Harry Inwards’s Straw Hats: Their History and Manufacture combines the story of straw plaiting with a technical account of how straw hats were made. Tracing the trade from its cottage-industry roots to mechanized production, the book documents the materials, regional specialties, and processes behind a once-thriving branch of the hat trade.
Equal parts history and manual, it explains plaiting, bleaching, blocking, and finishing, offering a detailed look at an industry that clothed millions of heads. For historians of manufacture and fashion alike, it preserves the working knowledge of the straw-hat trade. A specialist but readable study, it is available here as a free EPUB download.