Posted by Jackie Lopez on 10/31/2012
Our panama hat, Dumont, also known as “Ambassador", was named after Alberto Santos Dumont. Born in Minas Gerais and raised on his
family’s coffee plantation in Sao Paulo state, he was inspired by his father’s
mechanical knowledge and became fascinated with motors and engineering. He soon
began to dream of flight and later experienced his dream come true on October 22, 1906,
succeeding in flying a “heavier-than-air machine”. Santos Dumont was
internationally acclaimed to be the first to achieve powered flight and became
known as “The Father of Flight”. Though he soon was made aware of the Wright
Brothers claim to be the first in the USA, and with much investigation and
discussion tried to prove he was the first, Santos Dumont accepted his name as
the first in Europe. Despite the debate of who was the first to build and fly,
Brazilians still consider him the “Pai da Aviação.” Santos
Dumont built and flew many airplanes in his lifetime and all the while standing
out of the crowd wearing a signature “Panama” Hat. Because of his
accomplishments, great style and commitment to wearing our hand-made Ecuadorian
“Panama” hats, we have dedicated this one to him.
