Vakman · Artisans
Jesse Langsdorf
Patented the bias-cut tie in the 1920s, and every tie since has followed it.
Langsdorf, a New York tie maker, patented a three-piece construction cut on the bias (diagonally across the cloth) in the 1920s. A bias-cut tie stretches and recovers, knots cleanly and hangs straight; one cut on the straight grain twists. It is one of the most consequential and least known pieces of design in menswear.
Why it works
Cloth cut diagonally across the weave has give in a way cloth cut straight does not. That give is what allows a tie to be pulled into a knot, released and return to shape, and what stops it corkscrewing to one side as it hangs.
The three-piece construction, the tie made from three sections rather than one, is what makes bias cutting economical, since a single-piece bias tie would waste an enormous amount of silk.
How to see it
Look at a striped tie: the stripes should run at roughly 45 degrees to the length. Then look at the back seam, which runs the length of the tie and is closed with a single loose slip stitch that lets the tie stretch. Both are visible in five seconds and both are the direct legacy of a patent from a hundred years ago.
Before the patent
Ties cut on the straight grain twisted, would not knot cleanly, and had to be reshaped constantly. The problem was well known and the solution was not obvious, because cutting on the bias wastes cloth and silk was expensive.
The three-piece construction is what made it economical: three shorter sections joined, rather than one long bias-cut length. That combination (bias cut, three pieces, wool interlining, slip stitch) is what a good tie still is.