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Altea Milano

SpooPoker

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I got a bunch of Altea ties last year for a song on B&S from Matt at DeCalo Fashion - and the quality was much better than I would have expected. Not terrific, but great for what the price was.
 

FStyles

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Originally Posted by SpooPoker
I got a bunch of Altea ties last year for a song on B&S from Matt at DeCalo Fashion - and the quality was much better than I would have expected. Not terrific, but great for what the price was.

Serious question: what characteristics would make them terrific?

I have a **** load of ties from 'charter club' to Attolini and labels and style aside, I really can't tell te difference between them. In fact, the loops on my brioni and Kiton seen to come ff quicker than some of my 15 yr old dkny ties.

Shirting is pretty obvious to my hand but What should i be looking/feeling for in ties? Silk thread count?

I have a feeling a lot if it is judged by the label
 

FStyles

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Originally Posted by SpooPoker
No - the quality of the silk, the padded inset, the stitching, the even-ness of the twill, how well it knots. Theres alot of factors.

Hmmmm. I have a lot of prints so the evenness of he twill is moot, what determines the quAlity of the lining? That it maintains its shape? Most of my ties have not come apart so stitching isn't an issue, in fact not even visible other than my unlined wool ones

I just dont buy into the fact that one can judge an altea tie to be "not terrific" unless you're an expert in comparing silk.

But of course, I'm not the expert so I'd love to be educated.
 

SpooPoker

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Originally Posted by FStyles
Hmmmm. I have a lot of prints so the evenness of he twill is moot, what determines the quAlity of the lining? That it maintains its shape? Most of my ties have not come apart so stitching isn't an issue, in fact not even visible other than my unlined wool ones

I just dont buy into the fact that one can judge an altea tie to be "not terrific" unless you're an expert in comparing silk.

But of course, I'm not the expert so I'd love to be educated.


Im not an expert either, but I do know that the Altea ties I got never tied a perfect, clean knot easily, had obviously lower quality silk, and cheaper construction than some others in my arsenal.

Perhaps its preference, perhaps its an intangible thing I cant put into words, but they were just OK for me.
 

FStyles

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Originally Posted by SpooPoker
Im not an expert either, but I do know that the Altea ties I got never tied a perfect, clean knot easily, had obviously lower quality silk, and cheaper construction than some others in my arsenal.

Perhaps its preference, perhaps its an intangible thing I cant put into words, but they were just OK for me.


I can see that . The knot that is.

By what's the science behind a good knot?

And how does one tell the quality of silk? ( I guess kinda hard to answer on a forum)

Tie experts?
 

Sebastian

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Nice ties IMO but some of them are on the slimmer side.

The deal at DeCalo was unreal, if you look at the 80-100€ retail price, they are going for.

The used materials and (machine) construction are very good but of course the Borrelli and Attolini ties are nicer. I would put them in the range of Canali and other italian mid-market brands.

On a side note, Altea used (or still does?) to make the ties fpr RLPL. While it is very well possible that they used better silks for those ties, my eye can't make out a real difference between Altea branded ties and the RLPL ones.
 

Sebastian

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About 15$ IIRC.
 

Sebastian

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Originally Posted by ThinkDerm
quite inexpensive! were they a bargain at that price, or a waste?
Great bargain IMHO. Hard to find a better deal on ties. I think I bought 10 ties or so. FWIW up to 50 Euros I find them to be an acceptable deal.
 

hammer07

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Altea make good beater ties especially if you get them from DeCalo for ~$10-15 a pop (they sell on eBay and have an online store). All of mine tie a pretty nice 4IH. The silks aren't bad but there is noticable dropoff in quality from the top tier brands - they seem soft/aren't as crisp (but what do you expect). Also, the colours aren't as vibrant. Construction is very solid but unremarkable - haven't had any troubles. Most of mine are self-tipped but not all.
 

P-K-L

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My father has an Altea tie from the 80s. It is just
ffffuuuu.gif
 

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