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Tran Hai Dong is better known by his nickname, "Big Pilot Daddy," associated with his "trademark" videos featuring a helmet worth up to 3.5 billion VND. Many people question the extent of this man's extravagance, such as wearing a luxury car on his head. Formerly a pilot with many opportunities for advancement in the aviation industry, this 36-year-old man from Hai Phong made a major career shift unexpectedly into the fashion business.
Tran Hai Dong (1987) currently owns the world's most expensive Panama straw hat.
FASHION "LEAP"
His love for Western-style clothing blossomed in 2008 when Hai Dong began studying in France. His subsequent job as a pilot required him to frequently dress in formal attire, consisting of trousers and shirts. Perhaps because of this, from then until now, he has appeared impeccably dressed, exuding a sophisticated and mature aura wherever he goes. Despite his passion for fashion, it seems that for those 10 years, this Western-style fashion enthusiast didn't have the opportunity to truly engage in the field. It wasn't until 2019, when the pandemic disrupted aviation, that he began seriously shifting his focus to fashion.
Besides straw hats, he is also tailoring Western-style suits for men.
Hai Dong is also known as a renowned cigar connoisseur in Vietnam. For some time now, the image of the straw hat has become synonymous with cigar enthusiasts. The straw hat has become a "distinguishing feature" in the cigar-making community. While studying in France, Dong longed to find a truly authentic straw hat, but no matter how determined he was, he couldn't find one. "Straw hats costing only about 20-30 euros were sold everywhere. I tried to find a good quality one, but I was unsuccessful," Hai Dong recounted.
Around 2020, thanks to his connection with the owner of a world-renowned cigar company, Hai Dong discovered the "luxury" straw hat that he admired most. He joined a cigar club because he knew that cigar smokers often wore straw hats. The cigar company at the time had an advertisement for the 'Father and Sun' straw hat on its boxes. He noticed that this wasn't just an ordinary straw hat, but a product with an exquisite design in every stitch. Upon inquiry, he learned that Montecristi hats weren't sold publicly, only available for orders from the British royal family or the aristocracy. From there, Dong was introduced by a friend to a manufacturer in Ecuador. His connection with Panama straw hats began from that point.
Initially, Dong only bought Panama straw hats to satisfy a long-held passion. He bought two, one for himself and the other for himself, but his friend liked them so much that he took one home. Later, Hai Dong acquired 10 hats just for collecting, but every time he got one, his friends would immediately ask about it. Having accumulated a considerable amount of capital after his business in the high-end airline industry, Hai Dong decided to "go big" with 300 hats, investing in his straw hat business.
Although he didn't graduate in fashion, his passion helped him explore and discover many valuable aspects of this field.
Before embarking on this bold venture, he surveyed 100 men and 100 women with the same question: "Would you be willing to spend over 10 million VND on a straw hat?" Only 20% of the men said they were interested. However, 99% of the women stated they would not spend such a large sum of money just to buy a hat. Despite this, Dong remained determined to do business with this product, even though at that time few understood the value of a straw hat costing over ten million VND. "Of course, shaping consumer perceptions in the beginning was quite difficult, but there was no other way than to educate them about the quality and value of the product," Hai Dong explained.
The question that always bothered him was: "Why do wealthy people spend hundreds of millions of dong on a designer outfit, or tens of millions on a pair of shoes, yet wear a hat that cost only 150,000 dong bought on Shopee? I think that if they're going to spend that much, they should also invest in a hat that matches the value of the outfit they're wearing."
Selling luxury goods to the elite is no easy feat. Beyond value and uniqueness, customers are also interested in the story behind a product. A Panama straw hat, a simple-looking hat weighing only a few hundred grams, yet commanding an unbelievably high price, leaves many wondering why this item could be worth as much as a luxury car.
HOW SPECIAL IS A PANAMA STRAW HAT THAT IT COSTS AS MUCH AS A LUXURY CAR?
For a few hundred thousand dong, you can buy a common, mass-produced straw hat that's sold everywhere. A "factory-made" straw hat is inexpensive, has an attractive design, and doesn't require much effort to produce. In contrast, a Panama hat, meticulously crafted down to every weave, is not easily acquired. What special story lies behind a hat worth billions of dong?
Despite its name being associated with Panama, this type of hat is a famous traditional product of Ecuador. Panama hats are brightly colored, lightweight, and breathable, often paired with summer outfits, especially those made of linen or silk. This type of hat became popular in the early 20th century as a beach and tropical travel accessory due to its practicality and breathability.
Nowadays, this type of hat can be used as an accessory for many different clothing styles.
One of the most valuable aspects of a Panama straw hat is its entirely handcrafted production process. The fibers from the Paja Toquilla plant are separated using deer antlers, rolled up, placed in a pot, and tossed over a fire with herbs and a small amount of sulfur to remove chlorophyll. They are then dried in the sun. This process ensures even coloring, prevents mold growth, and makes the product more durable and sturdy.
The finer, more evenly colored, and denser the straw fibers are, the higher the quality of the hat.
The herringbone weaving technique requires the weaver to work face down on the ground for more than 10 hours a day. According to the artisans in Ecuador, although this posture may seem strange, it ensures the accuracy of each weave, resulting in a well-proportioned hat. Panama hats are woven from the center, starting at the crown and ending with the weave markings around the brim.
The traditional Ecuadorian art of toquilla hat weaving is listed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In reality, this process is quite "stressful," not only because of the intensity of the work—too much tightening will cause the straw to break, rendering all previous efforts useless. Conversely, if tightened too little, the artisan will not be able to create a "work of art" with a weave density of over 50 (50 WPI). The WPI (Weaves Per Inch) rating can assess the difficulty, time required, skill of the hat weaver, and its value.
To appreciate the intricate details of each weave, customers can shine a flashlight inside the hat to see the skillful craftsmanship of the weaver.
The hat owned by Tran Hai Dong has caused a sensation due to its price, which is equivalent to that of a luxury car. It's made of 59 weaves (59 stitches per square inch). This hat was crafted by master weaver Simón Espinal, the only one in the village of Pile, near Montecristi. The artisan has to work approximately 10 hours a day for 14 months. If the order needs to be completed sooner, they may have to work 14-18 hours a day to finish the hat. Furthermore, they must use magnifying glasses to precisely process the stitches, ensuring they are evenly spaced, smooth, and shaped, while also concealing the stitches around the brim.
The entirely handcrafted process, requiring highly skilled weaving techniques, demands meticulous attention to detail from the artisan in each stitch, working tirelessly for months to complete, resulting in the exorbitant price of a Panama hat. Many people have spent hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong to own a Panama hat – an exquisite handcrafted product, a symbol of high-end hat making.
