Who doesn’t love a straw hat on a hot summer day. For most folks, the straw hat is the quintessential summer hat. Did you know that there are actually several different plant species used to make both men’s straw hats and women’s straw hats? Here are some definitions of the different types of material used to make straw hats.

Straw: dried grass stalk: a single dried stalk of a cereal crop or grass used to make hats or baskets.

Raffia: common name for a cultivated palm (see Palm) of Madagascar and the adjacent African mainland, the leaves of which furnish fiber for making hats.

Seagrass: grass used for basketry and/or hats: an underwater ocean grass with long thick blades that is harvested and processed into a material, similar to twine or jute, used for making baskets and matting

Sinamay: fabric made from banana-plant fibers: a stiff open-weave fabric spun from the fibers of the banana plant.

Parabuntal: fine straw: fine straw made from the leaves of a palm tree.

Sisal: fiber from sisal: a strong white fiber obtained from the leaves of an agave plant.

So now that you’ve had today’s lesson on straw hats here are a few examples of the many men’s and ladies straw hats available at Aaron Hats.

Go grab your straw hat, stick a straw in your favorite summer drink and head on out to the pool or beach this Memorial Day weekend and enjoy your family.

Cheers,

Aaron

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Hat History, Hats, Straw Hats, Sun Protective Hats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.