[conspire] Ecuador hats

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> For a "Panama" hat, I will follow carefully consider comments
> especially COO.

I will speculate (and Deirdre can clarify if I guess wrong) that the
main point about specifying Ecuador as country of origin is to make it
more likely that fibres from the Toquilla palm (pedanticism: not a true
palm, family Arecaceae) will be the material used for weaving.
Predictably, especially at lower price points, there are a lot of hats
made of other, and sometimes questionable, materials.[1]

Of course, the above assumes one is being picky about type of fibre.
Toquilla is lightweight, breathes, and is blocks water well (especially
if finely woven).  Thus, perfect for the tropics and semi-tropics.  But
other materials have their attractions.

There are similar famous hats made from similar materials, elsewhere in
the world, like the Buntal hat, woven from fibers extracted from the
petioles of buri palm leaves, in the Philippines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buntal_hat

Historical trivia:  Viola, the "Panamanka", once worn as tropical gear
by the Red Army.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamanka

NATO's answer:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boonie_hat

The hat I most often wear for sun protection is ye olde "bucket hat",
which has an amusing collection of names in diverse countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_hat#Regional_names_and_variations
If I grow my moustache back and don said hat, I could do a passable 
Inspector Clouseau.

[1] e.g., I am not here to judge people who like nylon/polyester hats,
but they don't breathe well.