Ecua-Andino Hats is an Ecuadorian company founded in 1985 by Alejandro Lecaro and Édgar Sánchez.
[1][2][3][4] In 1985, Édgar Sánchez and Alejandro Lecaro started to sell local crafts, initially to tourists on the beach, and then from a small shop in the center of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
In 2012, UNESCO declared that the art of weaving a Panama hat in Ecuador was added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Ecua Andino has straw hats production sites in five provinces of Ecuador such as Canar, Azuay, Guayas, Manabi and Santa Elena.
It is in these little towns that are done the different processes such as selecting the raw material (Carludovica Palmata), cooking, weaving, bleaching, ironing, etc.