Mengual Hats

Around 1900, the Mengual family founded their hat factory in Gata de Gorgos, a small town on the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, where wicker baskets, furniture, hampers, and of course hats were traditionally made. At that time, José Mengual Mulet (pictured here with a worker) distributed his products throughout Spain, especially to coastal towns.

Today, following that same artisanal process, her daughter Bárbara Mengual, along with her husband Jaume, produce and distribute the hats to boutiques and specialized stores in Spain and Europe.

In this other image, we see two invoices from José Mengual's business , dated 1932. Both notes, somewhat worn with age, display a typeface characteristic of the period, with the name "José Mengual" in bold letters at the top, and next to it, the words "Manufacturer of Palm and Straw Baskets and Hats." We also see blotting paper, used to absorb excess ink from the handwritten documents. These documents reflect not only the activity of a family business but also the dedication of a craft tradition that spanned several generations of the Mengual family.

Today, at the Mengual family factory, many of the traditional techniques and tools that brought prestige to our brand are still used. Among them are the antique hat-ironing machines , which are still used to shape each piece. These imposing machines have a robust yet functional design that has stood the test of time. Heavy aluminum molds are attached to them and heated to fix the shape to the hats.

Each iron shows signs of wear, marks, and small scratches that reveal its age and the passage of generations who have used them.

These are some of the aluminum molds we use to make our hats in different shapes and sizes. Each mold has a different shape, and each size has its own mold.

Throughout all these years, Sombreros Mengual, SL's main objective has been to offer its customers the highest quality at the lowest price . To achieve this, the manufacturing materials are carefully selected and handled by expert hands to obtain the best product at a very competitive cost.

Here we see one of the tools that was formerly used to widen the crown of helmets, that is, the bells made of vegetable fibers. With this tool firmly fixed to the ground and once the helmet was placed on top of it, the lever was pushed so that the "head" of the device opened and in this way the helmets yielded in size, since many of them had a conical shape, which did not fit into the molds of the plates.

In the image, we see an experienced worker at Sombreros Mengual, performing one of the final steps in hat making: sewing a ribbon around the crown . Her hands guide the ribbon around the crown, carefully adjusting it to ensure perfect alignment. This artisanal method, employing traditional techniques passed down through generations, gives the Mengual hat its unique value , setting us apart from the competition. Each hat is a work of art with its own identity, a reflection of the dedication and respect for tradition that still prevails in the factory today.