# Care and Feeding of a Panama Hat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889 "2004-04-30T19:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889/1 "2004-04-30T19:27:23Z")
I joined this fabulous board because I really do have some questions I need answered. I know there are some hat people on the board (or were), so here goes. I am pulling my (Ecuadoran) Panama Hat out of the box for its third season. Panama hats, good ones, not cheap straw hats from tourist shops often called “Panama” are made in Ecuador. I suppose someone knows why they aren’t Ecuador hats - I think the story has something to do with Teddy Roosevelt, but I can’t remember. The hat is not a top-top-top of the line $900 straw hat - i think I got it through a job lot discounter - but it is still a mighty-fine hat, and I’ve missed it all winter. (Winter-HAH! I live in So-Cal 😛 , still…) I want to block the brim a little. When I first pulled it out of the box new, the brim was a little off-kilter floppy from shipping, and I straightened it with a low steam iron and made it look beautiful. Two seasons later, the brim has a little too much curl and asymmetry from the heat and perspiration, so I’m planning to do that again. But I’m wondering. I thought, just maybe, if I hit the underside of the brim with a little spray sizing (starch) I can get a crisper snap to the brim, that was starting to go missing last season. And there is my question: Will it help at all, and more importantly, is there any reason I should NOT do this? Like I said, it’s a mighty-fine hat and I REALLY don’t want to hurt it. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889/2 "2004-04-30T19:41:31Z")
First off, I know nothing of hats, but I didn’t want your thread to die…I’m kinda curious. Do you think there’s possibly a specialist in Hollywood (what, with all the costumes and rich folk) that could either answer the question, or possibly do this for you? Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889/3 "2004-04-30T19:45:52Z")
There is a place in Burbank does hats for the movies - nice place, but I don’t usually shop there - he’s kind of expensive. He’d sell a hat like this one for $1200 - really :eek: I was hoping to get some conversation on the subject on the board here. ---
**Author:** ![octothorpe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@octothorpe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octothorpe)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889/4 "2004-04-30T22:01:29Z")
**Backwater Under\_Duck** , Actually, using an iron is not too bad an idea (although i’d forego the starch or sizing) as that is how handmade hats are _flanged_ (not to be confused with _blocking_ which shapes the crown and main body of the hat). In _flanging_, a hat is placed upside-down on a form that looks like a childs toilet seat, a towel is placed over the brim and the hatmaker irons the brim. Unless you have a $250 hat, you can accomplish the same thing if you can find something like an old bedpan for a form. If you do have an expensive hat, you can pick up an ‘_El Cheapo_’ for about $40 to practice on. If you do have that $500 chapeau, there are places that will block and/or flange your hat for you, but i couldn’t even hazard a guess as to the cost. For a bit more info visit [The Panama Hats Home Page](http://www.brentblack.com) # ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889/5 "2004-04-30T22:37:59Z")
Yes I did mean flanging, not blocking. The first time I did it, I turned the brim down all the way and used the narrow, round edge of an ironing board to shape it evenly. It then snapped back into the proper fedora shape. Your link is interesting. I’ve been there before. I still would like someone to come up with why “Ecuadoran” hats became “Panama” hats. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/care-and-feeding-of-a-panama-hat/242889/6 "2004-04-30T23:11:18Z")
> [@Backwater Under\_Duck](#): > > … > I still would like someone to come up with why “Ecuadoran” hats became “Panama” hats. Workers on the Panama Canal wore them: > [@](#): > > The Panama hat has been worn for centuries with its origins being traced back as far as the 16th Century when the Incas were the first to use the Toquilla plant to produce hats. The hat in fact only became known as the Panama when over a century ago the workers involved in the construction of the Panama Canal used the elegant fibre hats as protection against the burning sun. From [http://www.thehatsite.com/panama.html](http://www.thehatsite.com/panama.html)