The Importance of Silk Ties

For someone looking to establish or build upon their wardrobe it can be hard to ascertain what ties to buy and wear to buy them from.

It can also be very tempting to skimp on the tie when building your wardrobe, buying them from supermarkets that sell them in packs of two or three. The problem with these ties is that they will often be poorly constructed, and be made out of polyester, rather than silk.

The reason that ties should be silk is due to the lustre and quality that silk provides when set against the wool suit, and the cotton shirt. It is also a natural product and when it comes to men’s style, naturally occurring materials are the height of both formality and taste. For example, when dressed up for work I will often be wearing:

A 100% wool suit in charcoal

A 100% two-fold cotton shirt

A 100% silk tie

A linen pocketsquare

And black oxfords (leather) with leather soles.

In addition to cotton underwear and socks, you can see that the entirety of the outfit is naturally occurring materials, the only exception will be the cufflinks worn with the two-fold cotton double cuffed shirt.

So now that we’ve established that silk ties are the preferred option for a person new to the working world, where to get them? Well of course there is tie rack, which do some very reasonably priced silk ties often around the £10 mark. While at the other end of the scale there is Hermes ties from Paris, or Drake’s Ties, soon to open on

Clifford Street

but have been operating since 1977, these ties are around the £100 mark.

As there is no way I can afford to spend £100 on a tie, and I find the range at Tie Rack to be limited for my tastes, although I do purchase the occasional tie from Tie Rack (often if I have forgotten to pack one inadvertently), I would recommend the woven silk ties from Charles Tyrwhitt. Especially when they are on sale. The patterns and colours are far more to my taste with a mix of stripes and dots. I particularly like the Turton Royal Blue tramline stripe and the Alnwick Gold spring stripe ties. At around two ties for £40/£50, you can buy 4 or 5 good quality ties for the same price as one from the luxury end of the market.

A silk tie is easier to maintain if it becomes frayed (use a lighter sparingly to burn off loose bits of silk where its frayed, something that cannot be done with a polyester tie, and they also hold there shape better and the drop is more natural and less rigid.

A good quality silk tie updates and improves the look of a shirt, and is an area of dress often neglected by others, although not as much as fit in a suit.