J.Crew | Blog

11/25

In the Field: Our Made-in-New-York Ties

we went to Long Island City, New York—where 12 ties are handmade per hour—to dig
around the workspace of Mane, where they’ve been cutting, stitching, and
hand-finishing many of our ties for the last 10 years.

At Mane, ties are made just as they were more than 50 years ago, and we take our time doing so.
Here, about 12 ties are handmade per hour. (Versus 100 ties per hour produced by factories who
make their ties using a machine.) The secret to a tie falling perfectly flat is the weight of the interlining, which gives it shape.

Although we scour the globe to source fabrics from the finest mills across Italy and England,
each tie is still handmade in New York. A tie has to be cut on the bias at a perfect 45-degree
angle with a handsaw in order for it to drape properly.

“They would get together to talk about the industry and promote manufacturing in the U.S.,”
says Mane president Nick Sackett of the association members and his grandfather, who
is pictured in this old photograph that hangs on a wall in his office.

“It takes years of experience to wrap the fabric around the shell and sew it together as
beautifully as they do,” says Nick of the skilled craftspeople at Mane.

A tie is finished by hand and then inspected for quality before it’s sent out.

Shop our men’s ties here.

Photography by Matt Hranek

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05/14

This Week’s Discovery

the Ludlow tuxedo

The great tuxedo wearers through the years: Cary Grant, James Bond, Jack Donaghy…One thing they have in common? They didn’t rent. Follow suit and finally bid farewell to the days of cheap tuxedo-rental shops stuffed with ill-fitting cuts and shiny-pattern cummerbunds. Instead, heed our stylist Jack’s advice: “Spend on a quality tux. Even if you only trot it out once a year, it’s the wisest wardrobe investment a man can make.” Our modern yet timeless Ludlow tuxedo fits the bill in fine Italian wool from Italy’s Lanificio di Tollegno mill with bespoke details (a satin stripe down the leg and pickstitching inside the jacket), all for under a cool grand. It’s your perfect excuse to make sure “black tie optional” is never an option.

Our tuxedo all-stars: Cary Grant in the 1946 movie Notorious; Roger Moore as James Bond;
Alec Baldwin as 30 Rock’s Jack Donaghy.

SHOP THE SUIT COLLECTION >

(image credits: top, right, bottom)

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