Q & A: Episode 11 | Ties

Transcription

Hi, I'm Kirby Allison and we love helping the well-dressed take care of their wardrobes. Thank you for all your comments and questions that you guys have posted on our YouTube channel. After reading them all and answering as many as possible, I have selected five that we're going to feature in today's Q video. Each of these individuals I have selected will receive a complimentary pair of our sovereign grade shoelaces as a token of our appreciation for their participation in our channel. In today's Q&A; video we're going to be covering one of my favorite subjects and passions which are ties.

The first question in today's video is from an Emiliano Hernandez Castaneda from Mexico and his question reads, "Hi Kirby, my name is Emiliano and I have a question. Do you think it is important the number of folds in a tie? I was told that a sevenfold tie was the best kind of tie that a man can have. Also in your opinion would you try a bespoke tie or do you think it's not worth it?" So Emiliano, great question. As you alluded to, there's several different ways that you can make a tie. Now the most basic construction is just a simple three fold with an inner lining that gives a tie its basic structure and weight. And the purpose of the inner lining is to give structure to the tie and weight so that you get a nice knot and that the silk doesn't collapse. Now in a five or a sevenfold tie and you can even have a twelve or fourteen fold, you're essentially replacing replacing inner lining with just silk. So like in a sevenfold tie you have no lining and all it is is just silk folded in order to give the tie that structure and body. Personally, I honestly prefer a traditional threefold tie with an inner lining because one, I feel that it ties a better knot and secondly the knot stays and kept longer and so I don't have very many sevenfold ties in my closet. It's really something that the Italians invented really to just show off and and to make a more expensive tie. You know more luxurious. But there's really no functional benefit to why you would have a five for a sevenfold tie. You know as far as bespoke ties are concerned. You know bespoke tie really is only needed if you know you're particularly short or particularly tall and aren't able to find a tie whose normal length is able to tie the type of knot you have with the proper length. So a bespoke tie isn't something that I would really look into unless it was something that was really required because of one's height. Now that said, you know really as far as bespoke is concerned, really the most important thing that you would have done in a bespoke tie is really shortening it or lengthening it just so that whenever you tie your tie, it's not too long or too short. And to be completely honest you'd have to be really short or really tall because you can significantly adjust the length of a tie by the type of knot that you're tying. Thanks Emiliano for your question. We look forward to sending you a pair of our sovereign grade shoelaces and stay tuned. We actually will be producing a series of videos soon on different types of knots.

Our second question today is from Constantine and it reads, "Hello Kirby, great tie collection! I have an on/off obsession with ties and during my college years I bought a lot of amazing ties from Versace, Hermes and Lucroix. Alas I didn't store them properly so after a decade I find some have creases where they are folded. Once after dry cleaning one silk tie it was ruined so I'm hesitant to try that again. Any hacks or special products to use in order to get the creases out of a fine silk tie? Thank you." So Constantine, you're absolutely correct. Dry cleaning will ruin a tie. I mean the only dry cleaner I would even consider sending a tie to would be a RAVEFabriCARE here in Scottsdale Arizona and that would be only if it was an incredibly special tie that you know I just absolutely had to save. Because in order to dryclean a tie properly you actually have to completely deconstruct it, dryclean the silks separately from the inner lining, and then basically remake that tie. So there's very few people that can do that well. Regarding the creases they're actually very easy to with the pressing cloth, some steam, and a really light pressing with an iron. Now it's incredibly important to use a pressing cloth and we sell an incredible pressing cloth here at The Hanger Project and what you would want to do is put the pressing cloth on top of the silk and then the iron on top of the pressing cloth so that the iron isn't making any direct contact with the silk. I would apply a lot of steam in order to soften those those threads and that silk and then do a really light pressing making sure that you're not pressing too hard on the edges where the silk is folded because you don't want to press that flat you still want a really soft roll. So I would use the tip of the iron the very softly press and the reason you have to press it again as you want that steam to be fully dried so that that press stays into the fabric. So it's really important to stay at least an eighth of an inch away from the edge because the moment that you press a hard crease into this silk, you'll never be able to get that out. Constantine, you know one of the things I remember is that after the first time I got spaghetti sauce on one of my ties, you know I started tucking them into my shirt you know whenever I would eat and I would simply just unbutton a tie. You know stuff the tie into my shirt and then re-button this so that I'm not sitting at the table with my shirt unbuttoned. And this you know helps protect the tie you know from any type of food and it's really not considered rude. I mean I've seen you know very well-dressed, very stylish men at very, very fancy restaurants you know eating like this because any man knows that spaghetti sauce and a tie and the ties toast. So Constantine, thank you for your question and we look forward to sending you a pair of our sovereign grade shoelaces and good luck on fixing those ties. You know we have a great pressing cloth here at The Hanger Project that would work great, but if you don't have a pressing cloth at home, you know just even a piece of cotton fabric in between your iron and the tie would help work also.

Our next question today is from The Dapper Man and it reads, "Fantastic video. I enjoy your videos. They are well done and very informative. [Thank you] I do have a question for you. What do you think of bow ties instead of a standard tie? I believe they have more character but require more confidence to wear." It's a great question. I absolutely love bow ties. You know especially with formal wear. I mean black tie. There's nothing better than a beautiful silk bow tie but, I'm not a huge fan of replacing you know standard long neckties with bow ties you know if you're gonna be wearing those every day. You know because then you become that guy you know that Nutty Professor you know that is wearing the bow ties. Unless you're a doctor that's seeing patients and your tie could get in the way. You know I really think that bow ties for most gentlemen should be reserved for special occasions. Now that said, there's a lot of occasions I think where a bow tie is very appropriate. I mean there's a lot of men that go to my church that exclusively wear bow ties on Sunday at church and I think that's a great way to you know to have an occasion where wearing a bow tie is appropriate, proper, without going too far in making it over-the-top. Yeah I would suggest that if you're going to wear a bow tie with a nice suit that you wear it with the vest. If you wear a bow tie with a one or two button jacket, you know then you're left with this huge kind of swath of white shirt that doesn't have anything visually kind of accompany of that and I just find that it's not terribly balanced. But if you're wearing a bow tie with a vest then you know much more of the shirt is covered up and in my opinion the bow tie you know looks more elegant. Thank you Dapper Man for your question. I especially appreciate your participation on this YouTube channel. We look forward to sending you a pair of our sovereign grade shoelaces.

Our fourth question today is from Christopher Hopkins and it reads, "Your tie knots always look perfect. Do you have a tutorial or one that you recommend to get the perfect knot? What length of tied I'd be looking for? And does it depend on which knot I'm tying? Thanks." You know actually all these you know tutorials you find on the internet that talk about how easy it is to tie a tie. I really think overstate the simplicity of tying a tie. Tying a tie and getting a really nice knot is something that I found very difficult to do and it was actually a really close friend of mine kind of a sartorial mentor if you would that really took me aside and gave me a few tips and tricks that really have allowed me to tie my ties more easily, more consistency, more consistently, and with a better dimple. All of our ties here at The Hanger Project are 148 centimeters long which is a standard tie and is gonna work for you know most all men. Christopher, stay tuned we've got a lot of videos coming out soon about how to tie a knot, how to get a perfect dimple. So we will be producing content on the youtube channel about this exact question. So thank you for your question. We look forward to sending you a pair of our sovereign grade shoelaces.

The last question in today's video is from Antroz 59 and it reads, "Speaking of ties, what kind of tie knot are you using in this video? Looks like an old bertie but I'm really not sure. Also, how do you have it so that the tie looks so long? Is it the width of the narrow end of the tie that is a little bit bit wider than normal? Keep up the good work. Your videos are always well done and very informative." Thanks Antroz. So you're actually right. You're the first person that has been able to identify what type of tie knot I use which is in fact the old bertie. And what I like about this is it isn't a half windsor. It's not a very wide knot. It's a little bit longer and skinnier and it also ties a longer tie and I like to have the tie end a little bit longer than the blade just because I enjoy that. So this is my favorite knot. It's the knot that I tie with all my ties and we will be releasing a video very soon about how to tie this particular knot. So thank you for your question. We look forward to sending you a pair of our sovereign grade shoelaces.

Once again I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for their comments and questions. It's your engagement on our youtube channel that make these Q&A; videos possible. Not only does it give me an opportunity to answer in greater depth a lot of questions that I'm already answering when you ask them in the comment section, but it also allows me to take a moment to just acknowledge my appreciation of everyone's involvement in this channel. I've absolutely enjoyed this platform and how it has allowed me to really connect more directly with all of you and really have fun kind of engaging in these videos together. Remember if you haven't taken an opportunity to ask a question or even make a comment, I invite you to do so. Even if you don't have any questions to ask, sharing your opinion or your thoughts about the content helps us make better videos for you in the future and it also gives me an opportunity to know what you're thinking. I read all those questions and comments personally and really do enjoy getting back to as many of them as I possibly can. If you enjoyed this video give us a thumbs up and please subscribe to our channel and turn on your notifications by clicking the bell to the right of the subscribe button so that you can learn whenever we release new videos. If you have any questions or comments about anything we discussed on this video, please ask them in the comment section below. And of course please visit hangerproject.com where we have the largest most comprehensive collection of luxury garment care and shoe care accessories in the world, as well as, many other incredible products for the well-dressed. And while you are there subscribe to our newsletter to receive notifications of new product launches, promotions, as well as, a weekly digest of all the videos we publish here on our YouTube channel. I'm Kirby Allison and we love helping the well-dressed take care of their wardrobes. Thanks for joining me.