MonPanama

Buying a MonPanama is more than shopping for a stylish hat with luxury craftsmanship. It is a retail therapy experience with a difference. It’s part history lesson, part style consultation, and part choosing a new travel companion for future adventures!

The more you discover about MonPanama hats the more you know that your new best hat will be adored and cherished until old and battered.

Before I go on too much further perhaps I should show you the new beauty on my hat stand. Drumroll please, introducing my new MonPanama Classic Fedora hat. Handcrafted in Ecuador and super stylish, I could not be happier!

I joined MonPanama founder Anne-Claude (Annie) at her showroom to try on a table full of hats and learn a little more about how she set up the business and why everyone loves a MonPanama hat.

Annie tells me that the attraction of a Panama hat is the travel back-in-time appeal these classic straw hats from Ecuador evoke.  Did you know that the Panama hat comes from Ecuador? Me neither.

MonPanama – the Story

Annie loves the romance of yesteryear. She grew up enjoying movies of a bygone era together with her Grandmother. Fast forward to her marriage to her Ecuadorian husband, and it seemed her destiny to create a Panama hat business from her Bangkok home.

Monpanama founder Anne-Claude (Annie)

The history of the Panama Hat 

If you think of famous hats around the world, you might come up with a Top Hat, Bowler Hat or maybe you think of Jackie Kennedy’s Pillbox.  But it won’t be long before someone mentions Theodore Roosevelt in his white linen suit and Panama hat at the construction site of the Panama Canal. Annie tells me that the misnomer of the Panama hat is from this time when the popular hats were exported onto boats via the Panama Canal.

Panama hats are straw sunhats originally worn by farmers and made from toquilla palm found in the jungles of Ecuador next to the Pacific Ocean.

From legendary politicians, the Panama hat became synonymous with movie stars and exotic travel. It is perfect for the tropics. Light and cool in more ways than one, and excellent in Thailand’s searing heat.

Monpanama Weavers

Annie’s face lights up when she describes the small community of weavers that craft her hats in the villages of Ecuador. The villagers collect, wash and dry the fibers and sell them to the weavers. The dexterity of the weavers is world-renowned, the tighter the weave the more premium the product.

You can see more and travel on a virtual trip to Ecuador via MonPanama’s YouTube of their production process below.

The MonPanama range

As MonPanama’s business grew and developed, Annie’s creative mind saw an opportunity to develop her product range further in collaboration with Thai artisans. Nowadays high-end bags and accessories complement the Panama hats. This includes exquisite handbags made from Thailand’s water hyacinths harvested in Nakhon Pathom.

Each Monpanama hat or bag is a triumph of workmanship and a culmination of the work of many skilled artisans.  Every hand-crafted hat starts in the toquilla plantations and is handed from farmer to weaver to milliner. Each is hand stamped with the MonPanama stamp of authenticity and is shipped to Thailand with a distinctive coloured ribbon band of the buyer’s choice. Every element of the MonPanama range has been sourced by Annie to be of the highest quality.

She can be rightly proud of her business and the way it supports farmers and artisans in both Ecuador and Thailand.

Why you need a MonPanama hat!

MonPanama hats are found in some of Southeast Asia’s most elegant hotel boutiques, from Raffles Cambodia or the Park Hyatt Maldives to Amanpuri Thailand. They are sold in a distinctive box to discerning customers with an eye for quality.

In recent years, Annie has also opened her warehouse to the public keen to buy directly. I reckon everyone who holidays in Bangkok should schedule an appointment at MonPanama for their perfect holiday hat.

For those who need help choosing a Panama hat, Annie can assist. She has the knack for asking the right questions and finding your perfect hat. She has a range of colours, brim sizes, or maybe you’re after a hat that can be folded? Whilst she never envisaged her business developing for direct sales, you can tell Annie enjoys this interaction.

I’m an indecisive customer, as I love them all. I’m undecided about upgrading my battered brown Thailand hat or going for the lighter colour. In the end, I opt for the Classic Fedora with a black band.

Why splurge on a MonPanama hat?

The beauty of owning a Mon Panama hat is in authentic luxury craftsmanship. Every hand-woven hat is different. I have a variety of hats, and I know that the cheap plastic/polyester hats that you might pick up for a few baht at a local market will also leave you sweaty and lack the style of a genuine Panama hat.

Once you learn a little about the production process, you can appreciate how artisanal products are never rushed. Each hat has been hand-made, the process relying on the skill of the workers and at the mercy of nature. Rain can delay the product, as Annie’s weavers dry the fibres in the mid-day sun.

What I am going to love most about my new MonPanama hat is that it will develop its own character as we travel together. A major part of the charm of the Panama hat is its durability. People form such attachments to their Panama hats that they continue wearing them even when they are a tad worn-looking. I just love the fact that these hats were originally made for the farmers in Ecuador; they can look good on everybody!

My MonPanama hat and I at The Blue Elephant restaurant Phuket Town, Thailand

Choose your hat wisely!

You and your hat will be travelling together and having adventures. I already know my new MonPanama hat will accompany me whenever I want to dress to impress. It’s perfect for a luxury hotel stay, and you can wear it at any time of the day, out to lunch, or beside the swimming pool.

My big travel dream is for my MonPanama hat and me to go on an African safari. But first, the hat and I will travel home to Australia. I am excited at the thought of wearing it to the Australian Open tennis, on my Bunker Bay, Western Australia trip, and so much more.

At ease with my Monpanama hat, The Chava Resort, Phuket

Have hat will travel!

I love hats! Little Wandering Wren owns quite a few, and each one has a story. Hats are wonderful; they protect my ever-fading English rose complexion, and I never need to worry about my hair! My MonPanama hat is in a league of its own. I hope the zebras in Tanzania on the safari of my dreams will be as impressed as I am!

The Details

Disclosure: Little Wandering Wren was thrilled to be gifted a MonPanama hat. All opinions are my own.

Monpanama Betty Pants from the Monpanama Collection were perfect for my following Thailand wanders:

• Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand I Love Phants Lodge eco-inspired stay. 
• Weekend wanders the scenic express train 43 Bangkok to Hua Hin a complete guide.