Film Noir Buff,

I enjoyed reading your article that you linked to.

I would love to see photos of the patterned grenadines. Are they true grenadines or something similar?

Silk weight: I do not think about this in terms of an overall identity for Sam Hober because we are across the board in this area. Instead I think about in general what interlining goes best with a certain silk; and then we customize for special requests.

Wool interlinings are available in a number of grades. Typically the top Italian and English tie makers will use pure Italian combed wool. We have wool specially woven for us in Italy that works beautifully in our ties. We also have a variety of weights and textures of wool so we can mix up a recipe that will fit our clients needs.

Silk texture: Again we go with a wide variety of textures and weaves, it just depends what we want to accomplish. For example when you use a heavy 350 warp silk it will not drape as well as a 250 warp silk, and our grenadine weave silk has less warp yarns per inch but the drape and ability to customize the knot is perfect - as a trade-off the silk is more delicate.

Colors: In the past we wove silk with lots of non-western colors and a small niche of gentlemen loved the ties. then we gently moved towards a more western color selection. We could probably be much more profitable if we stayed with the top half dozen colors but it would not be as much fun.

Target market: One group is those gentlemen who love beautifully crafted bespoke ties made as they like them. These gentlemen usually like the classic weaves, fabrics, patterns and colors. We are currently set up to need very low minimum silk runs so we can do almost anything we like. Because we mostly use classic silks we have no need to move silks/ties at all.

Another group is the sartorially adventurous who love unusual silks like our handwoven Thai silks. We can weave and from time to do as little as 3 or 4 yards of a design with Thai silk. Although most of the Thai silk that we weave ends up as pocket squares.

In the end we do not follow fashion as many of the name brand tie makers do and rely primarily on our construction skills and friendly service.


Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Last edited by Sam Hober (2007-12-10 09:29:20)

Last edited by David (2007-12-11 01:52:03)

I agree with Cantabrigian.  Also, I would be interested to see something like a (if I can describe this...), very understated paisley.  Think of a grenadine with a paisley pattern woven in it - if that makes any sense.

The latest thought on the 'Long Scarf' is that it was maybe some kind of 'stock'.

I wonder if this place would interest forum members:

http://www.macclesfield.silk.museum/visit-our-museums/pattern-archive.htm

Last edited by David (2007-12-12 02:33:11)

I would rather see a selection of ties that is hard to find other places. Having said that, it is hard to design ties for a market. Which is why something like an Edward the VIII range or a range from movies from the 30s to the 60s might be interesting.