For many of us, our introduction to wearing a tie was back in our good old school days...

Hearing teachers say endlessly to pupils 'where is your tie?' and 'Do your tie up!' Ties are often an essential part of a school uniform, helping to differentiate between local schools, pupil ages and counties –and that uniform worn day to day was helping gear us up for the world of business.

If your company enforces tie wearing, or if you choose to wear a tie each day, why not make it a corporate branded tie? Did you know, wearing a bespoke tie draws attention to your face, making it appear more streamlined, whilst making your attire look more ‘business ready’ - this is extremely beneficial when meeting potential clients or wanting to add some gravitas to a meeting!

We regularly get asked what the difference is between Woven Vs Printed Ties so I hope this article will help make things a bit clearer when ordering your bespoke ties.

Woven Ties –

Weaving is similar to but must not be mistaken for embroidery. It is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, the warp and the weft are interlaced with each other to form a fabric or cloth.

The warp threads run length ways and the weft runs across side to side. The fabric is woven on a loom and threads are carried on hooks. The sequence of raised and lowered threads is what creates the desired pattern & means you can get a good level of detail and effects. Woven ties tend to provide a more ‘textured’ finish and are slightly heavier in weight compared to a printed tie, giving an impression and feeling of luxury. They’re quite similar to a traditional Marks & Spencer tie that you may find on the high street in the way the finished product looks.

Printed Ties –

Using a screen printing process for a custom tie allows for complete freedom of design! Large screens are used to print special dyes which penetrate the fabric. Several print colours are possible, each one requiring a separate screen and each colour must be allowed to dry before the next one is applied.

As the design is printed onto white fabric, the background colour must also be printed. When the background is to be a dark colour, it’s usually necessary to print a keyline between the background and the motif to avoid colours bleeding together.

A large benefit to printed ties, which is popular amongst many of our clients, is the fact that the process it goes through, means we can achieve a close pantone match. Brands such as Waitrose (who have a very distinctive and memorable uniform) finish their look with the use of a plain, pantone matched tie in the Waitrose ‘green’

When you think of the Marks & Spencer uniform, no matter what season they’re in you will always see the ladies in bespoke neck scarves which complement the men’s pantone dyed ties. The benefit to printed ties means we can also achieve the same effect onto bespoke neck scarves and even pocket squares – which helps to keep the look cohesive amongst team members and is a handy element used to differentiate working roles.

Large corporates such as M&S and Waitrose aren’t the only ones who benefit from bespoke accessories. Front of house teams/receptionists are the first people your customer sees as they walk into your hotel or business & whilst you may not want to ‘plaster’ your logo everywhere, a basic patterned pantone matched tie or neck scarf could be just the trick – it’s all in the detail. Also, depending on the wardrobe the staff are wearing, it’s a great way to smarten up appearances and bring unity to the team's look.

Recently a client of ours with front of house staff in bespoke ties, were amazed that shortly after the addition of their new accessory, a visitor had picked up on the fact that the simple pattern woven into the tie matched the wallpaper/carpet themes within their building!

So, if you're thinking of adding a finishing touch to an existing wardrobe or you'd like to spruce up the colour scheme for next season, a bespoke woven or printed tie could be a cost effective solution, or a pocket square, neck scarf or even a matching dickie bow. The only limit is your imagination!