New conical hats, sedge bags for clothes thanks to Gen Z
Handmade products such as conical hats and sedge bags of traditional craft villages are "wearing" the new coat of modern life.
Starting out as students majoring in Tourism and Travel Services Management, having experienced many interesting cultural destinations, two peers Tran Thi Thuy Linh and Mai Thi Khanh Huyen, both born in 2002 and from Ninh Binh (formerly Nam Dinh), decided to "breathe a new breeze" into an old handicraft to be able to reach the younger generation more.
The new shirt of a conical hat
When she was still in school, practical subjects about Vietnamese craft villages and cultural values from handicrafts were "soaked" in the awareness of the two young girls from the past. However, Linh and Huyen have to accept the fact that these products are gradually being forgotten in modern life.
conical hats - a particularly popular item for two young girls - are often only seen by women and mothers.
In early 2025, two peers put their own jobs and projects aside to spend time focusing on their special love together. Linh and Huyen decided to go to the handmade hats of Chuong village, Thanh Oai, Hanoi.
The bell hat is famous for being strong, durable, elegant, and beautiful; therefore, the sound is heard throughout the ancient Kinh Bac. The recorded folk song has the saying "Clap hat, silk crab, Do village sports watch". Each hat must go through 10 stages from picking leaves, exposing them to the sun, exposing them to the mist, making leaves, spinning leaves, breaking rings, spinning, to stitching the hat, cages, cracking the branches and being covered with three layers of leaves.
However, at many times, a conical hat is forced to sell at a higher price, causing the income of the bell villagers to be unstable and many people have therefore given up their profession. Currently, most of the hat makers in the village are elderly women.
Thuy Linh shared: A skilled worker if he concentrates at an altitude of about 8 - 10 hours/day, can complete 1 - 2 high-quality conical hats. Most of the teachers weave hats at home, interspersed with family work.
Productivity is therefore often unstable, depending heavily on free time and health. Therefore, the Tao hat - where we make new handmade conical hats - is both a way to protect the traditional beauty of the bell village and brings spiritual joy to the craftsmen who have been attached to the conical hat all their lives".
Like Linh and Huyen, the young girl Truong Thanh Truc (21 years old, Hue) also decided to renew her hometown's conical hat in a unique way with the Hello Giftiny project.
During a trip to Hue in March 2024, Truc was "pleased" when she saw a pink silk hat.
When she returned home, she quickly implemented her idea to turn this product into a fashion accessory for young people with the motto "not only for men but also a part of Vietnamese culture".
Handmade hats that were previously only made to earn extra free time are now being woven regularly every month with 200 - 300 pieces from the hands of skilled craftsmen.
Traditional conical hats in the past were simply oil-swept on the outside to make the hat bright, shiny and even in color, while current "famous" hats are covered with 3D hidden silk fabric with neutral, light grades, or sometimes printed with beige-dotted patterns, embellished in a modern style.
Creativity from sedge
Returning to his resort after many years of traveling in Da Lat, Duong Duy Linh (29 years old, An Giang) accidentally discovered a small sedge-growing workshop while running around the neighborhood. Born in the border town of Ba Chuc, the sedge has been associated with Duy Linh since childhood.
The eagle grass is fragile, just as big as the head of the chopsticks, the body is empty, the best adaptation in the muddy and alum land. Every floating water season, when the height is sufficient, the tree will be harvested. People in the Southwestern region knit the grass to make cushions, hats, sleep ...
Having worked in the fashion industry and always cherished the plan to make products right in her hometown to be closer to her mother, Duy Linh immediately thought about modern handbags made from sedge. Since then, his basket-ys bullet shop has gradually been formed with sophisticated, modern bag models.
The patience and sympathy for the older workers in the sedge weaving workshop of only 10m2, the waiting for the first finished products for 9 months or the hardship of taking on all stages from designing fashion bag models, production to advertising, packaging... of the young man is perhaps unmentable.
However, putting those difficulties behind him, Duy Linh still had a big dream: "At first, everyone was skeptical when I wanted to bring the sedge bag to the city." My bags are breathed a new breeze: More fashionable, more luxurious, but not to mention the rusticity of my hometown.
From two people who were not good at the first day, there are now 8 teachers, teachers, students working together and a few young people learning a new job. So the sedge weaving profession has a next generation. I make bags from sedge, not only to sell, but also to not forget the soul of my hometown in the city.
Not only Duy Linh but also Thanh Truc, Thuy Linh or Khanh Huyen always strive to listen to modern life to create and upgrade old habits, combining the old and new in a subtle way to help "pull up" the skills of traditional craft villages while adding fire to the love of homeland of the younger generation.
For them, items originating from the countryside and long-standingly associated with Vietnamese people will always be improved to " suit the times" but not "lost their roots". Even in their hearts, each young person always cherishes the "long" journey so that the conical hat or the banyan grass handbag can touch the hands of international friends in the near future.
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