Let customers speak for us
The Fino is very very nice
Bought the New Yorker 12 years ago - have worn it death. Spoke to Oska and decided on the Fino New Yorker - it is the most gorgeous hat ever! Thanks
Aiden Cowl
The Fino New Yorker
Delivered as promised. Fits perfectly. Great communication as well.
Stephen Hawkins
Feather Flourish
This is the beautiful hat I’ve been looking for
I had been doing a lot of research to find this exact hat. The Australian is not your traditional Panama hat, However, it is a true Ecuadorian hand made hat, the style fits me well, and it’s exactly what I was looking for.
I contacted Truffaux with questions and the responses were such that I felt I couldn’t go wrong ordering from this business. They pride themselves in making sure you get the correct fit, tell you what to expect, and make sure your hat stays looking good for a long time.
The box this hat was sent in was sturdy and protected it well, however, because the brim of the hat is arched, the way it laid in the box it flattened the brim and messed up the overall appearance. I believe it will straighten out but I’ll need to work with it to make sure of that.
I would have loved to have this hat in a finer weave but Truffaux assured me this weave is best for this hat.
I’m looking for to wearing this hat for a long time.
Doug from Oregon
The Australian
Top quality!
Top quality hat and very comfortable to wear! Super quick delivery half way across the world.
MP
The Coco Beach Hat
Fine Product, Outstanding Service
The hat is beautiful; well made, well styled, looks great on me. I'm very happy that I found Truffaux.
Oska was super helpful, too, in ensuring that I received the hat in good nick. I live in rural Mexico and some standard shipping methods don't work for me. After explaining this to Oska, he was more than helpful, working with me to find a method that ensured I received the parcel. Do take Oska's sizing advice. While his recommendation was for a size larger than what I normally would wear, I didn't regret taking the advice. The hat fits really well. Thanks again to Oska for your help.
Many thanks to Oska.
Bruce Cane
The Casablanca Fedora
A fabulous hat
Oska was great at suggesting hats for me from photos I sent and ultimately I chose the Golden Traveller. More emails went back and forth over sizing and then a very well packed hat travelled halfway round the world to me, arriving completely unscathed by it's trip. I'm delighted with it and with the service I received from Truffaux and would recommend them to anyone looking for a new hat.
J.P.
The Golden Traveller
Great hat
It is really a great hat. After consulting Oska what might fit me well, I decided to go along with his recommendation and it does fit perfectly. Just a handsome great hat. Thanks alot Oska.
Martin Hoffmann
The Golden Casablanca Fino
Do yourself a favour!
The New Yorker is a gorgeous and fantastic hat, don't hesitate! It makes you feel fabulous but its not too posh. It cools your head down, is very confortable to wear, the straw absorbs the sweat. Perfect!
The great interaction with Oksa helped the decission, shipping (around the world) was no problem, the hat arrived in perfect condition. I am very happy!
Christian Walt
The New Yorker
Great Hat, Happy Customer
Handsome hat in just the right size and light as a feather. It arrived halfway across the globe quickly and well packed. Good experience all around.
Tom Pearson
The New Yorker
Best place to get a hat, world-wide.
I got the best Panama hat I have ever had from Truffaux. It exceeds my high expectations. And that is not the only reason I am writing this review. I am pretty fussy, and what I truly appreciated was Oska Truffaux's obvious personal concern that it be the right hat in the right size for me. I picked Truffaux because their web site is impressive about hat making and sizing. And I was right!!
GEORGE BERAKA
The King Panama
Cool in every sense of the word!
Oksa was very helpful in answering my questions about selecting a panama and sizing. I went with the Cuban at his recommendation and man, it is an amazing hat! It suits my head shape perfectly, I've received lots of compliments on it, but most importantly, it is very light and cools my head astonishingly well. Just the slightest breeze and I've got instant a/c. Thanks Oksa!
Randall Benichak
The Cuban
The Perfect Travel Hat.
I love a panama hat, and have many I rotate through, but don't like travelling with them because they get bent out of shape so easily.
A YouTube search on how to travel with hats led me to Oska's shop and my purchase of The Traveller, which arrived just in time for a 2 week trip to Japan and France.
The hat looks great, fits well (thanks to Oska's email assistance) and handles the rigours of travel better than I thought it would, springing back to shape from all manner of mis-treatment.
Great value for the price, I thoroughly recommend Oska and his hats, especially The Traveller.
Nicholas Hand
The Traveller
Fantastic Hat- Supreme Service
The buying process was unbelievable. Placed an order and rapidly received a personal response asking if I had ordered the correct size. Sent in my measurements and it turned out I needed a size larger than what I had ordered. Who knew that hats shrink!
A week or so later the hat was in my hands. Quick considering that it had to make it from Australia to the United States. Tried it on, too big! My wife handed me an envelope which contained foam shims. Three of these and a perfect fit which will allow for shrinkage (hat, not my brain).
Wore it today for the first time other than trying it on. Hardly noticed it was there. Super comfortable. Looks good too!
If you want a piece of garbage with no customer service I guess there is Amazon.
If you want a great hat that will fit, you are in the right place!
Rollie Herman
The Traveller
Incredible!
Just arrived - absolutely amazing hat! And, I can’t say enough about how helpful Oska was in finding me the right hat, and his customer service is extraordinary. I’ll be buying more.
Jason Branciforte
The Cuban
GET THE RIGHT HAT FIRST TIME
Skip the stress of wondering if it will look great, fit right and arrive safely. With 20 years of global shipping experience, I’ve mastered the art of pairing the perfect style and size, then delivering it to your door in pristine condition.
No one does it better, and tens of thousands of satisfied customers attest to my unmatched personal expertise.
How to buy a Panama hat
The definitive guide to buying a Panama hat.
Finding a Panama specialist in your city is very unlikely - there are only a few of us. Your local hat store will have a couple of styles, but the choices & quality will be very slim. You need to take the plunge and look online - this guide will empower you to buy well online.
What no-one will tell you is that all Panama hats will shrink. How much they shrink depends on the weave, and how it is used. Thousands of people have walked into our stores wearing a Panama hat that is too small. It is uncomfortable, unflattering and likely to blow down the street.
Ideally, you order a hat 1cm bigger than your actual size and insert a spacer to make it fit well until it shrinks.
Your hat order will ship with a packet of spacers and instructions, ensuring you have a perfect fit. If it is a little large, you can easily adjust it, but small is like tight shoes - uncomfortable.
Measuring your head is easy. Place a string or tape measure around your head above your ears, where you would wear your hat. Please write it down and then measure it again. When you place your order, I will follow up and confirm your sizing - 99% of the time it will be perfect.
2. AVOID THE FAKES & CHEAPIES
Any and every hat online is called a Panama, which makes things tricky.
People often visit our stores wearing a paper or plastic hat, heart broken that they bought a fake Panama. Most of the Panamas online are either 'paper straw' or 'polypropylene'. They're like wearing a rubber cap, making you hot, sweaty and very uncomfortable in the sun.
The easiest way to tell if it is a handwoven Panama is to look at the centre of the top. If the straw spirals out in a 1cm ball like the photo below, then it is the real deal. If it is square, then it is not a Panama.
The world is full of cheap tourist Panama hats. When you look around online, they will pop up everywhere and seem like a great deal, but these are the hats to avoid. They won't last long, their quality will be terrible and they will look crappy very fast. Like most things, you get what you pay for.
It is like the cut of a suit, the lines of a dress or quality shoes. There is complex engineering and design that goes into making a hat look good. Discount shippers from Ecuador don't have style, and don't wear Panama hats. It's like buying a designer suit from Ecuador - your odds of success are very slim.
Weavers split the Panama straw using their long thumbnails. Each time they divide it, the quality of the hat doubles, and so does the time it takes to weave. The longer it takes, the more expensive the hat becomes. Some hats are thread fine and can take a master weaver six months to finish, some take two hours.
Every manufacturer has a different grading system. One company's grade 8, is another's grade 3. There is no consistency in how they are graded, and comparison online is very confusing. People get fixated on threads per inch, when that is far less important than the consistency, finish or shape. A good hat is much more than the grading.
When you see a photo online, you are often not seeing what you are going to get. If they are a discount shipper, you will get something similar but dissapointing. Many of the fino Panamas have a leather inner band, which sticks to your forehead and makes you very hot - best avoided unless you are wearing it in winter, which is unlikely.
Here is a short video on the types of weaves, their strengths and weaknesses.
4. THE TRUTH ABOUT ROLLING PANAMA HATSWhen I talk to Ecuadorians about rollable Panama hats, they wince and shrug their shoulders. Though the Panama is famous for being able to rolled and put in your pocket, it cracks the straw, ruins your hat and leaves the brim all wonky. Some manufacturers make them rollable by bleaching them until they are like rubber, but they don't hold an elegant shape. A Montechristi will roll pretty well, but in the end, you will have a broken $1000 hat.
5. FIND A HAT THAT SUITS YOU & YOUR LIFEBuying a hat that suits your face, build and lifestyle is far more important than the style, grade or finish. Now this can be a bit tricky if you are new to hats, but you can work this out. The easiest path is simply to ask an expert, click here and it will save you an enormous amount of time and confusion.
Your hat needs to match your face shape and your build. There are four basic styles of Panama hats, and choosing the right one will make a big difference. A little short brim hat on a big guy looks ridiculous, as does an enormous sun hat on a petite woman.
Choose a hat for your lifestyle. If you get dirty climbing mountains, then choose a tough weave with a natural colour. If you are going to dinner in Paris, then choose something glamorous, flowing and refined.
The easiest path to find out, is to ask an expert.
Why would you want to own a Panama?
If you want a hat that is luxurious to wear, garners many compliments and makes you look beautiful then you are looking in the right place. If you have seen people looking great in a hat, they are not wearing a plastic hat from the local drug store. They are wearing a real hat.
If you run hot, live in a hot place, hike in nature, travel, or have sensitive skin - the Panama is a natural breathable textile that is a great pleasure to wear. They never smell, and nothing will keep you cooler on a hot day than this handwoven artform.
Sure they are more work than a plastic hat but so is a linen shirt, or a good pair of leather shoes. These are real things.
Crafted by Ecuadorian artisans, they make the world a better place. Natural, comfortable, biodegradable and supporting the beautiful people of Ecuador - they are a taste of a long lost art form.
There is an art to wearing a hat, and here is a definitive guide to exploring it.
Love
Truffaux