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Ties are not easy to clean.

Those made of silk, at least, are very delicate things. They are carefully folded lengths of volatile material that are sewn together with loose, sparse stitches – to allow room for the silk to flow, to stretch and to play.

They do not take kindly to Bolognese.

However, if cleaned properly, most stains can be removed, provided the soiled tie has not sat for weeks in the back of your wardrobe. The problem is, not many dry cleaners have the requisite machinery to press and roll the tie back into its original shape. The difficulty is not with cleaning the silk; it is with retaining that delicate, flowing handiwork.

There are some cleaners that still have the machinery. One is Tiecrafters Inc in Chelsea, New York City. There are others, though to be honest I don’t know any in London. If anyone knows any, please tell me.

Fortunately, I have rarely had a stain on a tie that could not be dealt with by some quick dabbing with a napkin. One I have had, I took to my local dry cleaner. It was a knitted tie from Hermes, so there was little concern over pressing the tie afterwards. But the cleaner did not do a good job, to be frank. The stain was still there and the area around it looked faded.

I should have gone to Hermes itself.

Hermes will dry clean any house tie for £8 in the UK. That’s one pound less than it cost me to take it to the local dry cleaner. The French silk and leather specialist does it at cost, as part of the service of buying an Hermes product. Silk scarves cost £10.

On the European continent and elsewhere, Hermes often does not deal with cleaning in-house. It recommends a good dry cleaner instead. But otherwise the process is the same – there is no profit taken, it is done by top cleaners and at cost.

If only I’d known that before I took my knitted Hermes tie into the local cleaner; oh well. It’s great to know that some of the biggest brands in the world still offer little services like this that ensure the longevity of their products. They are intended to create loyalty, not profit.

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tintin

I had no idea. And I just had tiecrafters over haul 4 Hermes ties at $40 a pop. The agony. Thanks for heads up. I’ll check with the NYC store.

thestyleadvisor

Nice, never heard of this service before. Will definitely be popping by Hermes for my next tie purchase. I love when brands give unique service. Thanks for the post.

Kashif

Have always taken my ties to Lilliman & Cox (34 Bruton Place, London), now part of the Jeeves chain. They were recommended by Brioni on Bruton Street. Results were always excellent.

Sowee

We were looking for cleaning tips for silk ties to share with our customers. I just found this article and will surely share it on our site. Thanks!

joshgtv

In Sydney, 2020 in Mosman do the best job that I’m aware of.

CALStyle

Tie Crafters in NYC, as mentioned above, are amazing. In addition to cleaning ties impeccably, they can narrow/widen/lengthen/shorten ties as well. They are miracle workers and can’t recommend them too highly. Ask for Andy the owner–he’ll handle everything you need personally.

Tom Boyle

simon,
I know this post was quite a while ago but do you know if hermes still offer the service I recently inherited one of their ties and a stich has come out of the narrow end of the tie. I would quite enjoy seeing it fixed. thanks in advance

R Collins

Building a collection of ties is well worth the investment. However, finding the right caretaker is most important. I’ve used Tiecrafters for more than twenty years and they are worth it. I started collecting Charvet ties sometime ago. One of my favorites—a very odd greenish blue—fell victim to a stain. Tiecrafters charges $20 to remove the stain. At $200 per tie, shipping the tie to Tiecrafters is an investment. That, or you can the students at NYCs venerable FIT work on it. They’re around the corner.

anand

Simon have you found anywhere to have ties cleaned to a high standard in London since this post was written? I want to keep that curvature in the tie and not have it pressed flat as a pancake if possible!