Ecua-Andino Hats Ecua-Andino Hats Ecua-Andino Hats is an Ecuadorian company founded in 1985 by Alejandro Lecaro and Édgar Sánchez. The brand is dedicated to the production and exportation of Panama hats. It is one of the most important companies producing finished Panama hats in Ecuador. In 1985, Édgar Sánchez and Alejandro Lecaro started to sell local crafts, initially to tourists on the beach, and then from a small shop in the center of Guayaquil, Ecuador. In 1994, they decided to change the product range and concentrated on hats only. In 2012, UNESCO declared that the art of weaving a Panama hat in
Panama ingredients are maize, rice, wheat flour, plantains, "yuca" (cassava), beef, chicken, pork and seafood. Panamanian men's traditional clothing, called "montuno", consists of white cotton shirts, trousers and woven straw hats. The traditional women's clothing is the "pollera". It originated in Spain in the 16th century, and by the early 1800s it was typical in Panama, worn by female servants, especially wet nurses ("De Zarate" 5). Later, it was adopted by upper-class women. A "pollera" is made of "cambric" or "fine linen" (Baker 177). It is white, and is usually about 13 yards of material. The original "pollera" consists of a