The relaxation of dress codes in companies worldwide is resulting in a dramatic collapse in imports and exports of ties: in the ten years from 2014 to 2023, imports to Germany have shrunk by two thirds. This emerges from figures from the Federal Statistical Office, which were provided by the fashion association Germanfashion. According to this, 14.4 million ties and bows – the textile term for bow ties and bow ties – were imported into the Federal Republic in 2014; in 2023 there were only just under 4.8 million. Exports also fell by almost 60 percent from 5.2 to 2.1 million units.
“We are in extremely difficult waters, which we have mastered in recent years through greater internationality and greater diversification,” says Jan Moese, head of the Krefeld tie manufacturer Ascot. According to Moese, the company, which specializes in high-quality silk ties, and its sister company Henley, are the only remaining manufacturers that still produce in Germany.
But even with this special position, the German market alone is too small. “We now have an export quota of over 50 percent and, in addition to ties, we offer numerous other men’s accessories, which we manufacture ourselves as far as possible, but otherwise also purchase them or have them manufactured by partners,” says the boss of the family business, which was founded in 1908.
Working in the home office is also an unpleasant development for tie manufacturers, because very few men attach the same importance to chic at home as they do in front of their colleagues in the office. The trend towards casual wear at work and in the home office is unbroken, ties are rarely worn anymore, says Axel Augustin, managing director of the Textile Shoes Leather Goods trade association in Cologne.
“Unfortunately, the market for ties is difficult worldwide, although there are of course national differences,” says Ascot managing director Moese. For Ascot, making ties is still worthwhile: “It is also true that the higher-quality market is a tiny niche, but due to tie aficionados who wear ties out of passion and customers who buy for festive occasions Manufactory like us is still very lucrative.”
‘Remnants’ from the Baroque period
But dozens of other German tie manufacturers have given up in recent decades. Some experts blame the US technology industry, whose bosses ditched ties in the 1970s and became fashion trendsetters in the business world. Sometimes the Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani is blamed because he combined the suit with the T-shirt.
In terms of cultural history, the tie is a remnant of the Baroque period; the name refers to its country of origin, Croatia. In the 17th century, the French nobility first adopted the tie, which at that time was more like a scarf. As documented in numerous paintings from the 16th to the late 18th centuries, wealthy men – especially among the nobility – used to dress just as colorfully and fashionably as women. With the French Revolution and the rise of the bourgeoisie, peacock-like men’s clothing fell out of fashion, and the tie remained the only splash of color in men’s costumes.
“The tie has been an integral part of men’s three-piece suits since around 1700, because shirts at that time had no collars. As a result, the neck was covered with the tie,” says historian Adelheid Rasche, an expert on the history of clothing at the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg. “The English-style suit, developed in the early 19th century, was always combined with a shirt and tie. Accordingly, every gentleman in a certain position wore a tie both professionally and privately.”
A special feature of the tie is that it no longer has any practical use in the form it has been in use for decades, even if some supporters argue that it conceals full bellies. But ties neither warm their wearers nor do they cover parts of the body that are not intended for public view; A tie also does not protect the skin or other clothing.
The tie wasn’t originally completely functional, says Rasche. “Around 1700 it was a scarf made of fine linen that was looped or knotted in a certain way. Linen could be washed, so the tie cloth served in a certain way for personal hygiene. The tie also covered and protected the neck area.”
If the tie had retained its practical function, it would be more difficult to do without it today. Banks and insurance companies are among the last bastions, but lack of ties is also spreading in the conservative financial sector. Previously, there were recommendations for trainees and new employees in many savings banks as well as at the Bavarian State Bank, as a spokesman for Bayern LB in Munich reports. In 2020, however, the Landesbank board abolished the code under the motto “Come as you are”. Since then, the number of people wearing ties at BayernLB has fallen sharply.
And even at Munich Re, founded in 1880 – one of the finest and most traditional addresses in the European insurance industry – CEO Joachim Wenning is occasionally spotted without a tie. “Colleagues, including the board, now handle it individually and depending on the situation, and therefore sometimes with and sometimes without a ‘binder’,” says a spokesman for the DAX group. (dpa)