Panama hats are actually made an Ecuador.
Here people call them sombreros de paja toquilla.
They're handwoven from straw.
It takes an entire day for a weaver to make one
in exchange for just $5.
The tedious trade has been the main source of income
in this small Ecuadorian village in the Andes
for over 100 years.
But now, the money isn't enough to sustain these weavers
as the cost of living has gone up.
Many are losing interest in the craft
and leaving the country to find more lucrative work.
We visited the Weavers Association of Puzhio
to see how one dwindling group of artisans
is fighting for their livelihoods and still standing.
Angelita Espinoza learned how to weave hats
at 6 years old.
She starts by stripping down the straw
harvested from the toquilla palm plant.
Angelita keeps the straw wet so it doesn't crack
and uses her fingernails to split each piece one by one.
She spends anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes
on this part of the process,
going through seven stalks for one hat.
Then it's time to weave.
Each artisan crafts a hat from start to finish
to keep the stitching even.
Weavers sell the hats unfinished to exporters.
They get $5 for a thick straw hat that's made in a day.
Finer straw hats sell for about four times more,
but since those take around five days to make,
they bring down their average income to $4 a day.
To try and turn a bigger profit,
other workers at the association, like Ramiro Guzmán,
finish some hats in-house.
He tightens the stitches ...
... and then trims the excess straw.
Spreading glue onto the hat gives it its flexibility.
Panama hats are known to be malleable and durable.
After molding and ironing,
machines take over to press the hat into its final shape.
The signature black band is the finishing touch.
Panama hats have been around for centuries.
Indigenous people in South America were weaving hats
long before the Spaniards arrived in the 1500s.
They weren't popularized overseas until the 19th century,
when they started getting shipped
and worn across the Panama Canal.
That's when the name panama hat caught on.
The hats went on to become a high-end fashion accessory
throughout the US and Europe.
Today, the craft is recognized by UNESCO,
and the hats are worn daily by locals across Ecuador.
An authentic panama hat sold online
in the US and Europe goes for over $50,
but the weavers association sells a hat in Puzhio for $14.
Most of the profit goes to the finishing process,
leaving weavers with barely enough to pay the bills.
Angelita now spends more time tending to her small farm,
selling tomatoes as her main source of income.
Weaving and agriculture have been the mainstays
of the Puzhio economy for around 150 years.
But with higher costs of living today,
they're no longer sustainable.
And this way of life doesn't appeal to younger generations.
The weavers themselves are abandoning the craft, too.
Many have left the country in search of a better life,
and some switched to agriculture and other work.
The association started out with 124 weavers back in 2005,
but now just 25 remain.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse.
30 miles west of Puzhio, Juan José Paredes
has seen a significant drop in visitors
at his toquilla hat museum in Cuenca,
a city known for its straw hats.
He sells a range of hats, all made by artisans
in rural villages across the country.
But falling demand means less work for those weavers.
Juan believes the key to preserving the craft
is getting young Ecuadorians to feel connected to it.
Angelita hopes to bring more weavers
into the association in the future,
and above all, share the story of the original panama hat
with people around the world.