Home & Family Facts and Notes

As you look into the history of the necktie one immediately begins to see that this item of clothing has been around for many centuries now in many different disguises. Yet it was not until the middle of the 19th Century that we begun to see the introduction of neckties that look like those we wear today.

In this article we take a look at through some of the major development stages neckwear has gone through. Certainly throughout the times of the Ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Romans there are images depicting cloth being worn around the neck but these items of clothing do not closely resemble the kinds of ties worn by people today.

It was during the Thirty Years War which took place between 1618 and 1648 the first kinds of neckties were being worn by Croatian Mercenaries. But what they wore was in fact a small neckerchief knotted around the neck and was seen by Parisians who then decided to use this as a fashion accessory and was worn by both men and women.

Then in the latter part of the 17th Century men began to wear lace cravats rather than pieces of fabric which required a large amount of time and effort to arrange them. To help keep such items of clothing in place strings would be used to hold the cravats in place.

However during the Battle of Steenkerque in 1692 because the princes were rushing to get ready for battle rather than spending hours sorting out their cravats they just wound them around the neck. They would then twist each end of the fabric together and then pass these through a buttonhole in their jacket. These types of cravats a precursor for the necktie were often referred to as Steinkirks.

However over the next century the cravat was an item of neckwear that became less prevalent and in its place came the stock. This item of neckwear was made from muslin cloth which would be folded to make it smaller before being wound around the collar of the shirt. This item certainly remained popular throughout the 18th Century but towards the end young French and Englishmen began wearing cravats once more.

It was during the latter part of the 19th Century and early part of the 20th Century when the industrial revolution was taking place that the neckties we see being worn by people today were created. Men as they went to work wanted to wear some form of neckwear but didn’t want to spend time putting it on. Not only did they want some easy to put on but comfortable to wear they also wanted something that would stay on throughout the day.

It was during this part of the history of the necktie that we began to see the kinds of neckwear that people often wear today and which made knotting them much easier. Through using certain manufacturing processes a New York tie maker came up with a design that meant after being worn the necktie would retain its original shape and also work done by a manufacturer in Belfast helped further to improve the design and this led to the kinds of ties we see being worn today in many shapes, sizes and designs.

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