From Loom to Cap

Every cap starts as a length of cloth that took someone days to weave. The loom is a backstrap loom, the same design used in the Andes for well over a thousand years: one end tied to a post or a tree, the other to a strap around the weaver's own back, so the tension of the cloth is the tension of a body leaning into it. From there the cloth is cut, sewn and embroidered in small batches. Four steps, no shortcuts.

1. Weaving on the backstrap loom

Aguayo is warp-faced: the coloured threads run the length of the cloth and are packed so tightly that the crosswise thread disappears. That is why the stripes are so sharp and why the cloth is so dense. The weaver sets up hundreds of warp threads by hand, choosing the stripe order before a single row is woven, and then works the pattern in with a wooden sword and a bone pick, row by row. A single length can take days. The stripe order is the weaver's decision, not ours, which is why no two of our caps carry the same cloth in the same place.

2. Cutting the panels

A five-panel cap is five curved pieces plus a brim. We lay the cloth flat, chalk the panels, and cut by hand, because the stripe has to be placed, not just cut. On the full-weave caps the front panel is chosen for the stripe that lands on it. On the twill and denim caps only the brim is cloth, so the brim gets the placement.

3. Sewing the five-panel

The panels are joined on an industrial machine, seams taped inside, a sweatband set, the brim stiffened and bound. Aguayo is thick, so the seams are sewn slower than on a plain cotton cap and the needle is heavier. This is the step that decides whether a cap holds its shape in a year. Ours are sewn in small runs and checked before they ship.

4. Embroidering the chakana

Last, the front panel gets a chakana, the stepped Andean cross, in thread. It is small on purpose. The cloth is the voice; the cross is the signature. It is embroidered, not printed, so it wears like the rest of the cap. Read what the symbol means on the chakana page.

What we do not do

We do not print an aguayo pattern onto plain fabric. We do not redraw the stripes to suit a season. We recut real cloth, and we say where it comes from. See the weavers, the materials, and the caps themselves: full weave and camp caps.