Frequently Asked Questions

Because we ship all over the world and shipping costs vary by location, shipping costs can vary significancy. We do not markup or make a profit on shipping costs. Shipping costs also vary by weight, so the heavier the order, the more it will cost to ship. To give you an estimate, an order with one Panama hat shipped to the United States typically costs about $29.00.

You will see an exact shipping quote for your order as you begin the checkout process. Your payment information is not required to receive an exact shipping quote.

Well, the simple answer to that is that we make less on the sale of each hat. Many factors are involved with our ability to offer them at lower prices, such as our location in Ecuador where the hats are made, our hat shop which is located in Ambato, Ecuador, as well as we have an office in Montecristi, so our operating costs are much lower then other places- and by the way... that is where we get our name "Panama Hats Direct"!

The product is made by the same weavers in the same town as any other genuine Panama hat company. The finishing details will be different between each company, but we are not left behind in quality in any way!

In a few years, you may want us to clean, reblock & repair your hat. We are happy to offer this service to you- in fact we are the only company that makes this service available, because although some other hat shops may be able to block a good hat body, they are not able to repair the straws if there are any broken ones. If they try, they simply glue the straws, but we can actually remove a broken straw and replace it with a new straw!

This process is very tedious and very difficult to do, so we only service our hats in this manner. If you purchased your hat from us, then we can help you with any repair and shaping problems you may have anytime in the future- just contact us.

If you order from our inventory, your order will be ready faster, though we still need to work on the hat so your order goes in the "Queue", it is put in the flow according to our work load, older orders are worked on first. We move threw orders as fast as we are able without compromising quality of the product yet still giving a semi-custom approach to every hat. Since all final finishing details are personal on each hat order, we do need some time to do this work. We still need to hand stich in a sweet band according to your fine-tuned hat size (you give in-between sizes to us at checkout) then we need to add exterior hat bands according to your request and then block the brim and add stiffener and pinch protector and liner and final blocking of the brim according to each orders requirements. So there is a wait time till we get to your order finished, particularly in the busy season we could be 2 weeks out or more, so there is not a general overall guarantee of time... to many factors make this to complicated to say precisely here when each hat will ship. It is for this reason we do not charge any order till the day we ship, unless you use PayPal checkout their system charges immediately and we can’t change their methods. But credit card orders will not be charged anything till the day we ship. this keeps both party’s feeling secure about of their online transaction, while we get it finished.

I would like to encourage anyone who needs their hat faster to give it priority status by adding this priority service to your order for $30. This will put your order ahead of other orders as a paid expedited priority service. since we know some people need their hat by a particular date. Please inform us of any such issues by email after you order is placed to be sure to accommodate your timing needs or can let you know if it is even posable to accomplish by your needed delivery date.

Click here to add: Expidiated order request

if you design your own Panama hat, we would a little need more time to finish a custum order but is worth the waite! Imagine a Custum Hat Woven just for you! Tell me, who else can offer you that? Thats why we are Panama hats Direct !:)

If you design your own Panama hat, we would need a little more time but is worth the wait! Imagine a Custom Hat Woven just for you! Tell me, who else can offer you that? Thats why we are Panama hats Direct! :)

Once we have completed your order, we will use the method you selected at checkout to ship it. shipping time frames quoted are shipping times, not prep time needed on every order.

If we do not have it in stock or the stock item you selected is for some reason not sellable dew to closer inspection of a hat setting on the shelf for some time (up to 5 years) we reserve the right to exchange any stock item for a custom-made replacement of equivalent quality and grade, but made fresh if needed, at our discretion. (At no charge to you)

Inventory is nice but custom is FRESH made and just the way you want it! Custom is not just what we may have on the shelf and really it doesn’t take much longer to make it custom, so I really believe you will be happier with a custom hat then one off the shelf. So if we need to block one up for you. If for some reason we do not have the grade of weave you need, in order to block on for you then we will need to go and find a hat body that will work for your order. It is faster if we find it among our stock of unfinished hat bodies, but if not, it gets a little harder as we need to go out to the countryside to the weavers and look for a weaver that is finishing something we can use for your order. Perhaps we can find someone that has been weaving for a while on a hat body and we just need to have him finish it off to your specifications.

If we do not find a weaver already working and a hat that will work for your order, then we need to assign a weaver to weave a hat specifically for you. Depending on the grade of weave you selected, the weaver may take from 2-4 weeks and up to 2 months for hats that are super custom or verry fine or verry large in the crown or the brim. (Special Reserve hats - requires patience - not recommended for anyone wanting a fast hat.

In short, if you need your hat by a particular date, please add a comment in the comments box when you place your order and we will put a rush on it if needed, or make some other arrangement with you if not posable to finish before your timeframe.

Shipping time depends on what method you selected when you checked out.
We offer two main methods: Standard - which is: DHL to florada in a batch of hats that arrives to my reshipper in USA then is repacked and reshiped to you to reduce international shipping cost and custums clerance issuues into USA from oure end.

DHL Direct is faster since it is not only shipped the moment it is finished and it goes directly to you threw Fast 3-4 Day shipping service to USA, or similar time to many other countrys. Other countries have problems with Custums but DHL always clears custums fast and reliably with gurenteed shipping insurance though we will gurentee any shipment ourselves dhl offers it as part of their service. we recomend it for any other country other then USA since USA is easy to ship to it is other countries that shipping is more difaculte and DHL excells in this area.

Standard mail From Florada: 9-12 business days - this means we first ship in bulk your order with other orders to Florada, Using Express Mail Service then we repack the hats and reship from our location in florada.
DHL Direct form Ecuador: 5-7 business days - we ship from our ofice in ecuador directly to you. (5-7 days faster to USA)

All shipping times are on average, not a gurentee, and we still need time to finish your hat before we can ship it. Generally we need a week or more depending time of year, and weather or not it is stock item or a custum order. If ever you need a better idea of when you will recive it please contact us directy. please see the above information on "Wait Time"

We will email you a notice when we ship so you can be watching for it. Also keep in mind that this is a selected delivery option- it is not the time frame in which you should expect delivery since we need varying amounts of time to get it ready to ship depending on your order. Each order is different, so once we have your hat ready to ship we will use whatever method of shipping you selected at checkout.

RUSH ORDERS: Yes, we can rush your order! If you need your hat in a special hurry for some reason, then let us know and we will be able to place your order ahead of other orders in order to ship it faster. On some occasions, we are even able to ship the same day, but it is a lot of extra work for us to pay special attention to one rush order and perhaps make a special shipping run to the post office to ship one package, so we may ask for some compensation for this extra work in some cases.

When you do want to rush an order you will need to let us know by adding a comment in the comments section of the order checkout and you really should call us after placing your order and speak to us directly to be sure we have seen your special request and are giving it priority. Some times of the year are very busy for us and we need all the warning we can get!

If you haven't done so already, download our measuring tape from our sizes page, or click here.

please understand we do not use hat sizes we use measurements.

I know it sounds the same, but really it is not because a hat size from one company can be radically different from another company so what we need to be sure we are both on the same page sort of speak is to measure yourself no matter weather you believe you know your size or not. many people find they are a little different then they have always thought, once they measure. it is a custom hat we make in-between sizes just add a comment in the comments box at checkout if you fall between sizes just list your real measurement in the comments box and we will make it the hat to fit you.

How do you determine what brim size you should select? Well this is a difficult question for me to answer because a lot depends on your personal taste and where you live.

For example, if you are in Texas you could easily get away with wearing a 4" brim and you would fit right in. But if you were in downtown New York City, then a standard size brim would fit in much better, based on the community.

Wider brims tend to look more western while shorter brims look more fedora style and more city style. The brim can change the look quite a bit so give it some consideration. Also, if you are thinking of a large brim, err on the conservative side- a little short rather then a little large.

But of course also factored in this is your personal taste as well as your personal body build and character, all of which I am not able to answer for you. However, generally the larger the person is, the larger the brim can be and still look in proportion.

The standard size brim is between 2 ^5/8" to 2 ^3/4" and sometimes can reach as much as 2 ^7/8". This applies to all Montecristi hat models, so if you order a Plantation with a standard brim, it will be very similar brim size as a Fedora because what makes that hat different is the crown Shape, not the brim size.

Cuenca hats have a 2" to as much as 3" brim on occasion, but they are not really something we can custom make for you. Cuenca hats are pre-built and mass produced hats, so we can only take from what is currently available. This, of course, does not apply to our Montecristi hats, which are all custom made by hand in any dimension .

Yes. If the brim size that you want is not available in our current inventory, you can go to the Panama hat designer and create your own with any size brim you like!

While you're purchasing your Panama hat, it's a good idea to pick up some extra hat bands. They're great as spares, or swap them out to make your Panama hat suit every occasion!

To add bands to your order or just order bands separately, just go to the Hat Accessories page and you can browse from over 70 different styles of hat bands that we offer.

You can add as many as you like to your current order, or place an order for just bands.

Interior sweat bands are standard on all hats. Our Montecristi hats have a leather sweatband made of a nice oil tanned leather that resists sweat stains and absorbs oils from your forehead, and prevents penetration to the outside of your new hat. It is designed for maximum comfort at 1.25" wide, not too wide that it makes you sweat more, and not so narrow that it can not catch sweat. At 1/8" thick, it is perfect to stop sweat and oils from penetrating through the band. (Many hat bands from other companies are usually only 1/16")