Making a pure silk quality tie is very complicated and even at this day and age it still requires a lot of hand labor.
Four different types of fabrics are needed to make a high qualtiy tie:
100% silk fabric for the outer envelope
an acetate lining
a wool interlining
a second interlining in cotton
For the outer part of the tie in pure silk (which in the lower price range is made of polyester, nylon, acetate or rayon) various qualitative levels of fabric can be used.
Among the pure silk fabrics, twill is the least expensive because it is a very light plain fabric and generally printed through cheaper methods. It never weighs over 14 mommes (30 grams per square meter).
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The simplest designs are made with this fabric which will be repeated in many ties (at times by the thousand).
The most luxurious fabrics used by the best name brands weigh between 16 and 20 mommes giving the tie a pleasant sense of consistency which ties up into a very nice knot.
Most of these ties already have a basic design which is obtained through the costly technique of the jacquard weave adding value to the article.
In this way two designs overlap: one which is plainly visible because it is colored and the other one barely perceived because of the different light reflections on certain parts of the base fabric.
The number of ties produced for each design diminishes to a few hundred for the most exclusive designs.
The jacquard fabrics which are yarn dyed are even more consistent, heavier and often more expensive.
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These are produced by a very complex weaving technique (see Silk Industry) and reach weights of up to 40 mommes thus producing a tie suitable for winter.
The number of colors in this tie is rather limited. Some very expensive patterns with very special designs are produced in very limited numbers (6-12).
The area around Como right on the shore of the magnificent alpine lake bearing the same name, located in the North of Italy on the border with Switzerland, has been processing silk since the end of the XVI Century.
Thanks to a long tradition, the incomparable ability of the workers and the work of one of the most prestigious schools of technology and seric art in the world, continuity is guaranteed.
Improved research techniques and exquisite Italian taste have conquered the markets of the entire planet.
Despite the competition from merchandise offered at 50-80% less the price of these ties, the market share of these products has been constantly increasing since the 1920s when Como definitively surpassed its teacher Lyon and then Vienna and Krefeld.
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