In the mid-80s when I was teaching elementary school kids in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades I noticed that my regular, long ties were a huge distraction. When I bent over to work with a student at his or her desk, my tie would hang straight down, often hitting the student on the shoulder. If I threw the tie over my shoulder, it stopped one problem but caused another. Everyone thought that was the funniest thing they had ever seen. I tried tucking the tie into my shirt. That action had similiar consequences... everyone laughed. One day I found some giant clip-on bowties at a thrift shop. The were large, unattractive, and truly outrageous. One of them was actually brown velveteen. It looked like a prom tux rental reject. I decided to buy them, if nothing else, for the joke. I expected to get brief howls of laughter... but I would have solved my tie falling on the kid's head problem.

I was stunned by their reactions... no one laughed. Possibly a few smiles, but no laughs. Instead I got responses that went something like, "Cool tie Dr. Brose," or 'Nice tie Dr. B." I was looking for a way to get their attention; a way to get students to form an opinion, to make observations, and to verbalize their thoughts. This began a quest to purchase more bowties. When I began looking, bowties were very hard to find. The tuxedo rental places had them, but they were black or some other solid color, they were clip-on, and they were boring. I was looking for something colorful, something interesting. A few men's stores in the area had the standard paisley patterns in three colors and a few striped ties but I wasn't able to find what I wanted. There was one men's store in Washington, DC that specialized in designer clothing that had some wonderful bowties, but they were $75.00-$200.00 each. That was way out of reach for a school teacher's budget, so I decided to make my own.

I am constantly looking for fabric. I look for colors and patterns that interest me. The fabric has to "feel" right. Some fabric is too heavy, some too light. Some fabric is too stiff. I am always on the lookout for something that I would be willing to wear. That is the secret to the collections you see on the following pages. I will only buy fabric that I personally will wear.

When I began buying fabric, the employees at the cutting table used to run and hide when they saw me come in to the store. I would take a fourth of a yard of this and a third of a yard of that. I have been known to bring 10-12 bolts of fabric to the cutting table and have the employee cut fractions of a yard from each one. There was a whole lot of cutting for very little quantity sold. I would buy just enough fabric to make one tie. That would be somewhere between a quarter and a half a yard, depending upon the pattern repeat and the width of the fabric. As I got further and further into making my own ties, folks would ask me to make ties for them or a relative of theirs so I began purchasing larger amounts of each pattern... enough to make two or three ties.

As you look through my catalog you will find prices vary quite a bit. The price of an individual tie is determined by a number of factors, how much I had to pay for the fabric, the type of material, and the scarcity. I usually buy just enough fabric to make two ties... one for me and one for you.

If you ever see someone wearing one of ties you bought from me, stop them and say "Hello!"... it will be me.

TheTieDoc Home -Antique Kimono - Black Tie - Future Stars - PolyCotton - Silk-