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MBA Style magazine - Interview Neckwear for 96
Knot bad choicesSome say that neckties are an extension of tribal beads; others say that they were medieval protections against viruses. Whatever their origin, your neckwear is like a boat's flag that signals the other ships. It tells the recruiter whether you're a friend or foe. It can signal social class, school affiliation, personality, attitude, and professionalism.
You should view your suit like a picture frame enclosing your individuality communicated by your necktie. You should choose a 100% silk tie by its color, design, and quality.
You can judge a tie's quality by feeling it. It should be smooth to the touch. Avoid ties with buckles or bumps. Drape the tie across your wrist and let it hang down as it would from your neck. It should drop straight down without twisting. You may also want to check the back of the wide side of the tie for its bar tack. The bar tack is the short horizontal thread that keeps the two sides of the tie together. It should not show signs of stressing the fabric around it. Color and design are up to you
MBA's concentrating in Management Operations will be interested to know that ties are made with a 22 step manufacturing process. Your interview tie, and 40% of the ties sold in the U.S., will have an outer shell of silk. It was most likely imported as raw silk from China or Brazil. Under the outer shell is the interlining, a heavier fabric that maintains the tie's shape and body.
The interlining is chosen so that it matches the silk's blend, nap, and weight. Heavy silks will have a light interlining, and light silks will use a heavy interlining.
Colored stripes can be found on the interlining. One stripe marks the lightest weight interlining, while six stripes mark the heaviest. Since a six striped heavy interlining is teamed up with the lightest silk outer shell, a myth originated that six stripes on the interlining signifies the best quality ties. This is a myth.
Choose a tie that conveys what you want to communicate. Rep ties, stripes, and neat patterns are good for conservative interviews. A 'neat' tie is one that repeats a small icon. Abstracts and conversationals can get you noticed in marketing and advertising interviews. Burgundy red is still a popular color, as is yellow. I would not recommend that you wear a casual or a novelty tie to an interview, unless it can be used to added advantage. For example, only wear a McDonalds novelty tie to an interview with McDonalds, a Nicole Miller Frito Lay novelty tie to an interview with PepsiCo, or a Flying Toasters tie to an interview in the silicon valley or silicon alley.
The U.S. tie business did over $1.4 billion in retail sales last year. Sales peak at Christmas and Father's Day. Some of the most interesting novelty ties last year were:
Tabasco ties are manufactured by Wemco neckwear of New Orleans, the largest private manufacturer of neckties in the U.S.
The Ben and Jerry's collection of ties are part of Stonehenge's molecular collection of tie designs which bases the tie designs on an electron microscope's view of the product, like New York Super Fudge Chunk.
The Fillmore Poster tie are produced by Mulberry Neckwear. They are 100% silk jacquard ties, based on the psychedelic posters that advertised rock concerts at San Francisco's Fillmore and Winterland auditoriums 25 years ago. Henry Jacobson, 36, launched Mulberry Neckwear in 1988 to a sell a line of handloomed neckwear from Thailand. By 1991, he had sales of $1.5 million. He spent nearly three years working to acquire the rights to reproduce the Fillmore posters onto neckwear. Jacobson said, "We had to go to the representatives of the Hendrix estate, the Doors estate, and on and on." Luckily, many of the rights were owned by MCA, Inc. The ties are handsewn in Korea and the U.S. and the price tags look like Fillmore ticket stubs.
Malik Sealy, a member of the Indiana Pacer's NBA basketball team, two-time Haggerty Award winner, and a former star of St. John's University Redmen, has produced a line of neckwear since 1994. His line features fabrics from around the world, and a classic approach on novelty themes. Among his initial presentation of 40 patterns, is a richly woven silk that incorporates illustrations of various pages from the Pacer's playbook. Mr. Sealy once lost his playbook while in New York. Sealy is no stranger to fashion. His siblings and parents have worked in the fashion industry for decades, and growing up, Malik could be found not only on the basketball courts, but home sewing.