Panama hat of the first towns to start weaving the hats in the Andes is Principal, part of the Chordeleg Canton in the Azuay province. Straw hats woven in Ecuador, like many other 19th and early 20th century South American goods, were shipped first to the Isthmus of Panama before sailing for their destinations in Asia, the rest of the Americas and Europe, subsequently acquiring a name that reflected their point of international sale—"panama hats"—rather than their place of domestic origin. The term was being used by at least 1834. The popularity of the hats increased in the mid-19th century when many
Battersby Hats Works museum before the exhibitions were moved to the newly renovated Wellington Mill on the A6 in 2000. Battersby Hats Battersby Hats was the trading name of Battersby & Co, a hat manufacturer of Stockport, England. The firm once had a capacity of 12,000 hats per week but it declined in the second half of the twentieth century and merged with other hat manufacturers in 1966 before hat production ceased altogether in 1997. Battersby's Hat Factory in Offerton, Stockport, first appeared on Ordnance Survey maps in 1895. At one time, Battersby employed over 1,000 people. In May 1906, a fire