the optimo milan straw - Optimo — The best hat made. · The Milan (pronounced Mylan) hat, with its unmistakable soft golden hue, is one of the all time classic straw hats. Made

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HATTER’S BENCH issue 3

5 1 W. J A C K S O N B LV D . , C H I C A G O , I L 6 0 6 0 4 . 3 1 2 . 9 2 2 . 2 9 9 9 . O P T I M O . C O M

Early in my apprenticeship, my mentor, master-hatter Johnny Tyus, taught me how to work with Milan Hats. I remember him telling me how all the Milans being made today were phony—that they didn’t make real Milans anymore. Over the years, we’ve worked on hundreds of Milans, and it is always obvious which ones are real. The real Milans age gracefully, have a beautiful feel, texture and color.

It wasn’t until several years in business that I realized the true Milan wasn’t entirely extinct. I had made a Montecristi Panama for a famous milliner in Tokyo, and in return he made me a beautiful Milan. He told me that this braid was very rare and expensive, and a handful of craftsmen were still weaving it in a small town in rural China.

Thus began the treasure hunt and Optimo’s quest to revive the Milan.

H I S T O RY O F T H E N A M E M I L A N

The Milan braid is produced from a special type of wheat that grows where soil conditions contain a high percentage of sand. In the 1800s, it was originally called the ‘Dunstable Twist’, after the region in England which yielded the optimal soil. The weave was also produced in Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Japan and China, but production in these locales dwindled as China became the strongest supplier. By the 1920s, production was essentially limited to China.

In the 1950s, to circumvent the U.S.-placed embargo on Chinese goods, the Chinese braid was send to Italy, where it was sewn together into ‘hat bodies’, marked ‘made in Italy’, then shipped to the U.S. The general belief is that these hats, shipped from Milan, led U.S. hatters to call these hats ‘My-lans’, hence the name and mis-pronuncianion used today.

Contrary to this belief, the Milan got its name much earlier, when Italian imitation of ‘Dunstable Twist’ arrived in Britain in the mid-1800’s. In 1867, the first Chinese versions were imported to Britain, by then referred to as ‘Milan’.

I N T H I S I S S U E

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The Optimo Milan Straw

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The Straw with the Golden Hue

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The Optimo Difference

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From the Hatter’s Bench—Issue One Go to Issue One

From the Hatter’s Bench—Issue Two Go to Issue Two

D O W N L O A D

From the Hatter’s Bench—Issue Three Download This Issue

The Milan (pronounced Mylan) hat, with its unmistakable soft golden hue, is one of the all time classic straw hats.Made from hand-braided wheat straw, hatters have mostly abandoned making the Milan in the last 50 years, due to the high cost of producing the braid. The Milan found on the market now is invariably made with hemp, synthetic fibers, or a very coarse version of the straw braid.

Optimo is proud to bring the authentic Milan hat back from extinction, returning to the time-consuming, high quality construction methods of the Milan’s glory days half a century ago. We located the region in China which first began making this weave in the 1800s and encouraged them to produce a straw braid that was once again worthy

of the Milan name: finely woven and richly colored. We have achieved this by reinstating the following methods:

• Proper harvesting of straw (appropriate time of year,no fertilizer, protection of the crops)

• Quality control in selecting straw, sorting straw,bundling straw braid, sewing braid, machines(we use 100-year-old machines built specially tomake this braid), finest silk thread, washing andconditioning straw braid, proper blocking

• Return to traditional weaving methods, whichresults in less yield, but a more luxurious hat

Optimo offers a limited number of genuine Milan hats which are custom woven and dyed exclusively for our factory.

the optimo milan strawBringing Back A Legend

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the straw with the golden hueOptimo’s Quest to Revive the True Milan Braid

“ Meeting generations of weavers who have worked with this straw for their entire lives was an incredible experience. The farmers and weavers were all very happy that we were after quality over quantity—and better instead of cheaper. True craftsmen always prefer making nicer things, meaningful things.”

Optimo conducted a veritable treasure hunt to reach the spot in rural China where the Milan braid is made.After a tip from a hat-maker in Japan, Optimo eventually found a contact who knew the area. Next came a flight to Beijing, and then an eight hour drive inland to rural China. When we discovered what kind of straw they were making (a quality suitable for trinkets), compared to the potential of straw we knew they could make, it was like discovering that the finest vineyards in Bordeaux were fabricating grape juice instead of wine.

Next came a three-year process in which Optimo convinced the farmers to convert back to their old habits (no fertilizer, covering the crops), in order to produce a more attractive, stronger product. Today, the straw is the best quality possible, and the weavers themselves are happy too, as they prefer working on higher quality products. W E A R E A F U L L -

S E R V I C E H AT S H O P

We do not sell directly over the Internet. Please call 773.238.2999 for a phone fitting. We perform hundreds of phone fittings a year and know the questions to ask to get you into a hat that you will love.

CHINESE HERITAGE

Today, a small zone in China is the only place in the world which can produce this braid.

Optimo’s straw comes from the same land and often the same families of farmers who have been weaving since the 1800s. Optimo sees a link between this product and the great Oriental hand-crafts (think silk carpets, enamel, cowhide carvings, cloisonné vases).

The methods of harvesting, grouping in bales, sorting, sewing and blocking of the fine braid have remained essentially the same since the 1800s, which means that we are promoting the same methods that were used when the Milan was at its peak. Modernization is not always synonymous with improvement.

“ It was amazing to see the special straw braid that was woven for Optimo. It is bundled and sorted just as it has been for more than a century—a true craft.”



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D O W N L O A D


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the optimo difference

W E A R E A F U L L -S E R V I C E H AT S H O P

We do not sell directly over the Internet. Please call 773.238.2999 for a phone fitting. We perform hundreds of phone fittings a year and know the questions to ask to get you into a hat that you will love.

A great Milan begins with the farmer in China, harvesting a strong straw with good color. Next, the weavers must wash, split and weave the braid. The braid is then inspected and bundled. These bundles are then sewn together into “hat bodies” on vintage sewing machines that were made specifically for sewing this braid. The size of the hat bodies should fit the final shape and size of the finished hat. The “hat body” is then washed, conditioned, humidified, ironed, and blocked on our century old machines, built specially for Milans. The hats are then trimmed by our expert sewers, and finished on the hatter’s bench.

It is critical that each all of these steps are done properly. An enormous amount of time and dedicated craftsmanship goes into producing the real Milan hat.

This difficulty is part of the reason why this hat is so rare today.


What makes the Optimo Milan so unique is extraordinary straw, beautifully woven hat bodies, and professional Optimo finishing.


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the optimo milan straw - Optimo — The best hat made. · The Milan (pronounced Mylan) hat, with its unmistakable soft golden hue, is one of the all time classic straw hats. Made