Knit Tie Guide – All You Have To Know About Knit Ties

When it comes to knit ties, many people seem to think that all knit ties are alike. That’s a bit like saying cotton is cotton, and the $1 T-Shirt at Walmart is the same thing as a David J. Anderson shirt. If you read the Gentleman’s Gazette, you know that you can find various qualities of items and the same is true for knit ties. However, knitted ties are very visual and different textures are much more easily explained with a video rather than text, and therefore we create a video with all you need to know about knit ties.

This video is all about knit ties. I’ll discuss what qualities you can get, what materials you should choose,how to choose the right know for your knot tie and how to combine and wear them.

Knit Tie Qualities

First, let’s talk about quality. Knit ties come in two basic qualities: soft and crunchy. Soft knit ties, as you can see here have a really smooth feel. They’re very soft and they work well with casual outfits. On the other hand, crunchy knit ties are stiffer, they’re not as smooth and when you pinch them in your hand, you can hear the cry of the silk, which is why they’re called the cri de la soie.

The crunch in the ties use a very special silk yarn that comes from the Alps and is finished there. It’s actually being made on a hundred year old machine that was originally used for sock making. It’s knitted flat on a flat surface, put onto a wooden mold,sewn together by hand and then it has to rest for a number of days with steam to get its final shape.

Soft Knit ties on the other hand, are made in an entirely different way. They are knit like modern socks in a round machine where you cannot see any seam in the back. Usually, these kinds of machines are more prevalent and you will find this kind of round knit ties all over the place whereas the crunchy ones with the center seam that is sewn by hand is very old school, very rare,very high quality and also more expensive because it requires more work and much more silk.

Wear a Four in Hand Knot with Knit Ties

Second, the tie know for knit ties. Personally, I always suggest to wear just one knot which is the four in hand knot. Simply because knit ties are thicker than regular ties and if you choose anything else, your knot gets really big and chunky. If you like that, give it a try but doing a Windsor knot, maybe even a half Windsor knot with a knit tie is almost impossible.

Knit Tie Style Tips

Three, knit tie style tips. Originally, knit ties were casual, they were very informal and nobody would ever wear them with a suit however today, you can wear them in any way, shape or form you desire. Personally I would suggest you go with the softer knit ties that we can see here for sport coat outfits or if you just wear a vest or sometimes just a shirt. they drape very easily,super casual and they’re great. On the other hand if you want to wear a suit, I would opt for solid knit ties that are a little stiffer because it just gives the whole outfit a different dimension and you can even wear them with a business pinstripe suit. Just make sure that you choose like a color that works with the ensemble. For example, navy suits with a blue tie or red tie,dark green maybe. just not super bright colors so the whole ensemble works together. Today, I’m wearing a cri de la soie crunchy silk knit tie from Fort Belvedere and I chose it because my jacket had beige tones, is a worsted fabric which is a little bit more formal than let’s say a tweed. It has peaked lapels which is also more formal than a notched lapel and this is double breasted which is more formal than a single breasted jacket. And so, I opted for the crunchy version and in brown it harmonizes well but provides enough contrast. Because the cri de la soie knit ties are stiffer, you can do things like popping your tie knot a little bit so it stands up and gives you a different look. That is something that you cannot do with softer knit ties. Overall, you can wear knit ties with any kind of outfit today unless you’re wearing traditional morning wear or evening wear such as a tuxedo or white tie. Do not wear knot ties with those combinations. Tie bars and tie clips are very popular accessories. They are sometime a little bit more difficult to use with knit ties simply because they are so thick. So if you want to use an accessory like a bar or a clip, i suggest you skip the bars and only take the clips ’cause they give you more room to actually get underneath the shirt and over the tie without destroying the tie.

Knitted Tie Materials

Four, Knit tie materials. Most knit ties today are made of silk for various reasons. One, silk has a beautiful luster so it looks great. Two, it really feels nice in your hand and it has the right kind of consistency for the drape and it’s just overall a great fiber that’s very durable. Another popular material for knit ties is wool or cashmere. It’s very soft but due to its consistency and feel, it’s really only suited for fall winter outfits. Silk Knit ties can be worn all year round and our great companion for, especially for combinations but also for suits.

For years, silk and wool were the only tie materials used for knit ties. Lately, we’ve also seen blends such as linen cotton blends, linen and wool, linen and silk. Overall, I would say only use these materials during and wool, linen and silk. Overall, I would say only use these materials during season simply because that’s what they were made for and they’re not as warm as wool for the winter and they also can be a little more scratchy and prone to wrinkles which works well with a linen suit but not so much for worsted wool suits. Another material used for knit ties is polyester, which I would not recommend to buy or wear because it really makes you sweat more and it looks cheaper and i would always go with natural materials.

The texture of knit ties is similar to grenadine ties however, it’s even more pronounced and different so if you want to add another dimension to your outfits, go with knit ties with a strong texture.

One thing that;s very important for knit ties is the width. If you wear skinny lapels, you want a skinny knit tie. If you want wider lapels like this one, you’ll want the wider knit tie. Also keep in mind that knit ties are straight so if you have a seven centimeter knit tie, it’s as wide on top as a nine centimeter regular tie. Just keep that in mind when you pick the right widths for your lapels.

How To Store Your Knit Tie

Five, knit tie storage. There are two ways to store your knit ties. One is to take your knit tie to simply roll it up and store it like this.Personally, I roll up all of my knit ties after I’ve worn them for about a day. Once the day has passed, I unroll them and just hang it on my rack like so. Some people prefer to keep their knit ties stored rolled up because they fear that the knit ties get longer when they hang on the rack. In my experience, a good quality knit tie like the ones from Fort Belvedere can be stored hanging or rolled up and they always look great. I hope you learned a thing or two about knit ties.

If you want to learn more about How to improve your style and put together outfits and patterns, check out my E book, Gentlemen of style. Thank you.