History of the Tie

Coloured silks - 1618-1648

The most reasonable story about the history of the tie begins with the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Some of the best fighters were horsemen from Croatia and were fighting for King Louis XIV. Somehow these horsemen made the difference in this war and therefore they were presented to King Louis XIV. The Croatian war heroes were wearing brightly coloured silks around their necks. Due to the fact King Louis XIV was quite fashionable and vain, he was taken by this style. At this point the Cravat" (a derivation of the word Croat") was born and soon became popular with aristocrats throughout Europe.

Modern tie - late -19th century

These early cravats were very complicated to tie and didn't look like our present ties at all. They resembled floppy bowties more. The modern tie was introduced in late- 19th century England and came to be known as the four-in-hand.

Four in hand - 1865

This name 'four-in-hand' originally is a term which is being used in the cavalry from 1865. It is the term for reins with which a solo driver could handle all four horses in one hand, thus the name four-in-hand.

Especially the riders who raced around in these new four-in-hand carriages introduced a brand-new style of necktie. These ties were long and relatively simple, making them faster and easier to tie. Cause they didn't make up a name for this new tie, people started the name it as a four-in-hand-tie'.