Fluctuations

You may not know it, or even have thought about it, but J. Crew has its belts and ties manufactured domestically. Their ties are nice enough, but each year they have followed the prevailing trend and gotten a little narrower. I bought one three or four years back that is 3" wide, and if you look at their site now you'll see that the standard width is 2.5".

That can be all right if you are of smaller stature (in which case, your jacket lapels should be proportionally narrower as well, to help lengthen your appearance vertically), but if you're 5' 8" or taller, or beyond your early thirties, you should probably be wearing ties that are proportionally wider and less trendy. Otherwise you'll run the risk of looking like you bought dress clothing when you first got out of high school or college and haven't bothered to update any of it.

Personally I prefer my ties to be 3.5" wide, which used to be something of a standard. The narrowing and widening trend of ties is annoying, especially if you've found a width that you like. I hadn't noticed personally, but I was recently informed that Brooks Brothers, in its ongoing quest to lure younger customers, has narrowed its standard tie width to 3.25", and they also offer "slim" ties that are almost as narrow as those from J. Crew.

You can still find 3.5" ties without too much effort (check stores like Nordstrom or Lord & Taylor, and websites like The Tie Bar or Mountain & Sackett), but it's disappointing when a company as traditional as Brooks feels the need to cave in to a trend that will obviously be played out in a few more seasons. I do think that with more casual fabrics, like summer ties in cotton madras, you can go a little narrower, but when I wore that 3" J. Crew tie a while back, it didn't look right on me.