Tying a tie is both an art and a science, and for many men, it is a total mystery.
"If guys can get away with not wearing a tie, they usually will," said Nicholas Sabino, assistant manager at the Men's Warehouse in Boardman. "Especially around here, with so much blue-collar work, (people) just aren't used to getting dressed up formally.
"Sometimes guys will just stop by the store and ask if we can tie their tie for them real quick because they don't know how," Sabino said. "Before I started working here, I struggled a bit myself. I think that if you don't get dressed up too often, you need that refresher course."
Article Photos
Tribune Chronicle photos / Jennifer Shima
Nicholas Sabino, assistant manager at the Men’s Warehouse in Boardman, demonstrates how to tie a tie.
There are two main ways to tie a tie, the four-in-hand and the half-Windsor knot.
The four-in-hand is the simpler of the two and ideal for taller men because it is a smaller knot that uses less material.
"The four-in-hand tie can be made longer," said Gary Farrant, assistant manager and resident tie expert at Men's Warehouse. "The half-Windsor is a bigger knot and a squarer knot, so it makes the tie shorter. I use a half-Windsor because I'm not that tall."
Fact Box
How to tie
a four-in-hand
Drape the tie around your neck with the wide end on the right, about a foot lower than the narrow end on the left.
Cross the wide end over the narrow end, then back underneath, and over again so the wide end wraps completely around the narrow end and points to the left side of your body.
Put the wide end through the loop around your neck so that the wide end is in front of your face, inside the loop.
Thread it through the loop in the front that you made in Step 2. It should be a much looser version of the finished product.
Hold onto the narrow end with one hand and grip the loose knot with the other and tighten the knot toward your neck.
Check to be sure the knot is in the center of your neck and the bottom of your tie grazes the top of your belt.
How to tie
a half-Windsor
Drape the tie around your neck with the wide end on the right, about a foot lower than the narrow end on the left.
Cross the wide end over the narrow end, then back underneath, and hold it straight up on the outside of the loop, in front of the right side of your face.
Pass the wide end over and through the loop around your neck so that it comes out underneath the loop on the right side of your body and bring it over and across the narrow end to the left.
Pass it through the loop around your neck again so that the wide end is in the center of your face, inside the loop.
Thread the wide end through the loop at the front of the knot that you made in Steps 2 and 3 so that it is a loose version of the finished product.
Using both hands, move the knot toward the throat until the knot is centered and the tie grazes the top of your belt.
The size of the knot and the length of tie matter because "you want your tie to hit your belt-line," said Farrant.
The perfectly tied tie is secured at the center of the neck with the end of the tie grazing the top of the belt.
"Any guy over 6 foot should consider an extra-long tie, especially if they guy has a little bit of a belly. It gives an extra 2 or 3 inches," Sabino said.
"Like a lot of guys growing up, I learned to tie a tie from Dad," Sabino said. "But before I started working here, like most men, I wore a suit three times a year."
For most men, those three occasions include weddings, funerals and, for some, job interviews.
Leigh Ann Waring is the director of undergraduate services for the Williamson College of Business at Youngstown State University. She also teaches a business professionalism class in which students learn that wearing a tie is about more than the dress code.
"In a corporate setting, ties are almost always standard," Waring said. "Professional, traditional dress shows respect for the position you hold, for the company and for the client. I always tell my students that they're not dressing to represent themselves, they're dressing to represent the company."
Farrant said, "We have a lot of college kids coming in for their first interview suits, and I usually direct them to a power tie. I consider a power tie to be a red-striped tie."
For other occasions, ties can be a source of self-expression.
"Ties really reflect a person's personality, so if a guy's a little bit more open-minded and willing to wear something that's a more vibrant color, they usually do so," Sabino said. "Purple and lavender are popular right now. More conservative guys will go with solid ties, maybe a muted paisley or something like that."
For people who are new to ties, it can be very tempting to tie a tie correctly once and then loosen it to take it off instead of untying it completely so that it's ready for the next time it's needed.
"I never leave my ties tied. I tie mine every day," Sabino said. "I think they hold up better. They're not as wrinkly. I would recommend that to people who are new to ties because if you have to tie it each time you wear it, you won't forget how to do it."