AOL.com Video - The Origins of Panama Hats

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The Origins of Panama Hats

Description:Panama hats have made the leap from the heads of Hollywood icons and intrepid jungle explorers to the fashionable masses of Europe and the United States. The indigenous people of Ecuador have been weaving hats for hundreds of years. Today, making the hats is a major industry in the Andean city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Weavers in poor mountain communities weave the hats by hand, then sell them to middlemen, the hats for which the weavers were paid between $2.50 and $6 sell for more than $50. (3:57)

Source: globalpost

Tags: The Origins of Panama Hats , Ecuador hats , Ecuador industry , Globalpost