Repp Tie Story
A cornerstone of every Preppy wardrobe is the Repp tie. The diagonally striped ties originated in England in the 1800s on school uniforms and among servicemen in the British military before making their way to the American Ivy Leagues in the 1920s.
After the First World War, as advances in communication made modern style more important in the clothing industry, American clothiers took their cues from the British and adopted the repp design. In order to avoid copying the British schools' or regiment's ties, American repp ties were traditionally oriented the opposite direction, with the stripes pointing from the right shoulder to the left hip.
You would think that repp is a misspelled abbreviation of repetition, and that it refers to the repetitive striped pattern usually associated with neckwear. But the word - and repp is indeed the correct spelling and actually refers to the repetitive woven ribs of the silk fabric itself, regardless of the whatever pattern that silk may have.
The Repp tie is a solid staple in any wardrobe, prep-heavy or not they are popular for subtle style and classic associations, especially good when they get tweaked outside of their British and Ivy style roots.
Add a sense of history to your wardrobe by shopping our range of silk Beams Plus ties in a variety of colours to suit any wardrobe here
Watch and read below as our friend Mr Jason Jules tells us his own special
'Tie Story'.
