Society Gives Ties A Dressing-Down

Almost since Sonora Smart Dodd organized the first Father’s Day ever in Spokane in 1910, neckties have been pitched as the perfect gift for Dad: personal, practical and one size fits all.

So strong is the connection between the holiday and ties that retailers sell books, tools and cell phones as the alternative to the necktie.

It’s a bit like shooting the wounded.

The “casualization” of America has done more to undermine the necktie with its classic four-in-hand knot, silk, polyester or knit, than any marketing campaign.

How bad is it? Let’s just say the Monica Lewinsky-President Clinton tie episode last year was considered an industry boost.

The tie Lewinsky gave the president and that he allegedly wore to signal her on television created a flurry of interest in the blue and gold pattern. Ermenegildo Zegna declined to reissue that tie and declined to comment on anything relating to it. But trade advocates seized the chance to remind people of the whole “romantic language of neckties.”

“They really are an intimate gift,” said Gerald Andersen, spokesman for the Neckwear Association of America.

Neckwear could use some positives. Thirty-five years ago, families buying neckties, suits and monogrammed shirts for Father’s Day in Spokane made the holiday second only to Christmas and back-to-school sales. At Harvey’s, a men’s clothing store, extra help was always hired.

This week, Harvey’s is holding its liquidation sale, closing after 44 years. Competition from larger retailers and the change in people’s attitude toward business clothing signaled the end.

“Dressing up just isn’t as important as it used to be,” said owner Patrick Jones, whose father opened the first Harvey’s store in NorthTown Mall. The family’s Coeur d’Alene store remains open.

Steve Fitzgerald had six tie stores in the Denver area five years ago. When corporate offices near the malls, like US West, adopted casual dressing, he saw a drop in business.

“The tie industry is hurting, that’s why we left the malls,” said Fitzgerald, who now sells ties on the Internet from his home in Littleton, Colo. He wears jeans and a T-shirt.

“I have 300 to 400 ties and I love to wear them. But I never get the chance.”

“Neckwear is an emotional business; it depends upon the mood of things,” said Paul Weiss, chief executive officer of Mallory & Church, one of the nation’s largest tie companies headquartered in Seattle.

When the economy is good and unemployment is low, people tend to dress more casually, even securely. In a bad economy, people tend to wear more ties as they dress to get bank loans and job interviews.

Corporations now recruit workers saying they can dress anyway they want. A whole generation of enormously rich and successful high-tech executives and engineers succeeded without wearing ties, much less socks.

Baby boomers slouching toward 50 are spending more on recliners, remote controls and recreation than on dressing up to impress a partner or advance a career. Consumers have shifted their priorities from the person to the home, said Pamela Rucker, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation.

“There is a casualization happening in our whole attitude and across our whole culture,” Rucker said. People used to have different clothes for church, for work and for play. Now they have one wardrobe for all three.

Some trend watchers predict people will tire of looking casual and like everyone else. But others say telecommuting, sheer comfort and America’s chronic shortage of time will keep it casual for a long time. Retailers are placing stores in airports and train stations. And resort wear, purchased while people are at the golf course and on vacation, is selling well.

So what can that mean for the necktie? An accessory that, like the grenade loop on trench coats and buttons on suit sleeves, serves no practical purpose? Well, it is fashion, Andersen said.

As long as men could see their necks, they’ve adorned them with everything from beads to furs. The modern tie came to us from Louis XIV’s Croatian bodyguards who wore silk cloths around their necks, according to Anderson and a history of the tie written by Alan Flusser. The word “cravat” is derived from the word “Croat.”

The glory days of neckties really came in 1946 when millions of American soldiers, after four years in uniform, came home, dressed up and went to work. The market exploded with unique, artistic hand-painted ties. Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali produced ties, Andersen said.

Ties stayed strong, albeit skinny and standard, through the 1950s, until Ralph Lauren unleashed a wide style and subsequent boom in the 1960s.

When leisure suits appeared in the 1970s, people predicted the end of neckties. But in the 1980s ties came roaring back with the Masters of the Universe tackling Wall Street. When that urban sophisticate look slowed, in 1990s, novelty ties caused another industry pop but that also began slowing about two years ago.

Today, 100 million ties are sold annually and ties sales rose 1 percent last year, according to market researchers at the NPD Group, American Shoppers Panel. But that figure is still 10 million lower than in 1994.

The tie industry makes up about 1 percent of the $176.9 billion apparel market. The industry challenge goes beyond the national dressing down. It includes a lack of a compelling design to drive sales. This year’s hottest look is black or gray monochrome. In other words, a tie that looks like a shirt.

So where does that leave dear old Dad?

An estimated 10 million fathers, grandfathers and stepfathers will still receive a necktie today. It will likely be of higher quality than ever. Although people are buying fewer ties, they are spending more.

“The guy who wore $15 ties isn’t buying $15 ties anymore, he’s wearing a T-shirt,” Fitzgerald said.

Still, Father’s Day may be the one day to celebrate the necktie. Ties are still the top-selling item for the holiday. But it’s only a two-week or so blip. Father’s Day isn’t a mega-retail boost, like Christmas, Halloween, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

“Father’s Day, frankly, is further down the list,” Rucker acknowledged. “We’re not saying people don’t love their father as much. Dads are wonderful and play a role, but Mom is a category all her own.”

Tie marketers are looking for signs of hope: maybe in the resurgence of swing dancing, or in a more mature computer industry. Bill Gates is almost always seen in a tie nowadays, although tie sellers admit, he’s usually in court or testifying before Congress at the time.

“Ties have been with us 300 years. We’ve had our ups and downs before,” Andersen said.

“What goes around comes around,” Weiss agreed.

These men know, they’ve seen it. Even bellbottoms came back.