TIES- After several years of the tie being an optional extra for work, it is again being regarded as an office necessity and is making a strong comeback, some might say that it never went away. We are a major stockist of Sergio Alvajee and concentrate on longer ties. Most of the Sergio Alvajee range is made in Italy and is very reasonably priced at $79 to $99. There are all of the wonderful designs that you'd expect from a world class tie maker, Churchill spots, neat teardrops, club stripes, plains and ribs; there is also a very avant garde edge to the collection, these make a statement and are also great gifts for the man that has everything or needs a special event tie.

On Trajan's column in Rome there are depictions of men wearing a focale or neck cloth, these though were worn next to skin to keep out the cold and the first real forerunners of todays ties were cravats worn from the middle of the seventeenth century onwards; it's been a long journet to what we wear today and fashions are still changing and widths increasing an decreasing by the decade. Today the width of the blade on most ties is between 8 and 9 cm's, but watch this space as we all might be wearing kippers again in a few years, hopefully "knot".