Pigs In Ties

A chambray Winslow bow tie found its way onto my kitchen pig.  I'd say he's rockin' it.

Launch

Introducing Winslow on Etsy.  

New Prints

Looking forward to trying these prints in bow ties.

Milk & Sugar

Seersucker is a staple of preppy summer suits, but we think it's perfect for bow ties.  

Seersucker is an all-cotten fabric woven to pucker so that it does not directly on the skin, allowing for dissipation and air circulation, i.e., keeps the wearer cool when the heat rises.  The name comes from the Hindiustani, "kheer aur shakkar," which literally means milk and sugar (after the contrasting texture of the weave, which is both smooth like milk and bumpy like granulated sugar).

Inspiration

Joseph Albers.  Always inspiring.

Royal Blue

Busy dying cotton for color block ties.

Simmering in the dye bath

Washing with a fixative detergent

COLOR BLOCK

It's nothing new.  Rothko did it.

YSL did it.

And it's not just for art and fashion...

We were inspired by the combinations of grays and bright blues and greens that we see all around us. 

Coming soon to Winslow -- color block neck and bow ties.  Check out some of our favorite fabrics...

Damask

Damask-inspired designs add a depth and richness to almost any type of fiber or fabric.

Damask always makes me think of boudoir wallpaper, but the design has a long history of use on apparel and accessory fabrics.  Damask actually refers to a type of weaving rather than a printed pattern.  Damask is woven in such a way that the fabric has no wrong side -- the "backside" of the fabric just appears to be the inverse of the front.  Damask originated in China around 300 BC.  They were traded along the silk road and got their name from Damascus, one of the cities where silk road merchants stopped on their way to Europe.

While some damasks can be heavy, we came across a more modern, monochromatic print for some of our spring ties.  (Damasks were traditionally monochromatic!)  

We paired it with a cotton chambray for color and texture contrast.

Paisley

Paisley has graced neck tie fabrics for decades, solidifying itself as a true classic pattern.   We've hunted down a few different paisleys -- all in blue --- for spring/summer.   This bandana print, for example.

All this paisley got us wondering where the print originated from.  So we got to researching and discovered that paisley is the English for a motif that originated in Persia.  Paisley made its way onto textiles as early as 200 AD.  Throughout the years, paisley has changed very little, as can be seen in this very traditional Persian paisley print:

Example of a traditional Persian Paisley

Paisley made its way Westward through imports to Europe from British India in the 17th and 18th centuries.  European textile makers quickly began manufacturing paisley fabrics themselves -- and the name actually derives from the town of Paisley in central Scotland where many paisley textiles were made.  

Paisley, Scotland

We think our blue paisleys will look great with gray linens and tan summer-weight wools.