JOURNAL - ECUADOR
Our highest quality straw hats are made from toquilla straw, handwoven by paja toquilla artisans in the Ecuadorian highlands. Toquilla straw is grown close to the coast and transported to the high elevation in the Andean mountains. Local weavers living in these highland villages have passed down handweaving skills for generations.
After a decade of building a relationship with a local family business that produces our hat bodies, I traveled to Ecuador to visit the workshop and meet the weavers.
I spent a week in Ecuador visiting the family run workshop and traveling up to the southern Andean highlands to the villages where the straw is dried and woven.
The family-run business that we partner with isn't the only hat business in the area, but it's the most established. Over the years, the family has developed a specialized network of relationships and has gained insight into the craft, the raw materials, and finished panama straw hats. They commission specific families of weavers specializing in each unique hat style and employ local, highly skilled craftspeople to process the straw hat bodies in their wprkshop.
Starting our journey from this small city in the mountains, we needed a 4 Runner to reach the remote villages closer to the peaks. After arriving at one family’s house, our hosts took us up a winding trail that led to the top of their sacred mountain.
The women hiked in traditional clothing and pointed out medicinal plants while telling us more about their lives along the way. At the top, they showed us magnificent views and the ancient Incan stone placed there hundreds of years ago. It is clear that this place is of great significance to our hosts, and following up the mountain brought their interconnected relationship with nature to life.
Before leaving the village, we shared snacks and juice from fruit grown on their land. The weavers invited us to take photos of their families to share their culture, honor their craft, and help tell their stories.