A Study in Stripes: Regimental and Repp Ties

One of my favorite past times as of late is browsing eBay for interesting striped ties. Both vintage and non-vintage. There are so many permutations and possibilities. A lot of the ties have silks that are effectively unique "one-offs."

@Claghorn and I have been discussing what makes for a good striped tie. I've developed a few broad criteria that guide my purchases. Here's what I've come up with:




Please discuss. (@claghorn, can you explain your triple stripe rule with pictures?)

Also, please post your striped tie collections. I will do that below.

My collection

I'm waiting for two striped ties to arrive. When they do, I'll post pictures of my collection.

My dislike of multi-striped ties is probably personal. They look super crowded.

Also, that's a rare patterned large weave grenadine that works, largely because both colors are dark, making the weave less obvious. When there is greater contrast or lighter colors, the weave interferes visually with the stripe, creating a micropattern within the stripe. Too busy for my taste. SF Club tie included, something I've not worn in a while.



Claghorn said:

I'm waiting for two striped ties to arrive.

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J. Press sale?

Nice collection, jrd. I'm not a huge fan of striped ties, but you have a few I'd wear. In general, I prefer solids (with texture, e.g. grenadines, knits, shantungs) or simple neats. But a few tasteful stripes are a must for any tie wardrobe.

I very much concur with your criteria for selecting striped ties. However, I might change 2) to a limit of two colors in total, instead of three. My favorite striped ties are double bars with a dark ground and light stripes; the navy and white one in your first link is the perfect example. Even better if it's a shantung, like Conrad Wu's version. I know shantungs aren't to everyone's taste, but that's for another discussion.

I'm waiting for 4 striped ties to arrive. I will post pics after I receive it.

Other than striped pattern, what's the opinion on the material/weave (neat, grenadine, shantung, linen etc) for striped ties? What's your preference?

@jrd617 , looks like you prefer neat striped ties over grenadine. Any reason for that?



Claghorn said:

Also, that's a rare patterned large weave grenadine that works, largely because both colors are dark, making the weave less obvious. When there is greater contrast or lighter colors, the weave interferes visually with the stripe, creating a micropattern within the stripe. Too busy for my taste. SF Club tie included, something I've not worn in a while.

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O RLY? I think it's a beautiful tie, and one of the few striped ties with more than two colors that I'd consider purchasing. If you don't wear yours often and might want to sell it, see this post: http://www.styleforum.net/t/245529/...tie-appreciation-thread/5100_100#post_7204565



Evolve said:

Nice collection, jrd. I'm not a huge fan of striped ties, but you have a few I'd wear. In general, I prefer solids (with texture, e.g. grenadines, knits, shantungs) or simple neats. But a few tasteful stripes are a must for any tie wardrobe.

I very much concur with your criteria for selecting striped ties. However, I might change 2) to a limit of two colors in total, instead of three. My favorite striped ties are double bars with a dark ground and light stripes; the navy and white one in your first link is the perfect example. Even better if it's a shantung, like Conrad Wu's version. I know shantungs aren't to everyone's tastes, but that's for another discussion.

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Thanks.

I need to get some striped shantungs myself. Been considering one from Drakes but they're so damn expensive at $160+! Could get two Hobers for that price

teoky said:

I'm waiting for 4 striped ties to arrive. I will post pics after I receive it. 

Other than striped pattern, what's the opinion on the material/weave (neat, grenadine, shantung, linen etc) for striped ties? What's your preference?

@jrd617
, looks like you prefer neat striped ties over grenadine. Any reason for that?

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Thanks and please do post.

In regards to your material question, I think you're misusing the term "neat." For ties, the term "neat" usually refers to a "neatly spaced" pattern that's printed on to Maccelsfield silk.

So the question should be do I prefer tightly woven silks (reppes, Maccelsfields, etc), grenadines, shatungs, or linens. I like all of them, given they have the right color scheme/stripe pattern. I'd tend to stay away from linens though because they're not durable.

In regards to grenadines, I would buy more but I have other non-tie purchases to make. Shibumi and Drakes have some nice ones up right now.



teoky said:

I'm waiting for 4 striped ties to arrive. I will post pics after I receive it. 

Other than striped pattern, what's the opinion on the material/weave (neat, grenadine, shantung, linen etc) for striped ties? What's your preference?

@jrd617
, looks like you prefer neat striped ties over grenadine. Any reason for that?

Click to expand...

"Neat striped" ties? That's something of a contradiction. There's no such thing as a "neat striped" tie. "Neat" refers to a tie with small, repeating patterns, so a neat can't be a striped tie.

But judging by the context of your post, I think you're just using the term to mean a non-grenadine striped tie. jrd can speak for himself, but I'll just say that striped grenadines aren't that common, so it makes sense that his (or anyone's) collection would have significantly more non-grenadine stripes vs. grenadine stripes.

Evolve said:

I very much concur with your criteria for selecting striped ties. However, I might change 2) to a limit of two colors in total, instead of three. My favorite striped ties are double bars with a dark ground and light stripes; the navy and white one in your first link is the perfect example.

Click to expand...

Personally, I won't limit to just 2 colours. The 3rd colour will work well provided it's done tastefully. For example the JRD's Cornelliani olive, white and navy striped. I find that the white line actually bring out the navy, which make the whole colour scheme looks more pleasing to the eye as compared to some of 2 colours striped tie such as the Polo's Navy Green..

To clarify, what I mean by 3 isn't a tie with a minor color separating the other two, but something like this:



which actually isn't bad as far as that breed goes, as there is still a clear ground and the variation from the light blue to navy isn't too extreme.

Another type I'm not a fan of, again because the lack of a clear ground makes it busy, is



Evolve said:

But judging by the context of your post, I think you're just using the term to mean a non-grenadine striped tie. jrd can speak for himself, but I'll just say that striped grenadines aren't that common, so it makes sense that his (or anyone's) collection would have significantly more non-grenadine stripes vs. grenadine stripes.

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This too. Repp silks are the traditional material for striped ties. The striped grenadines have come into popularity recently because of #menswear trends. A result of the folks at Drakes, Shibumi, Hober getting "funky" with their silk sourcing (in a good way)



teoky said:

Personally, I won't limit to just 2 colours. The 3rd colour will work well provided it's done tastefully. For example the JRD's Cornelliani olive, white and navy striped. I find that the white line actually bring out the navy, which make the whole colour scheme looks more pleasing to the eye as compared to some of 2 colours striped tie such as the Polo's Navy Green.. 

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There are certain striped ties with three colors that work--the Hober SF club tie being one of them--but for the most part, the striped ties I gravitate toward are the simplest ones with only two colors. Never, ever more than three, though, like jrd suggests.

Evolve said:

"Neat striped" ties? That's something of a contradiction. There's no such thing as a "neat striped" tie. "Neat" refers to a tie with small, repeating patterns, so a neat can't be a striped tie.

But judging by the context of your post, I think you're just using the term "neat striped" to mean a non-grenadine striped tie. jrd can speak for himself, but I'll just say that striped grenadines aren't that common, so it makes sense that his (or anyone's) collection would have significantly more non-grenadine stripes vs. grenadine stripes.

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Haha sorry. My bad. I should use the word solid (non-textured) striped?

Maybe it's due to availability of striped grenadines, but with the 4 new ties coming, I'll have 3 grenadine stripes vs 2 solid stripes

I guess I should rephrase my question. Is it due to the nature of striped ties that one prefer to go for non-textured vs textured?

Claghorn said:

Also, that's a rare patterned large weave grenadine that works, largely because both colors are dark, making the weave less obvious. When there is greater contrast or lighter colors, the weave interferes visually with the stripe, creating a micropattern within the stripe. Too busy for my taste. SF Club tie included, something I've not worn in a while.

Click to expand...

Evolve said:

O RLY? I think it's a beautiful tie, and one of the few striped ties with more than two colors that I'd consider purchasing. If you don't wear yours often and might want to sell it, see this post: http://www.styleforum.net/t/245529/...tie-appreciation-thread/5100_100#post_7204565

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Haha. Claghorn, you know where to find me if you decide to part with that SF club tie