The last half-century has not been kind to men's hats. Just a couple of generations ago in the western Ecuadoran village of Montecristi, some 200 artisans made a living weaving fibers of the indigenous palm leaf, paja toquilla, into the lightweight tropical (and somewhat misnamed) fedoras known as Panama hats. When Texas-born Milton Johnson stumbled onto Montecristi in the mid-1970s, he found only 20 hatmakers still fashioning fine, traditional Panamas. Fascinated by the skill and precision of the trade - producing a single hat can take up to a year - Johnson opened Montecristi Custom Hat Works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1978.
     Today, Johnson travels to Ecuador two or three times a year to buy unfinished hats, which he brings home and shapes. Prices vary depending on the fineness of the weave: The lower end begins at $400, and Super Finos start at $3,000. Johnson's prized possession, a collection of 24 unfinished Super Finos produced more than 30 years ago by master weaver Juan Franco and his family, is valued at around $250,000.
     While it's not every day that Johnson sells a $20,000 Panama, trade in many other styles and categories, particularly golf hats, remains strong. "Dermatologists have been great for business," he says. "Every time a golfer sees [a dermatologist] these days, the doctor says, 'Get yourself a hat.' "