SIENNA BRISA PANAMA BY OLNEY HEADWEAR

PRODUCT INFO

This is a genuine panama, hand-woven in Ecuador for Olney Headwear. Inside it sports the label, 'The Genuine Panama'. The Sienna Brisa panama is of a very fine weave, and is incredibly light - so light in fact you would hardly know you were wearing it! It is of the same fine weave as our folding panama brisa (SM68), but is of a similar shape to our traditional Wide Brim panama (SM1), the result being a panama hat with a classic shape that is incredibly soft and flexible on the crown.

- 100% Paja Torquilla Fibre

- Made in Ecuador

- Sizes UK 6 3/4in - 7 3/4in / 55cm - 63cm

- 3in / 76mm brim

Olney Headwear have long been recognised as one of the strongest British heritage manufacturers, making and supplying the finest quality headwear for a century. The company was established in 1910 by Albert E. Olney in Luton, England and are still there to this day - now run by the fourth generation of the Olney family who continue a long tradition of manufacturing and distributing the finest quality British hats.

HISTORY

To be classed as a genuine panama the panama hat must have been hand-made in Ecuador from the fibres of the torquilla plant (Carludovica palmata). However, it is the name of the location of the hat's first point of sale, and not the name of the domestic origin of the hat, that is in most common usage today. The panama hat is, however, also known as the Jipijapa, named after the village in Ecuador that was once the centre of the hat trade. Nowadays, many of the panamas come from the Manabi and Azuay districts as well as from such renowned hatting towns as Biblian and Montecristi.

The panama hat has been worn for centuries; its beginnings being traced back as far as the Incas in the 16th Century who were the first to use the plaited leaves of the torquilla straw plant to make hats. However, it was not until much later that the panama achieved its current international popularity and iconic status.

The panama hat was exported from Ecuador via the Isthmus of Panama as early as the mid-eighteenth century by gold miners of the region. Over the next one hundred years the panama canal was under construction, and the elegant Ecuadorian hats were in ready supply and so were used by the workers as a simple protection against the hot sun. The popularity and recognition of the panama hat increased exponentially when, in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt inspected the canal having donned the same item of head wear for the occasion. At about the same time, panama hats found their way en masse into the United States. During the American-Spanish war of 1898, the US government ordered 50,000, sombrero de paja torquilla (hats of the torquilla plant), for their troops heading for the Caribbean.

Famous wearers of the panama hat include Napoleon III of France who received one in 1855 at the World Exhibition in Paris. Prince Edward VII famously requested of his Bond Street hatter, the, 'finest panama available'. More recently the panama has been adopted by several actors; Johnny Depp, Paul Henreid, Victor Lazlo and Charlie Chan to name but a few.

SIZING GUIDE FOR THE PANAMA BRISA BY OLNEY HEADWEAR

UK 6 3/4in / Europe / Japan 55cm / USA 6 7/8in / Inches 21 5/8in

UK 6 7/8in / Europe / Japan 56cm / USA 7in / Inches 22in

UK 7in / Europe / Japan 57cm / USA 7 1/8in / Inches 22 1/2in

UK 7 1/8in / Europe / Japan 58cm / USA 7 1/4in / Inches 22 7/8in

UK 7 1/4in / Europe / Japan 59cm / USA 7 3/8in / Inches 23 1/4in

UK 7 3/8in / Europe / Japan 60cm / USA 7 1/2in / Inches 23 5/8in

UK 7 1/2in / Europe / Japan 61cm / USA 7 5/8in / Inches 24in

UK 7 5/8in / Europe / Japan 62cm / USA 7 3/4in / Inches 241/2in

UK 7 3/4in / Europe / Japan 63cm / USA 7 7/8in / Inches 24 7/8in

DELIVERY

This is a stock item which we will endeavour to have dispatched for you on the day of purchase

UK 1^st Class - 4.95

UK Special Delivery (Next Day) - 6.95

EU and Worldwide (International Signed For) - 9.90

OUR GUARANTEE TO YOU

Our guarantee to you is to apply the exact same standard of excellent customer service to our customers now we are online, as we did for the twenty five years operating offline. This includes a steady and responsive after sales service for any issues that may arise with you in the months ahead.

RETURNS