I've owned 3 panama hats before. They were all white/cream color. I was a little hesitant going with this one with the blue top. I really liked the look of it online but didn't know what it would look like in person. I ended up loving it!I used it for both semi-formal and informal wear and liked the look. We rented a small boat in Lake Como and as I was driving it, the hat flew off and into the lake. I liked the hat so much that a rescue effort started. We circled the floating hat for about 10-15 minutes until… Mission accomplished!! Panama hat was recovered :) Out of the lake, and into my life again.The only thing I would say negative was that after several times of packing and unpacking the hat I couldn't get the brown band smooth. I was able to get the brim smooth using the "Kettle water steam" technique (I found a tutorial on YouTube). I guess that is just to be expected after so much packing/unpacking. I don't think that would be the hat manufacturer's fault.