In this video, I'm going to talk about the hallmarks of a quality tie so you can get
the best value for your money. There are millions of ties out there and every year, millions
more are added but only very few are of such good quality that are your worth your money.
A tie is only as good as what goes into it and there are five things that make a quality
tie. The Shell, the interlining, the stitching, the thread and the tip lining. Let's starts with
the Shell. The Shell is the outside of the tie. It's the material you hold in your hand.
Basically, most quality ties are cut in three pieces.Sometimes makers advertise that they
only cut their entire tie from one piece of Silk or wool and that doesn't add anything
to the quality of a tie. What's really important is that your tie is cut 45 degrees on the
bias because otherwise, your tie will twist unfavorably and not hang straight and drape
very poorly. In order to figure out whether your tie was cut on the bias, you should use
a stretch test. The stretch test has two hallmarks, one is to pull the length of the tie and it
has to stretch that way. The other is you have to pull at 45 degree angle of the tie
and it must not move at all. If you have these two factors in your tie, it was cut on the
bias and has good quality. If it's not, skip the tie, don't buy it.
When you read the label on a tie usually they say hundred percent silk or hundred percent
wool. That only refers to the outer shell. What you always have to keep in mind is that
silk doesn't equal silk just like cotton doesn't equal cotton. Most of the silk nowadays,comes
as the raw material from China however, the processing of the silk is hugely different.
Silk is a very thin material, it has to be spun into yarns the right way with the different
raw materials so it has the right thickness and it has to be woven with a jacquard loom
or print. Quality silks from Italy or from England can be 15-20 times as expensive as
the same amount of the same weight of silk from China. At Fort Belvedere, we only use
highest quality silks from the best printers and weavers in the world that also means our
base cost is much higher than other ties you buy somewhere on the street for five or twenty
dollars. For our Silk ties, all that's from China is the raw material of the silk and
all the processes; the dyeing, the spinning, the weaving all of that is in Italy and in
England. Simply because it provides better quality products.
The traditional way to cut a tie is the so called three fold tie. It's called that way
because a tie is folded three times basically, one on the inside, second one over and over
again so you get a closed seam on the edge. In recent years, the term seven fold has become
more popular and is often used as a quality hallmark however it is not. All seven fold
means is that your tie was folded seven times and it doesn't have an interlining so it's
all silk that means your tie was produced in a more wasteful way. Not only that, in
my personal opinion, the hand and knot of a seven fold tie is just not as beautiful
as the one of a three fold tie with an interlining. A lot of people have come up with different
ties, four fold ties, five fold ties, seven fold, 8 fold, nine fold, six fold you name
it. In my opinion this development is rather ridiculous, it reminds of me the razors. Gillette Mach3,
three blades, four blades, five blades when in fact the best shave you get with a single
double edge blade of high quality. So don't let the number of folds fool you, if you choose
a cheaper silk and the knot doesn't look good, it doesn't matter how many folds your tie
has, what matters is the look and the feel and the quality of the materials used.
Second, interlining. The Interlining of a tie is very very important because it helps
a tie to drape and oftentimes it's completely neglected. That's obvious because on a label,
usually only talks about the material of the outer shell, it never even mentions the interlining.
Therefore, most ties contain cheap polyester based interlinings that are thick and so people
think a thick tie stands for quality however that's not true. The thickness of the tie
oftentimes just comes from the cheap polyester interlining and it's just too stiff and you
cannot really tie a nice knot and a nice dimple with it. The best interlining you can have
for a tie is natural materials such as wool and cotton. Every outer shell material is
different, silk is not silk it has different thickness, it has a different texture and
so you have to find the right interlining for the right tie. At Fort Belvedere, we really
pay a lot of attention to pairing the right shell with the right interlining so you get
the best knot possible. All the interlinings at Fort Belvedere ties come from Italy and
they are the highest quality interlinings you can find for ties in the world. We even
go so far as to pay a lot of attention to the way it's cut so for an untipped tie, it
gives it a nice fall we don't just cut it straight we cut it in a nice 45 degree angle.
For example for this thick wool angora tie which shows a very thin interlining otherwise
your tie knot would have been way too big. What's important in terms of workmanship with
interlining is that it's sewn to the tie so it cannot shift around. The way to test that
is simply to touch the tie in the interlining and move it around and if you let it go it
should all fall back and the tie should still look nice just the way it did before. On a
poor quality tie, the lining will shift and will be off centered and your tie will look
terrible and you will not enjoy this kind of tie so if the interlining is not good,
if it's cheap, if it's very thick usually leave the ties aside because it means it's
not quality
The third hallmark is the stitching of the tie. Most ties today are machine made. There
is a special machine called Liba machine and all you have to do is put in your tie, close
it up and it sews the tie up in seconds. Even though the Liba machine is very time efficient,
it's not the best quality way to stitch your tie because the stitch is too inflexible,
it doesn't have enough room. The tie is three dimensional when it drapes with your knot
it needs room to stretch and be flexible therefore your stitch must be loose and must have room
to give when you untie your tie or tie a tie knot otherwise the thread will rip and ruin
the tie. Sometimes also it can shift the material if there's not enough room. A high quality
tie is always hand sewn. Basically, you can find two ways to stitch a high quality tie.
One, is the so called loop stitch because it shows a loop at the end. One end going
back to the other end leaving an additional reserve for the thread so the tie can stretch
without ripping the thread. The other way to sew a tie is to simply have a thread and
a knot at the end and to leave a reserve of the thread. In my opinion the loops are just
slightly better. At the end of the day what really counts is the flexibility and you get
that with the stitch as well. The only problem is that the knot is not big enough, you can
pull it through the hole and the tie can come undone or even worse, it rips. The fourth
hallmark of a quality is the thread that's used. The thread is important because it holds
the tie together and the stronger your thread the longer your tie will last. Most ties are
sewn together in a way you don't see it. At Fort Belvedere, we decided to use our signature
green three ply silk thread from Germany to keep the tie together. This is a really strong
quality thread and we also use it for our tags which are hand sewn at the end they connect
the interlining to the shell so everything stays in place and nothing moves around. Most
companies use a thinner thread that rips more easily so you either have to bring it to your
alterations tailor try to have it fixed which can be difficult because they do not know
how to do it and then the tie's inflexible anymore and it's simply not great. So investing
in a high quality thread is more expensive but we think is worth it. Looking at ties,
you can always just look at the thread and you can look at the stitch density. The higher
the stitch density, the better it is because it has more anchoring points so you get less
pressure on an individual part of your thread. Other than that, you can just pull a little
bit if it's a poor quality tie it will rip but don't pull too hard because otherwise
the store will make you pay for it. Whether you have the thread showing on the outside
or hidden on the inside, there's no difference in quality. It's more decorative that's all.
Fifth hallmark of a quality tie is the tip lining.
Basically, you can have a lined or unlined tie. Here, we have a tip lining which is a
separate fabric and many companies use cheap polyester tip lining because it's less expensive
and it's a way to save material. Most ties nowadays have a tip lining to simply cover
up their interlining which is oftentimes very thick and of poor quality.So if your tie is
untipped, you can actually really see what's going on inside and untipped ties were the
standard in the 1930s. So at Fort Belvedere, we offer some ties untipped with hand rolled
edges which takes much more time. It also means the tip is thinner because you simply
have the outer shell fabric without the extra layer of interlining. It takes more time and
skill to have an untipped tie than a tipped tie but in either case we only use top quality
materials which is either the same silk as we use for the outer shell or we use hand
rolling which requires a lot of skill. If you like a heavier tip, I always suggest that
you get a tipped tie because an untipped tie is simply thinner. Some people say it's flimsy
in my opinion it's more airy and a little lighter and especially great for spring summer
seasons. One thing that's really not a hallmark of a quality tie is the so called keeper.
The keeper is that little piece of fabric at the back of your tie that was made so you
can actually put the slimmer end of the tie through to keep it in place. Personally, I
think you should never use the keeper, I'd much rather have both ends dangling because
you'll have more non chalant, more elegant look. Nevertheless, some people like them.
So we have them in our Fort Belvedere ties. If you like to put your slimmer end through
the keeper of course you need one otherwise, don't worry about it, it's not a quality hallmark.
Another reason not to use a keeper is so you can actually see both ends of the tie.That's
particularly nice if you're tie has a lot of handwork, just decorative stitching or
hand rolling so you can clearly see it.Now that you know the quality hallmarks of the
tie, I want to show you how you ensure that your ties last as long as possible. The proper
way to store your classic three fold, five fold, six fold, seven fold, whatever fold
tie is to roll it up once you've worn it. That will help to reduce wrinkles in the are
if your knot and you store it like this for about 24 hours and then afterwards, you simply
just hang it on a rack. I would not recommend keeping your tie rolled up for more than a
day because otherwise when you want to wear it and you've had it in your drawer for five
weeks, it will curve and not hang properly. That's why you should always store in your
rack. If you're interested in knit ties, please watch our specific knit tie video and if you
want to learn more about classic men's clothing and style and how to combine your ties, please
sign up for our free ebook, Gentleman of Style.We'll help you to do just that. Thank you.