breathable, light in color and weight, and I've heard that women find men in Panamas extremely sexy. That's not hard to believe when you see examples like that absolutely superb pinch front Montecristi Panama from Biltmore or the Scala hat called The Vented Panama with its open weave construction and handsome contrast ribbon trim.

Kangol introduces a couple of Panama hats this season, each featuring contrast brims and vibrant red trim with brass buckle. The fedora, called The Buckle Arnold, has a snap brim measuring two inches, and The Buckle Pork Pie hat has a stingy brim of just 1 1/2 inches. Carlos Santana has a new Panama hat this season too. Called The Shifter, it's an open weave fedora with a contrast woven brim, tooled leather sweatband, satin lined crown tip and ribbon with Indian print overlay. Another Santana Panama hat, The Sacred Fire (a stingy brim fedora with faux leather trim and hand-branded heart design) makes its appearance by demand. One customer calls this hat "brilliant" and "exceptional" saying it's more than he expected.

There's something new from Christys' London for the Spring/Summer 2013 season too. It's an elegant dress Panama hat called The Snap Brim Fedora and has a just-stingy two inch brim with a trim of black grosgrain ribbon and bow. The hat is made in the USA and is perfect for the warm days and nights ahead. For a hat with an even stingier brim, Biltmore introduces The Vegas. This sleek Panama fedora has a 1 1/2 inch upturned brim, grosgrain trim with Biltmore pin, pinch front and leather sweatband. It's another made in the USA hat, hailing from Texas to be exact.

More Biltmore hats include The Ventilated Panama. With its pinch front and center crease, it's good looking and comfortable hot weather hat, with its open mesh crown, and it boasts a dimensional brim to boot! The Canadian hatter once again surpassed itself when creating The Excello Fedora, trim and neat with its 2 1/4 inch snap brim. There's also a very fine center dent shantung panama fedora you should look at, offered by Dobbs and called (what else?) The Center Dent.

Not every panama hat is a fedora, of course: there are panama pork pie hats from Biltmore, Kangol and Scala for instance, a homburg from Dobbs and safaris from Scala as well as Christys' (a favorite of mine being The Broad Brim, a men's safari Panama hat with a broad, three-inch brim). There are even outbacks in panama straw as well (we're talking The Saratoga here). Another Scala panama hat style is evidenced by The Gambler with its great, broad brim (for sun protection) and Weatherall coating (in case of sun shower).

This variety of style within each hat genre is, by the way, the source of our MensHats.com tagline: A Hat For Every Head. The brilliant slogan also comes from the fact that I'm kinda like the Shakespeare of hat copy - but lots better looking, naturally, in my Montecristi, a fine Panama pork pie hat from Biltmore.