Andes to the World

Ancient Origins

Long before Europeans arrived in the Americas, indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian coast were weaving hats and baskets from the leaves of the Carludovica palmata plant — what we now call the toquilla palm. Archaeological evidence and Spanish colonial accounts confirm that weaving was a sophisticated and well-established craft in the Manabí region of Ecuador by the early 16th century.

The Spanish chronicler Girolamo Benzoni, writing in 1565, described native Ecuadorians wearing beautifully woven straw hats. These early hats were not yet the refined objects we know today, but the fundamental technique — weaving softened toquilla fibres into a circular pattern — was already established.

From Local Craft to Export Industry: The 17th–19th Centuries

As Spanish colonial trade routes expanded through South America, Ecuadorian woven hats began reaching larger markets. By the 17th century, organised hat production centres had emerged in the town of Montecristi, in the Manabí province, and in Cuenca in the Azuay region. These two towns remain the most famous centres of Panama hat production to this day.

In the early 19th century, a Colombian trader named Manuel Alfaro established one of the first significant export operations, shipping toquilla straw hats from Ecuador through Panama City — which was then the major transit hub for goods moving between South America and the rest of the world. This is the route that gave the hat its misleading name: hats sold in Panama were assumed by buyers to be from Panama.

The Panama Canal Era: An Icon Is Born

The hat’s global fame surged during two major construction projects. First, during the French attempt to build a canal across Panama in the 1880s, tens of thousands of workers flooded the isthmus — and many wore lightweight Ecuadorian toquilla hats ideal for tropical conditions. Then, when the United States completed the canal in the early 1900s, photographs of President Theodore Roosevelt visiting the construction site in 1906 showed him wearing one of these hats. The image was published worldwide. The “Panama hat” became an international sensation.

Hollywood, High Society, and the 20th Century

Through the 1920s to 1960s, Panama hats were ubiquitous symbols of sophistication. Winston Churchill, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, and countless European royals were photographed in them. The hat became shorthand for a certain kind of sun-drenched elegance — the well-travelled gentleman at leisure.

UNESCO Recognition: 2012

In 2012, UNESCO inscribed the traditional weaving of Ecuadorian toquilla straw hats onto its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This recognition acknowledged not just the hat itself, but the entire cultural ecosystem around it — the knowledge of how to select and prepare the fibres, the weaving techniques passed from generation to generation, and the communities in Manabí and Azuay where the craft remains alive.

The Craft Today

Today, master weavers in Ecuador continue to produce toquilla straw hats using techniques that are centuries old. The finest Montecristi hats are woven by a small number of highly skilled artisans — some with decades of experience. Each hat is a unique object, carrying within its weave the knowledge and patience of its maker.

At Arte Andino, we work directly with these weavers, ensuring that every hat we sell represents this living heritage — and that the artisans who create them are fairly compensated for their extraordinary skill.