The classic necktie is one of the most popular and professional forms of neckwear. Indeed, this simple garment adds a level of formality to your attire and either makes or breaks an entire outfit.
Therefore, this article will cover everything you need to know about neckties, with a particular focus on the best brands as well as the various styles and patterns:
- Top 10 Best Tie & Necktie Brands
- Tying Different Knots
- Terminology
- Styles & Patterns
- Classic Materials
- Choosing A Tie Knot & Width For Your Face Shape
Click any of the above links to be taken to the section that interests you most, or simply scroll down and read at your leisure.
Top 10 Best Tie Brands
More Necktie Guides
Men’s Accessory Guides
Top 10 Best Necktie Brands
Head to probably any clothing shop or department store and you’ll likely find rows of ties. Nevertheless, why just buy anything? Therefore, we will present you with the top 10 brands that offer the best value for money and quality whatever your budget:
- Hawes & Curtis
- Ties.com
- Eton Shirts
- The Tie Bar
- Charles Tyrwhitt
- Brooks Brothers
- Suitsupply
- Dapper Lapel
- Rampley & Co
- Turnbull & Asser
Simply use the links above to jump ahead or scroll down to see them all!
- Pricing: From $31
- Where To Buy: Hawes & Curtis
Hawes & Curtis is a prestigious shirtmaker that was first established on Jermyn Street in London. Since 1913, it has been a firm favourite of the English aristocracy. However, today it has opened up to all social classes with accessible and fairly-pcied garments.
Finished with wool interlining, Hawes & Curtis’ ties are made from fine silk and offer excellent value. If you’re lucky, you can pick up a few ties on sale from $31!
"Hawes & Curtis currently offer the best value for money but providing quality at an affordable and accessible price point."
- Pricing: From $12.50
- Where To Buy: Ties.com
While this aptly-named online retailer offers a variety of men’s accessories, it comes as no surprise that it specialises in ties. Indeed, Ties.com has a plethora of ties of different colours, patterns, and fabrics.
Similarly, you can choose between different widths and given the sheer volume of ties available, it facilitates navigation by providing a number of different filters to use.
- Pricing: From $215
- Where To Buy: Eton Shirts
Eton is a heritage Swedish brand that was founded in 1928 and continues to produce its premium wares today. Their European-made ties are indeed more high-end and use luxurious fabrics. As a result, they’re for a different budget.
Nevertheless, it’s hard not to be seduced by some of their tantalising creations. For instance, their Paisley ties are particularly eye-catching with a refined attention to detail.
- Pricing: From $18
- Where To Buy: The Tie Bar
The Tie Bar is a very similar, and probably better known, retailer to Ties.com. Indeed, The Tie Bar is a favourite brand for many men when they’re stocking up their wardrobe with accessories.
Typically, The Tie Bar is a little cheaper. Yet, their ties do start at $18. That being said, Ties.com do offer regular sales with their ties at $12.50, which isn’t the usual price.
- Pricing: From $20
- Where To Buy: Charles Tyrwhitt
Charles Tyrwhitt is an intriguing success story of the 1980s. Although the brand is quite young, it comfortably sits among some of the oldest and most respected Jermyn Street shirtmakers.
Its ties can vary in price with some beautiful specimens costing as much as $140. However, Charles Tyrwhitt frequently runs promotional sales with some very competitive prices! With plenty of colours and patterns available, you’ll likely find something that perfect for your wardrobe.
- Pricing: From $40
- Where To Buy: Brooks Brothers
If you’re looking for premium neckties from a celebrated American brand, Brooks Brothers is worth a visit! Indeed, they have a rich and varied selection. We’re particularly impressed by their themed silk prints, which are quite elegant.
While most of their ties are retailed at a premium from about $80, they often have a few on clearance at half price. Therefore, you can occasionally pick up some of the neckties for around $40 if you’re lucky.
- Pricing: From $49
- Where To Buy: Suitsupply
Suitsupply has simply taken the world by storm since it was founded in 2000. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine any red carpet event without a celebrity or two wearing their garments.
The brand has a wide selection of curated neckties, which start at a quite accessible $49. Depending on the fabric, the price slowly increases. However, it always stays quite reasonable.
- Pricing: $30
- Where To Buy: Dapper Lapel
We’re very fond of Dapper Lapel and have collaborated with them on a number of projects. Although they specialise in lapel flowers and other boutonnières, they have a fine selection of woollen and silk ties.
- Pricing: From $145
- Where To Buy: Rampley & Co
We’re very fond of Rampley & Co’s beautiful pocket squares. Yet, their ties are quite breathtaking too! Handmade in England, their fabrics are sourced from Scabal, a celebrated textile merchant. Rampley & Co retail silk, wool, and cashmere blends with self-tipped and hand-rolled finishes.
Additionally, their silk ties are screen-printed in Macclesfield, a renowned English town with a 300-year old weaving industry.
- Pricing: From $195
- Where To Buy: Turnbull & Asser
Compared to other Jermyn Street brands, Turnbull & Asser remains a prestigious name. Today, it continues to retail English-made garments. Indeed, all of their ties are hand-stitched in Kent. Meanwhile, the silk is woven in Suffolk using age-old techniques.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that firm was awarded a Royal Warrant as recently as 1980. If you’re looking for true Jermyn Street pedigree, Turnbull & Asser worth checking out.
Tying A Tie
Before we go any further, we just wanted to bring our thorough guide on how to tie a tie to your attention. If you’re looking for you’d like step-by-step instructions for how to tie a variety of tie knots, head there for some easy tutorials!
Necktie 101: Terminology, Wovens, & Prints
First, a few terms you’ll hear in the necktie world:
- Blade: The ends of a tie. Neckties have a narrow blade and a wide blade.
- Hand: A term used to describe how something feels. High-quality ties have a lustrous “hand,” for example.
- Four-in-hand: Synonym for “necktie.” Also, a basic but popular tie knot.
- Tipping: The material used to cover the backside of the bottom of each tie blade, similar to a lining. “Self-tipped” ties use the same material as the tie itself for tipping and are thus more expensive.
- Bias: A method of necktie manufacturing in which the silk and interlining are cut on a bias (a 45-degree angle) and held together by a slip stitch. Allows the tie to knot properly and retain their shape over time.
Woven Ties
Woven neckwear is generally considered to be the final word in neckwear in terms of quality and brilliance. “Wovens” are so named because different strands of silk are strategically woven together to create detailed motifs. They are typically the dressiest, most expensive neckties.
You can see the individual strands of green thread in the woven floral tie below:
It’s easy to tell a woven tie: touch it. If it feels quite textured, it’s more than likely a woven.
Printed Ties
Printed neckwear is the other dominant tie style. A younger tie-making method than weaving, printed ties weren’t really in the same class as woven ones until after the 1920s, and the printed neckwear explosion didn’t take hold until the 1960s. The method is simple: stamp a pattern onto raw or dyed silk as you see on the floral tie below:
As you might imagine, this is a less expensive way to make a necktie and as such prints are more prevalent in terms of raw sales numbers as a result. Printed neckwear can still be plenty dressy, though they lack the texture that woven neckties offer. Just like we can tell a woven necktie from touch, we can tell a printed one: it’s entirely smooth.
Styles & Patterns Of Neckties
In this part of our guide, we’ll be breaking down typical tie patterns that you can find. Of course, there are plenty of others out there, which include various weaves and designs.
Nevertheless, these are the most popular tie patterns in production:
- Solid Ties
- Ancient Madder Ties
- Macclesfield Ties
- Spitalfield Ties
- Repp & Regimental Tie
- Dotted Ties
- Paisley Ties
- Tartan & Plaid Ties
- Club & Sports Ties
- Novelty Ties
You can scroll down to read about each one or jump ahead with the above links!
Solid Ties
The mainstay of any man’s wardrobe, every guy should have at least a few solid ties in his closet. In fact, the capsule wardrobe calls for red, blue, and yellow solid neckties as the critical starting point for men.
Ancient Madder Ties
Ancient madder ties are silkscreen printed ties that are renowned for their ability to pair beautifully with tweed. The typical colours we see are dusty yellow, faded green, ruby red, indigo blue, and dark chocolate.
These colours are achieved through natural dyestuffs (which is the “madder” portion of the term) being silkscreen printed on a special gum-twill silk.
It was what’s called a “chalk hand,” meaning that it has a chalky feel to it. Its somewhat faded, powdery look is highly prized by the best-dressed among us, especially in the autumn.
Macclesfield Ties
Macclesfield ties get their name from the British town of Macclesfield, which is a silk weaving hub that still functions today. A tightly woven geometric pattern, it utilizes small geometric shapes such as circles, squares, and diamonds.
Worn by well-dressed British men in the 1920s, this style of tie was initially made in black, white, and grey. This gave the tie a silvery effect and was for a long time known as the “wedding tie” due to its inherent formality and ease of wear with morning dress.
Spitalfield Ties
Spitalfield ties feature another woven pattern, just like the Macclesfield. Another British invention, they were initially made in the town of Spitalfield, which is on the outskirts of London.
Spitalfield ties originally distinguished themselves from Macclesfield ties by having larger, fancier motifs in a broader range of colour combinations. However, both names today are often used interchangeably. They are now made all over the world and also qualify as a geometric pattern.
Repp & Regimental Stripe Ties

British regimental stripes tie, with stripes going downward from left to right
Repp stripe ties are easily the most popular type of patterned tie. A simple striped motif wherein the stripes are on the diagonal, they can be either woven or printed, and they look just as good at the office as they do on a dressy date. They also have a fascinating history in terms of their British origins and American reinvention.
They’re called regimental stripes because of their English military history. Different regiments of the British military had various colour schemes, most often seen on the mess jackets of those regiments’ officers. The rank-and-file also wore cravats with these striped motifs, and when the soldiers came home, they often would wear ties that indicated their old regiment.

American repp stripe tie, with stripes going down from right to left
In the early 1900s, Brooks Brothers introduced the tie to the American market. While this rubbed many a British veteran the wrong way (“How dare someone wear my regiment’s tie?!!?”), they sold and continue to sell like hotcakes in the States.
An important note here is the direction of the stripes. The British originals’ stripes descended on the diagonal from left to right. This follows aesthetic logic in that it syncs with the left-over-right buttoning mechanism of a man’s blazer.
Brooks’ ties, on the other hand, descend from right to left. This was not an accident and was intended to differentiate themselves from the originals out of respect.
Dotted Ties
The most playful tie pattern that a man can wear in the real world, dots are a type of “neat” pattern, which refers to a kind of print that’s repeated all over the entire tie (they’re also referred to as “all-over neats”).
Decades ago, dots were squarely in the domain of womenswear. Sir Thomas Lipton, a London businessman of Scottish descent who was active in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, is credited with making dots acceptable for men. He always wore a navy bow tie with white dots.
Dots can be as large as polka dots or as small as pin dots. There’s an adage often used in the UK that you should never mix spots and stripes. However, we wholeheartedly disagree and would instead argue that both complement each other nicely by offering a hint of contrast.
Paisley Ties
Paisley is, in our opinion, the most interesting of all the tie patterns. Its origins date back to ancient Babylonia, and they have a particular association with English taste. Freud thought the pattern symbolized virility due to its resemblance to sperm.
A fun tie just shy of “novelty” status, paisley has a particular Ivy League aesthetic similar to the critters that we see on the GTH (meaning “go to hell,” or loudly patterned) pants often worn by this set. They’re available in a wide range of colour schemes and scales, making paisley a versatile pattern indeed.
Plaid & Tartan Ties
Plaid ties can be either printed or woven and were initially made of wool as a nod to their relation to Scottish kilts.
Authentic Highland plaids were gentrified in silk for city wear and continue to enjoy popularity to this day. While silk is more appropriate for town, you can also wear tartan and plaid ties made from wool!
Essentially a series of boxes, plaid ties are chock full of right angles. As such, they pair quite well with striped shirts and suits.
Club & Sports Ties
Unsurprisingly, club ties are British in origin. The name “club tie” is pretty self-explanatory in that wearing one symbolized membership in a private, often elite social club. Similar to regimental ties, the colours of these ties offer insight into the wearer’s membership in a club.
However, they can often be worn to show affiliation with any group, including academic institutions and sports clubs.
A sports tie is a style of all-over tie that has sporting motifs on it. This usually looks like sailboats, golfers, polo players, and so on. Yet, they may instead feature the sports club’s crest.
Nowadays, a “club” tie can be used to describe a tie that has a series of symbols on it, regardless of their meaning or lack thereof.
Novelty
Like the ugly Christmas sweater, a lot of guys keep a novelty tie or two in the rotation. Sometimes they light up, sometimes they make noise, and sometimes they are just insane. Occasionally, they may be quite tasteful. Indeed, Brooks Brothers retail a variety of elegant novelty ties!
Sometimes they’re just what the doctor ordered -think boozy holiday parties, being the fun teacher that every kid loves and learns a lot from- and sometimes they’re just terrible-looking.
Use your best judgement when looking at novelty ties. If you don’t have good judgement, ask a friend or spouse with sound judgement for input.
Classic Tie Fabrics
While it’s always been the most popular cloth, ties aren’t just made of silk. Below we’ll outline the most common tie fabrics:
Simply use the links above to jump ahead or scroll down to read them all!
Silk Ties

Genuine Seven-Fold Silk Tie By Turnbull & Asser
As we said, silk is hands down the most common material to use in neckties. It has a beautiful hand, a handsome sheen, and lasts a long time when properly cared for. One thing that needs addressing, however, is the ubiquitousness of the claim “100% silk” on so many neckties.
The outer portion of silk neckties are indeed 100% silk. Yet, the lion’s share of ties have filler or interlining, which is very rarely silk. The materials used for this may vary, but silk they are not.
Authentic 100% silk ties are often seven-fold ties, meaning that they’re made from a massive piece of silk that has been folded over itself in such a way that it has the heft and thickness required to prepare for an excellent necktie. As you might imagine, such ties are often quite expensive, and few makers bother making ties this way.
Raw Silk
Raw silk contains sericin, a gummy substance that protects silk during processing and is typically removed at the final stage of tie production by boiling the silk in soap and water. Ties that skip this last step are