Removing a necktie

[Guest]

From the Ben Silver website:

"Carefully untie your tie when you remove it. It should come off the same way it went on, in reverse. Pulling the knot loose will tear the neckpiece, the third part of the tie construction."

Do most LL members follow this rule? Is it worth the extra trouble?

I've always doffed my ties by pulling the narrow end out of the knot, which then generally unknots itself without trouble.

Or have I been damaging my ties unwittingly all these years?

[Guest]

Let me begin by pointing out that not all knots can be untied by just pulling on the knotted end, so unless you never change your necktie habits, at some point you will have to learn to slow down and untie your tie.

Until that day, you are right to question how much damage you are causing by just tugging the knot open. The answer is - I do not know. I am certain that you will damage many textured ties (such as jacquard weaves) if you just pull out the knot, because the friction of the fabric on itself will damage the silk. On many good twills or satins, this may be less of an issue. To avoid the friction problem, what I usually do is loosen the knot a bit first and then pull it out slowly and carefully to make sure I am not wearing the fabric. The second concern is what you may be doing to the stitching that holds the tie closed and keeps the back together with the liner. I know that when I am not careful, I can feel that I am putting tension on the stitching and deforming the tie. When I feel that, I stop and unravel the knot.

The bottom line response is that you have to decide how much you really care about wearing your ties out before their time. I know what the right answer is, but you need to decide whether you care if your tie lasts three years instead of eight. When I like a tie, I am very sad to see it go. You may not care.

[Guest]

I don't know about damage, though I suspect some of the closing stitching on the back of the tie could be broken or pulled loose. I do know that when I first learned to do this, it felt like a much better way to remove the tie, less violent or stressful. It's not that much harder, and feels better, so I do it.

[Guest]

I always untie a tie as Ben Silver suggests.

A tie is, afterall , a pretty delicate piece of silk construction so why be rough with it?

Tie and untie it carefully.

uppercase