A That Way Hat Brand, Goal 2020 Creates:
Sustainable Hat Making in Madagascar &
Chinese Folk Art Palm Animals.
When you purchase a raffia Madagascar made hat with the Goal 2020 label, you have supported people living in one of the poorest countries in the world. For ten years we have been the only hat customer of the groups we work with. When we reduce our production, they go hungry. When we increase production, their friends find work with us too.
Founded by a third generation milliner, we focus on stylish hats and current hat fashions. We supply stores throughout the USA. Why Goal 2020? Because we want to see substantial carbon emissions reduction by then. We make special efforts to support CO2 reductions. Our folding straw hats are handy and surprising. You will love to bring them with you where ever you go. Our shady and stylish hats will attract admiring looks whenever you wear them. The hats are well made and carefully chosen. We have visited lots of hat makers big and small. We looked at their production, design and workmanship. Then we asked about fifteen of them to make hats to our specifications. We have listened to our customers: many of them want more ribbons and bows and more red hats. So we will be making more of these. We have cloche ribbon hats and straw hats, raffia and toyo. Our hatters will make an extra effort for each customer who has special requirements, please let us know.
We also do palm animals: while traveling the world we discovered fascinating and unique crafts in many countries, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Fiji . . . and in China we found the rare art of fashioning animals from palm fronds. Our palm leaf animals are out of this world. They are made in small quantities by an artisan in Southern China. It takes hours for each. In China now the individual palm frond artist is almost an anachronism. These artisans, working on their own, are in fact very rare and talented. The skills take years – decades – of refinement to be able to create animals that look real. A folk art in China, the esoteric skills of making of animals from palm fronds have been passed down through the generations. Our makers learned from their own fathers. The level of craft they have attained took decades of practice. In modern China it has become something of an artistic anachronism: not many know the craft. It takes many years and much patience to become proficient. Before the weaving starts, the palm maker must collect the palm fronds from the short bush-like palm trees growing in the area. Each animal will take much time to create. Even an insect will take close to an hour, with bigger animals taking an entire half day. In the past (and up to this day) the palm leaves were not treated with any oils, so after a few weeks, they would dry up and people would have to throw away the shriveled palm animals. Today some artists, such as the one presented, preserve their work with oils and finishes so they will last for decades.
Founded by a third generation milliner, we focus on stylish hats and current hat fashions. We supply stores throughout the USA. Why Goal 2020? Because we want to see substantial carbon emissions reduction by then. We make special efforts to support CO2 reductions. Our folding straw hats are handy and surprising. You will love to bring them with you where ever you go. Our shady and stylish hats will attract admiring looks whenever you wear them. The hats are well made and carefully chosen. We have visited lots of hat makers big and small. We looked at their production, design and workmanship. Then we asked about fifteen of them to make hats to our specifications. We have listened to our customers: many of them want more ribbons and bows and more red hats. So we will be making more of these. We have cloche ribbon hats and straw hats, raffia and toyo. Our hatters will make an extra effort for each customer who has special requirements, please let us know.
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Satisfaction
We think you will love what we sell, but if you don't, we offer a money-back guarantee. Note (sustainable and fair): The palm fronds in our palm animals are picked by the maker's father in the hills. The production is sustainable because only some year old outer leaves are picked from each palm (resulting in no deforestation). The income is fair because it is not factory or workshop produced, but from a self employed artisan.