Panama hat miners of the California Gold Rush traveled to California via the Isthmus of Panama and Pacific Mail Steamship Company. In 1906 , U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the construction site of the Panama Canal and was photographed wearing a Panama hat, which further increased the hats' popularity. Although the Panama hat continues to provide a livelihood for thousands of Ecuadorians, fewer than a dozen weavers capable of making the finest "Montecristi superfinos" remain. Production in Ecuador is dwindling, due to economic problems in Ecuador and competition from Chinese hat producers. The tamsui hat was a straw hat made in Formosa
Witch Hats Hats toured Asia for the first time in November 2013, visiting China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. A free collected works CD, "A China Selection" containing three new songs was given to patrons at shows. In an interview with the online publication "Shanghai 247", vocalist and primary songwriter Kris Buscombe discussed recording the band's third album, which he intends on sound engineering himself. Witch Hats released their third full-length album 'Deliverance' in July 2016. The album garnered a 4 star review by Guardian writer Andrew Stafford who praised its ""intense blasts of modern Australia as dystopian nightmare"" . "Deliverance"