Caring for your Ties

Wearing a tie is relatively easy but taking it off and storing it takes a little more care and attention. The extra work is worth it though.  It can greatly extend the life of your ties and enhance your fashion investment.

TIE REMOVAL

When you remove your tie, just reverse the tying procedure.  Don’t pull the thin end through the knot and definitely don’t leave the tie knotted & pull on it until it’s big enough to slip it over your head.  When you do this, your tie will become stretched, quickly lose its shape and gain extra wrinkles and creases.  Always untie your tie when you take it off. Silk ties especially are very delicate.  Treat them as fragile and give them the extra care that they deserve.

Once off your neck, undo the knot, and hang your tie up!  It will keep the wrinkles away.  You may hang it on a hanger, but hangers are slippery and it may fall off, so a tie rack is highly recommended.  If you are wearing a knitted tie, gently roll it up, as hanging a knitted tie will obviously encourage it to stretch.

WRINKLE REMOVAL

Even though you hang your tie up, sometimes wrinkles are still present.   Only press or iron your tie if you absolutely have to.  But there are a few rules to this:

1. Always iron from the backside.  If you iron on the front, you may end up with a shiny coating on your tie or it may even change the shade of the tie. 
2. We recommend a steam setting on your iron, or better yet, use an actual steamer.  When you use a steam setting on your iron, still make sure that you do it from the backside, taking care that the iron doesn’t touch the tie.  Hold it about an inch from the fabric and press your steam button to give it a burst of steam, or you can put a light towel over top of the backside of the fabric and lightly touch the iron to the towel and give it a burst of steam by pressing the steam button.
3. When traveling, a great idea is to hang your tie in the bathroom when you are taking a shower and the steam from your shower is sometimes enough to make little wrinkles fall out.

REMOVING STAINS

If you have a silk tie with a stain, or if you have a microfiber or polyester tie with a persistent stain on it, take it to a trusted dry cleaner and ask them to get the stain out, but not to press it flat like a pancake, unless of course, you like it that way.  Hey, it’s your preference!

For minor stains on microfiber or polyester ties, dip a clean cloth in club soda and dab the stain.  I also have a friend that recommends putting a little dab of shaving cream on the stain and gently rubbing it out, because the shaving cream won’t leave a residue. 

To remove grease or oil on your tie, sprinkle a little talcum powder on the spot and leave it for a while to absorb, then brush off the residue with a clean, soft cloth.  

STORING TIES

If you’re an occasional tie wearer or you have a lot of ties and you’d like to store some of them, loosely roll them up and store them out of direct sunlight to prevent the color from fading.

Remember, your neckties make a statement about you, and some are even very costly, so take care of them!