The exhibition houses two hats, one made of straw and the other of linen, by Moshonas, a Greek family-brand based in Athens that is currently run by the third Moshonas generation. The shop is in Apellou street, in downtown Athens.
The company’s founder, George Moshonas, came from the island of Kefalonia to Athens, where he opened his workshop and shop in 1926. He learnt hat-making in Napoli/Italy. The material of the hats is usually imported from Italy. This is probably Greece’s oldest hat shop that still makes its own hats. The current manager is the president of the Greek Hatmakers Association.
Straw for hats comes from Thailand. However, after the rising of the straw price, the company’s Italian suppliers have scaled down straw-trading. This is why the exhibited straw-hat comes from the last batch of straw hats made by the company, in 2018. To adapt to this situation, in 2019, the company started producing hats made of linen. This hat, which is called kavouraki (καβουράκι) meaning small crab, is made in collaboration with Athenian Hatmaking (Αθηναϊκή Πιλοποιία).
