One of these things is not like the others

It's no secret that mens clothing and accessories of different brands are often made under the same roof. A good portion of silk knit ties are made in the same place, as well as grenadine's. A lot of the nicer Polo Ralph Lauren (made in Italy) stuff is made by Coreliani and so on and so forth. There's a lot of re-branding that takes place and some label-associated mark-ups that would truly make heads spin.

I mention the above because lately I've run across a lot of different ties from the same era that all bear a remarkable similarity to one another. None of these labels are ultra high-end, but starting prices on them (at least at time of retail) had to vary a fair amount. Note the ties in the aforementioned picture and their prints. They'll all fairly similar repp stripe ties with alternating colors, all of the same width, with the weave of the silk all running in the same direction.

Flip them over and the labels tell a different story. The discerning eye probably caught that the Brooks Brothers tie had a slightly different print (the thick bars being more narrow than the other two), but it still gives the same overall effect. If that weren't enough, check the following Lands' End tie (which I tried to give away several months ago on Style Share):

Another almost exact match, at probably a slightly lower original price-point than either of the aforementioned.

The moral (as always) is not to sweat the labels too much. If you like it (and it fits), and it's not complete crap quality, the only people who are going to make a big deal out of the difference are those who you don't want to hang out with anyway.

Brooks bonanza

Although I've found some great ties over the course of the past couple months, I hadn't run across a lump sum of truly great ones until this past week. Over the past couple years especially, I've gotten better at scanning patterns and colors and visually separating the wheat from the chaff (so to speak), so when I saw some familiar stripes all hanging together recently, my heart skipped a little jump.


The three on the right were the ones that caught my attention (specifically the light-blue/navy/burgundy combo), and when I started flipping them over, my suspicion was confirmed.


I'm not completely sure of the era of these Brooks Brothers ties (I'm guessing 70s or early 80s?), but I'm pretty sure they all came from the same owner, as they were all found at the same store all huddled together amongst some polyester blends and a rather insanely-colored Jerry Garcia number.

I have two other Brooks Brothers ties with exactly the same label (bumping my total to six), and their construction and colors are pretty much impeccable. Finding four at one time definitely qualifies as a joyous occasion and means that a couple lesser-worn cravats in somewhat similar colors in my collection will now be exiting stage right to make room.

What's in a name?

I'll be the first to admit that in my early days, I would often buy thrift clothes based on labels alone. While I often ended up with nice pieces, there were other times that I purchased an item which was created during a rough patch of a particular manufacturer and I ended up with a piece of junk. Obviously, some labels are better than others; some have their ups and downs (lets be honest, the 80s were bad for a lot of people), while others are pretty much tried and true in terms of quality.

Over time, I've learned not only more about the names on the labels themselves, but the eras in which they were produced and the quality I can expect from such. Since I'm working on a limited budget and I'm not exactly the easiest size to shop for, I can't really be a label snob, but I have to admit getting a little giddy when I run across the big-names in a piece that I can wear.

Of course, the easiest piece of clothing (accessory or otherwise) to shop for is ties, and over the course of the past few months I've ran across some fairly big names.


First up is this Giorgio Armani tie. While I'm not a huge fan of the design, the tag leads me to believe that it's from the 70s, which would make it a very early Armani tie, and worth purchasing simply to have. While it's certainly no investment piece, it is cool to have (and I'm sure I will wear it with a gray suit at some point down the road).


Next up is this gorgeous plaid number from Balenciaga. Based on other patterns I've seen from this label, I would have never guessed I'd see something so understated and lovely from them. This is a tie that I've already worn and will proceed to bust out a great deal more.


To be frank, I'm not a huge fan of most Hermes prints on their ties or other accessories. By some dumb luck, though, I stumbled upon a couple of them earlier this year and re-sold them, in turn funding some more thrift store clothing purchases in the process. This particular tie was the most understated one that I found, and due to a couple small spots I decided to keep it. So now I own an Hermes tie. Whoopdie doo!


Like the Armani above, I mainly bought this Gucci tie due to it being a bit more vintage. That said, the texture on the tie is pretty incredible (you can see it a bit better in the detail shot of the label) and because of that it will likely stay in my collection.

My holy grail tie is still a six or seven-fold silk tie, but I'm not holding my breath for one.

It won't stop me from digging through swaths of polyester and acrylic in my valiant quest, though.