Bow ties fraying

Hi All,

Do all bow ties fray or is it only the silk? I just started wearing bow ties and the 2 that I bought are both silk. Both of them frayed at the top where they touch my neck/chin before the day was half way over. If all ties do that, I may have to go back to neck ties. I read some where here the ties fray because of stubble. I shave every day and do not have a beard or mustache. Any advice or recommendations would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks.

I have worn bow ties and I have not seen this issue. How often do you wear them? And do you have a set rotation?

With ties, the quality of the silk and construction play a factor as well. Might if I ask what brands you are wearing?

I really like Brooks Brothers and JPress bow ties.

I have the same problem. My first bow tie I bought from beutiesltd had the same thing happen even though I shaved. They graciously allowed me to pick out another tie

Yes...If it touches your face ,even with a good shave , the stubble will eventually fray the material.I used to like wearing "Ban-Lon" type of shirts , but they frayed rapidly on me,so I stopped using them decades ago.

Yep, me too. They fray a bit from my stubble. I trim the stray strands of silk that fray and they stay serviceable for a while. I do have a nice searsucker bow tie that doesn't fray. You might look into bow ties that aren't silk.

I have bow ties from Beuties of Vermont, The Tie Bar, and a local men's chain.

Only one has frayed, and that started when it got caught on mu nail when tying it. Otherwise no issues at all.

Some fraying is to be expected, but over a long period of time. If yours have frayed after just 1-2 uses, I would contact manufacturer to discuss.

Depends on the material. No, I don't mean "silk vs wool" but more the type of weave of material. Almost all wool ties are of material that won't fray quickly, so no problem there. So it's silk ties, but not all silk ties ... because some can be very durable and others very fragile, and others in between.

It's annoying.

Get a small, sharp pair of scissors and trim off the fuzz.

sskim3 said:

I have worn bow ties and I have not seen this issue. How often do you wear them? And do you have a set rotation?

With ties, the quality of the silk and construction play a factor as well. Might if I ask what brands you are wearing?

I really like Brooks Brothers and JPress bow ties.

Click to expand...

Hi Tom,

Thanks. I only have 3 at the moment. 2 of them are Cremieux ties I bought at Dillards, and the other one, I'm not sure of. My wife bought it at Marshals I think and it's nylon/polyester blend. That one frayed the least. I've only worn each tie once. I'll see if I can post some pictures. I just ordered some cotton ties from Mainebows and wanted to see if it happened on different material as well. We have a Brooks Brothers in the area, I'll have to check them out.

Here are the 2 silk ties.

Hirsute said:

Yep, me too. They fray a bit from my stubble. I trim the stray strands of silk that fray and they stay serviceable for a while. I do have a nice searsucker bow tie that doesn't fray. You might look into bow ties that aren't silk.

Click to expand...

I have to smile. Charleston, SC and searsuckers go hand in hand. And trying bow ties that are not silk was just recommended to me by the manufacture of the tie. LOL!!

Pepin said:

I have bow ties from Beuties of Vermont, The Tie Bar, and a local men's chain.

Only one has frayed, and that started when it got caught on mu nail when tying it. Otherwise no issues at all.

Click to expand...

Thank. I'll have to look into them as well.

BSAGuy said:

Some fraying is to be expected, but over a long period of time. If yours have frayed after just 1-2 uses, I would contact manufacturer to discuss.

Click to expand...

Hi BSAGuy,

That's what I thought too. I sent an email to Cremieux asking about the situation and they must have forwarded my email to Dillard's because the next day I received an email from Dillard's customer service. They were very nice and have been communicating with the manufacture and have been keeping me posted with the response.

Doc4 said:

Depends on the material. No, I don't mean "silk vs wool" but more the type of weave of material. Almost all wool ties are of material that won't fray quickly, so no problem there. So it's silk ties, but not all silk ties ... because some can be very durable and others very fragile, and others in between.

It's annoying.

Get a small, sharp pair of scissors and trim off the fuzz.

Click to expand...

Hi Doc4,

Thanks. I will have to do some research into weaving and material. Bow ties, a brand new world! Who knew?

For summer, seersucker is great so is madras bow ties with tons of color. I also like Wool and wool/silk blends especially for the fall/winter.

I get that on a number of my bow ties from various places and manufactures. Not sure if it's cause I by cheap ties, some are, some aren't or if it's because I have a beard or stubble towards the end of the day. Been an issue for years, Generally I take a sharp scissors and give it a hair cut. Ties seem no worse for the wear and I've been doing this for 4-5 years on some of the ties.

sskim3 said:

For summer, seersucker is great so is madras bow ties with tons of color. I also like Wool and wool/silk blends especially for the fall/winter.

Click to expand...

Thanks Tom. Just checked out Madras. Nice colors. They would definitely go well down here.

jlanger said:

I get that on a number of my bow ties from various places and manufactures. Not sure if it's cause I by cheap ties, some are, some aren't or if it's because I have a beard or stubble towards the end of the day. Been an issue for years, Generally I take a sharp scissors and give it a hair cut. Ties seem no worse for the wear and I've been doing this for 4-5 years on some of the ties.

Click to expand...

Hi jlanger,

Thanks, that's good to hear. I just torched several of my silk ones based on the manufacturer's recommendation and melted the frayed threads down. I'll have to wear them later and see what happens. Just got an order of cloth ties from Mainebows in today and will give them a try tomorrow. They have some nice looking ones but had to limit my self to just a few. They're 100% cotton so I'm not expecting the fraying like on the silk. One think I did notice however was I changed to a different shaving soap and that seemed to give me a better shave with less rough skin and less fraying.

I'm getting a feeling that collecting bow ties may be as addicting as collecting shaving soap!!

jlanger said:

I get that on a number of my bow ties from various places and manufactures. Not sure if it's cause I by cheap ties ...

Click to expand...

No, it isn't.

I have this perpetual fuzz on some very expensive ties (god bless the 80% off code on super sales!), and others from the same maker which are durable as all get out. It's down to the way the tie materials are woven.

Well, I wore my first cotton bow tie today and no fraying!! It's one that I bought from Mainebows. I did notice that its wrinkled (where the knot was) after I untied it after a day of wear but I expected that. Just need to iron it later.