Tie Story

Last week I bought a bow tie. I’m not sure why or when I imagine I might need it but it felt like something I should own. It led me to thinking what the whole point of ties really is? How did the idea even get thought of? Amazingly the first recorded tie of any sort dates back to ancient China and 210BC, The famous Terracotta Army statues found in 1974 are all sporting a sort of neck tie which historians reckon is some kind of badge of honour. There are further examples of this sort of thing through history though these are usually what we would call a cravat rather than a tied up tie of the sort people wear to offices, though cravat is just French for tie. It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution  that the narrower tie came into being when workers developed a fashion for tying cravats in the more familiar knot at the throat style mainly to keep it secure amongst the factory machinery.