The hobby of wearing straw hats of rich Vietnamese people

In the luggage of Quyen Tran, 50 years old in Ho Chi Minh City, when traveling to Quy Nhon at the end of August, a Panama straw hat is indispensable. She uses it to coordinate with all kinds of outfits, from maxi dresses to bikinis. In business meetings, signings or luxurious parties, the woman still does not leave the hat. "There is rarely an item as versatile as this straw hat. I became addicted to it the first time I used it," Quyen shared.

Although she is a famous brand-name fan, Ms. Quyen only knew about this type of hat two years ago. Excited because it is light and cool to wear, she started to learn about the history of the hat and started to go crazy about it. So far, she has collected 6 hats, of which 2 are woven with her name, priced at about 350 million VND. The remaining 4 are in different designs to be able to coordinate with many outfits, priced from 8 to 18 million VND respectively.

In Hanoi, Tran Cong Thanh, chairman of two telecommunications and media companies, considers hats an “identity” for himself. He has a collection of dozens, including the most expensive handmade straw hats.

Mr. Dinh Minh, the owner of a famous food chain, said he uses this hat on every occasion in his daily life because of its convenience and elegance. Although he is not as crazy about it as other hobbies, he still has 4 hats.

Panama hats are usually white hats made from the paja toquilla palm tree in Ecuador. Hat weaving has been a small-scale industry in this South American country since the 16th century. The most famous are those from the town of Montecristi (Manabi province), which began to be favored by the European aristocracy from the late 18th century.

However, the popularity and name "Panama hat" was born during the 19th century gold rush, when it was sold in the Isthmus of Panama - a busy trading point in the Americas before the Panama Canal was built. In 1906, a photo of US President Theodore Roosevelt wearing this hat during a tour of the construction of the Panama Canal appeared on the front page of the newspaper.New York Times,The name Panama hat goes down in history.

The image of actors in famous films such as Paul Henreid and Sydney Greenstreet (Casablanca); Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind) or Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)..., the morecontributing to raising the class of these straw hats.

Former pilot Tran Hai Dong (Hanoi), considered to have the most expensive Panama hat collection in Vietnam, said he fell in love with straw hats when he was a student in France. He bought many luxury branded hats, but at that time he still couldn't find the best ones.

In 2018, he joined a cigar club. On the box of Arturo Fuente brand, there was a picture of a father and son smoking and wearing Panama hats, and he was immediately attracted. Dong made friends with Carlito Fuente, the son of the cigar brand owner. Through this person, he gained knowledge and was connected with hat makers in Ecuador.

According to Ecuadorian artisans, a high-quality hat can take anywhere from three months to a year to complete, the entire process is done by hand. Besides the smoothness, the important criterion for assessing the value of a hat is the number of stitches per inch (2.5 cm). The more dense the stitches, the smaller the yarn, the more meticulous and the effort multiplied.

Specifically, the cheapest type of hat has 11-12 stitches, starting at around tens of millions of dong, and is usually made by beginners. The types with 23-24 stitches or more require skilled workers, and can cost from tens to hundreds of millions of dong. The highest quality type has more than 50 stitches per inch, and the sedge fiber is just a little thicker than a strand of hair, and costs billions of dong.

Mr. Dong waited three months to receive his first pair of hats. Holding in his hands the smooth, fishbone-woven hat, with thousands of stitches as one, using no thread but a locking technique using sedge fibers, he "couldn't understand how it was made so beautifully."

He now owns dozens of hats. His favorite hat has his name on it, has 17-18 stitches, and is worth 84 million VND. He also has a hat with 59 stitches, higher than the world record of 57 stitches, completed by artisan Simon Espinal in 2013. This hat sold for 25,000 USD at that time.

From his passion, Mr. Dong started importing Panama hats to serve the rich in Vietnam. Without revealing the monthly sales figures, Mr. Dong said that up to now, a Panama hat community has formed in Vietnam. They are usually businessmen, artists, and celebrities. The rate of returning to buy is over 65%, the rate of buying more than twice is 27%. The number of people using custom-made hats worth hundreds of millions is quite common, there are also hats worth billions of dong.

Chung Pham, owner of a men's fashion shop in Hanoi, added that the Panama hat hobby started to take shape in Vietnam about three years ago. The available hats at his shop are in the segment of 6 to 20 million VND. Higher-end products usually have to be ordered. His shop has ordered many hats with over 30 stitches, priced at over 100 million VND.

Last month, a customer in Nam Dinh ordered five, four of which were in different styles and were available from the store. The fifth had 34-35 stitches and was certified by the artisan. “Only high-end products have artisan certification,” Chung said.

Both Chung and Dong noted that straw hats are woven from all over the world. Many places in China also make Panama-style hats. Players need to find a professional dealer if they want to buy a genuine one.

Many people may think that spending tens of millions on a straw hat is a waste, but according to those who have used it, this handmade hat is the perfect addition to an outfit. Besides, they also use it because they cherish this type of hat that is more than 600 years old, which is increasingly fading due to the siege of modern weaving technology, while the effort involved is great.

"The value of a hat is not necessarily its origin, but rather its labor and art," said Ms. Quyen Tran.

Right after the trip, Ms. Quyen ordered 3 more Panama hats for her trip to the US in the middle of this month as gifts for her daughters on Thanksgiving this year.