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
Hats (album) "absolutely superb", David Cavanagh of "Sounds" found that "Hats" differed significantly from "A Walk Across the Rooftops" in both its recording technology and aspired moods. Johnny Black of "Q" noted the more stripped-down nature of the album's songs and praised the band's new direction, stating that "if "Hats" has a flaw, it's only that it's too perfect, too considered." "NME"s David Quantick felt that the album demonstrated the band's flair for writing "incredibly simple-sounding, emotional records about the stuff that fascinates them." Simon Reynolds, writing in "Melody Maker", stated that "only the laziest ear would confuse this crystalline perfection with