I’m approached by a lot of different companies each week who want me to promote their stuff, one of the perks/back sides to having reached a certain number of followers on different social media I guess. Among these, probably 90% are newly started accessory brands. Of all these accessory brands I turn down a majority. Simply because I don’t actually “need” more ties, and I wont be bothered doing a write up for something that doesn’t actually strike my fancy. To the ones I do accept, I am pretty clear about the fact that I don’t write “puff pieces” unless I actually like the product. This leaves them the option of accepting my review, in which case I publish it, or discard, in which case I, well… discard it. This is a pretty long prelude in which I’m trying to say that I at least try to be as objective as I can. Do I succeed? Who knows? Can you ever be completely objective in any case? - I don’t really think so.
With that said, I got an e-mail from Paolo at the newly started Loïc et giL. He asked me to review a tie of my own choosing. What made me interested in pursuing this was the fact that Loïc et giL actually does something quite original. Their ties have a very different sense of aesthetics than most high end tie makers. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that caught my fancy. Loïc et giL, like Hermes and a few other brands with an easily recognizable style seem to, quite simply, have found their own aesthetic expression, while still presenting products that are in good taste. With thousands of tie brands out there, that’s quite a feat. Of course, just like Hermes, it all comes down to you as a consumer, whether you like their house style or not. In my opinion, this should be the case with any interesting brand, as the quote says (probably completely misquoted, lets call it “paraphrasing" for good measures) “if it’s designed to fit everyone, it ends up fitting no one“.
I ended up choosing a Royal Blue Samir tie, a design I found rather versatile. A few days later it arrived in a lovely wrapping. Oh well, nicely designed packaging is one thing, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the product inside. Just a quick look at the run-of-the-mill luxury brands should tell you that much. So I opened the beautiful box, removed all the layers of paper and silk ribbons and lifted out the actual tie. Right away I could tell by the feel of the silk that it’s a really nice quality, with a quite dry feel to it, and rather thick. It’s lined with a fairly heavy wool interlining, that I’m first afraid will make the knots too wide for my taste. But luckily it’s really malleable and forms a very nice and tight knot. Now these are the bare minimum qualities a tie should have in my opinion. So I untie it and start examining the actual handwork on the tie. The balance is perfect, which is also something every decent tie should have. It’s self tipped, i.e. the same fabric is used for the tipping as for the rest of the tie. It’s got a hand stitched slip stitch which ends in a loop, which also is a sign of a good tie.
Having made a few hundred ties by hand myself, and opening up a couple of dozens of ties from different premium makers, I probably know a great deal more than you average blog dude about the general feel of a quality tie, and feel confident in saying that Loïc et giL make a great quality product.
My general recommendation is, if you like the designs, as I do, you get your moneys worth.
