What kind of tie do you like? woven, printed or knitted...?

[TimMureau]

Hi,

What kind of tie do you most like?
A woven tie, a printed tie or a knitted tie?

My choice is the woven ties.


Best regards,
Tim

[Cufflink79]

I can appreciate all three but I put my vote into the woven. Prints are nice and I have a few, but the colors and texture of a woven tie is so much more vibrant.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[TimMureau]

about knitted ties.. Bel Y Cia in Barcalona has a very exclusive collection of silk knitted ties.

www.belbarcelona.com

You can ask by e-mail for the price and for some pictures of them.

[Mulberrywood]

I voted for wovens but it was a close call as I love to wear prints also.

[Costi]

Until recently I would have voted for woven without thinking twice, for the beauty of the jacquard designs, definition of contours, 3-D texture. However, I find that I am beginning to prefer how silk twill (and implicitly the printed tie) drapes and wears. It has a more elastic, springy behaviour and it is thinner than jacquard. lt is also more resilient to wringing and creasing and less prone to threads being pulled out by acccidental abrasions (such as against the edge of a table) than the delicate woven silk. I have a couple of 20-years old English printed ties from my father that still look fine and are wearable, which l cannot say about any woven ones.
However, fashion-forward as that may seem (I must ask that you trust my discernment), I find that I do have a weakness for certain Missoni woven ties, with their intricate designs and tens of harmoniously combined shades which, when seen from a distance, give the tie an alltogether different colour than the ones you can actually see on close inspection.

[Guest]

Of course printed. The beauty of a hand-printed tie cannot be compared to machine-wovens. Jacquard loom is a relatively new invention.

And of course salesmen and marketing do push for wovens as their silk cost less than half. And if you think they are usually sold at same price ...

but there are also alterntive weaves I like very much in ties, like shepherd's check, pow, etc.

[manicturncoat]

Jona,
I agree, unfortunately hand printed ties are becoming more difficult to find. It is very interesting, I did not know that woven silk was cheaper than printed, in fact, the woven ties are becoming more and more ubiquitous.

[Mulberrywood]

Of course printed. The beauty of a hand-printed tie cannot be compared to machine-wovens. Jacquard loom is a relatively new invention.

And of course salesmen and marketing do push for wovens as their silk cost less than half. And if you think they are usually sold at same price ...

but there are also alterntive weaves I like very much in ties, like shepherd's check, pow, etc.

Jona,

Like you I like prints very much - which is why we added 31 new English prints this month to our collection.

As for prices yes, prints tend to be more expensive, but only a little bit more on the average than jacquards, not double - at least not in England, perhaps in Italy there is more of a difference?

You have to remember that printed twill silks tend to be 100cm wide while wovens tend to be 70cm wide which accounts for most of the price difference. For us adding $5 to the price of a printed silk on average makes everything equal out.

Also for a bespoke tie the largest cost is the labor not the silk.

[manton]

99% of prints are dreck. OK, maybe 95%. At their best, printed ties can be better than wovens, but at their best they are rare. Hand printing is especially rare. Flusser had some killer prints this year, better silk than Vanners; the ties were probably made by Drake. I only bought one because they were ridiculously priced.

[dopey]

. . . However, fashion-forward as that may seem (I must ask that you trust my discernment), I find that I do have a weakness for certain Missoni woven ties, with their intricate designs and tens of harmoniously combined shades which, when seen from a distance, give the tie an alltogether different colour than the ones you can actually see on close inspection.

I have to smile at this. I have not seen any Missoni ties, but I will confess that half of my sock wardrobe is comprised of Missoni OTC models (the other half is mostly rather staid Pantharellas) and am wearing one now. I also have a few Missoni knit Polo shirts. Their weaving technology and use of color is incredible and seems unique. It is awful for many applications, and perfect for others.

[Costi]

I will confess that half of my sock wardrobe is comprised of Missoni OTC models [...] Their weaving technology and use of color is incredible and seems unique. It is awful for many applications, and perfect for others.

Oh, I am in good company, thank you! Missoni socks sounds like a true "faiblesse". However, I must confess to being no less puzzled than you, Sir, as I have never seen a pair of Missoni socks
I promise to post pictures of my (few) Missoni ties and... hope you'll think they fall into the latter of the two categories of Missoni items

[Mulberrywood]

99% of prints are dreck. OK, maybe 95%. At their best, printed ties can be better than wovens, but at their best they are rare. Hand printing is especially rare. Flusser had some killer prints this year, better silk than Vanners; the ties were probably made by Drake. I only bought one because they were ridiculously priced.

Hello Manton,

I am curious as to why you seem not to be fond of prints? Is it the lack of texture?

Personally my interests tend to change from time to time, but I have always loved both soft conservative prints (think Marinella) and the occasional "modern art" print.

As for hand printing being rare, I am confused, as I think that hand printed silks are very easy to find in England and France and probably Italy. Although I will say that ordering hand-printed silks in England requres a few exra weeks of lead time

I probably misread your post but I am confused as to your mention of Vanners in relation to printed silks, did you perhaps mean Adamly, which has David Evans' archives now that Silk Industries has closed David Evans.

Down the road we wil be doing hand-printing here in the US. Do you have suggestions for designs that you think would work very well with prints? I would be especially grateful if you could describe what you think of when you say the "best prints" as I have read some of your posts and articles (with pleasure I might add) and I am sure that comments would be very helpful.

[kolecho]

My ties comprise both prints and wovens. I prefer prints for its longevity and lightness. Great for summer. Wovens don't last as long, but look great as the patterns are more vivid. I think we can enjoy the merits of both here.

[BirdofSydney]

I'm rather fond of both silk twill prints and jacquard, I don't own a lot of wovens (and feel that they're a bit more casual).

I like both equally, in different contexts. Although the traditional (preppy, "old money) style seems to pair prints with plain white or blue shirts, I go the other way. A plain crisp shirt calls for a bold, heavy, jacquard. A patterned shirt - stripes, checks, complements a print infinitely better. I find, otherwise, the lighter silk and generally thinner tie looks a little overwhelmed.

[TVD]

I like to wear prints for summer and woven in winter. Silk for town and wool in the country.