In the whole village people live from working on the Paja Toquilla. In this region we started to develop a project to reactivate the hat production.

Further information of the project

Only the unfolded shoots are used.
First the shoots are split in finer leafs with help of a metal point. The leafs that are too soft are seperated and later used to cover houses.

Then the leaves are cooked for about 20 minutes in hot water...

...and then hung up to dry. During this process they roll up vertically and form weavable strings. The leaves have to be shaken regularly to avoid that they stick together.

Then the fibres are seperated from each other and moistened before being woven into a hat, with help of a wooden form to get the right head size.

Especially the beginning of the weaving in one point and the finishing on the outside of the wing needs skill and experience.

For a hat of standard quality a weaver needs about 8 hours, for fine Montecristi Quality up to several weeks, using only the finest fibres.

The further process is made in the hat manufacturies in Cuenca: the hats are bleached, dried and steam formed. The next step is made in our warehouse in Guayaquil, where the hats get their finish: outside and inside band, ribbons, tags, labels. And finally the hats are packed in boxes and shiped by plane into the whole world!