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Tips to Match Your Dress Shoes

Are you getting bored with the same old suit and tie look day in and day out? Are you looking for new ways to add more style to your business outfit? The key is in the right accessories, and learning how to match them to your suit. The most popular accessories that will freshen up your “business-suit look” are: Neckties, belts, shoes, cufflinks, and wrist watches. Ties are the easiest way to add more color and style to your outfit. But what about the shoes? There are endless different shoe styles and colors to choose from. Below are a few tips to keep in mind when matching your dress shoes to your business suit.

The Color:
Most popular are black dress shoes. Black dress shoes will match well best with blue, gray, and black suits. If you are new to wearing suit and tie, then buy a pair of black dress shoes first before considering any other shoe color. Black is the most formal, and most classic shoe color for men in business.

Brown shoes are the second most common shoe color to be worn with suit and tie. Brown shoes should always be matched with a brown belt! If you do not own a brown belt, don’t wear your brown shoes until you bought the matching belt. Brown shoes look best with tan and also green suits. Blue suits can also look great together with brown shoes and brown belt. Best suited are blue pin-striped suits in this case.

The Style:
Make sure that dress shoe style harmonizes with the rest of your outfit. If you happen to own a pair of Italian designer shoes that look like a mix between loafers and cowboy boots, make sure to wear them with the right kind of suit, tie, and belt. In this case a modern 3-button suit with fine pin-stripe pattern would work excellent. The belt buckle could also be more on the “exotic” style. As a general rule the more extraordinary the shoe design, the more fashionable of a suit you should wear.

Your Socks:
Your socks should match the color of your pants. If you are wearing a gray suit, gray or black socks are best suited. Blue socks should be avoided in this case. For tan or beige suits wear socks in the shade of brown. And PLEASE never wear tennis socks with your suit!

Other Accessories:
Cufflinks are always a great way to add more style to your outfit. Black shoes look best with silver cufflinks, and brown shoes match best with a golden pair of cufflinks. Make sure that the belt buckle color matches the color of your cufflinks.

Novelty Neckties & Bow Ties

Novelty neckties became popular in the glamor times of the 80s. Cheesy, bright ties were most popular – even for business events. Today novelty ties have a slightly tacky reputation. They are after all a Novelty and not a fashion statement. Although the novelty tie is much less popular than it used to be, there are occasions when it is acceptable to wear one.
Dress Code for Novelty Ties
Typically, the less formal an event, and more laid-back the dress code, the more likely you can pull off wearing a novelty tie. If you are going to a Star Wars party for example, then yes, wear your Novelty tie with Darth Vader on it. For business attire novelty ties should be worn only on special holidays. A necktie with small shamrocks would be great for St Patrick’s day.

At Cheap Neckties it is our mission to only offer modern and classic necktie designs. Since we are more fashion oriented than most of our competitors, we do not carry novelty ties in our inventory.

How to Buy a Men’s Suit

Are you new to wearing a suit and tie, and are confused by the endless options available to you? Even though the men’s suit has remained pretty much unchanged since the mind 19th century, many men look for advice on buying their first business suit. The quick buying guide below will help you learn all the basics when shopping for a new suit.

How much to spend?
This obviously depends on you and your budget. If the suit is in fact part of your daily work attire, it is recommended to spend a few extra dollars and be happy with your purchase every time you wear the suit. If you are a bargain shopper, look for sales, and buy your suit not the day you need it, but when you find a good sale. $200 is the minimum you should plan to spend. $300 usually gets you a nice quality, and well tailored suit.

What fabrics?
When buying a new suit, choosing a suit made from quality fabric is one of the most important things. Suits should me made out of wool as wool is more comfortable to wear in a wide range of temperatures and climates. Man-made fabrics such as Polyester and Teflon should be avoided as they do not breathe, and will be quite uncomfortable. Wool makers distinguish the quality of their wool in terms of numbers that typically range from 80s to 200s. The finer the wool the higher the number will be. Best are suits made from super 100s, or super 120s. Higher numbers are finer and might be more comfortable, but are less suited for a daily business suit: They show wrinkles more and won’t last as long.

The cut:
For your first suit, choose a standard suit that matches will with most colors of shirt and tie. The best suits for business are:

1. Single Breasted (meaning that the sides DON’T overlap)
2. Charcoal gray or dark blue in color
3. Solid color (reserve the Italian pin stripes for your second or third suit)
4. 2 or 3 button
   

The right fit:
Make sure that the sleeves have the right length. When wearing the jacket and standing straight, let your arms hang down. The sleeves should end where your arms meet your wrists. Besides the sleeves, ensure that the jacket fits right on your shoulders. Stretch both arms forward to ensure that you still have movement. Finally take a look at the collar and the back of your jacket. About 1/2 inch of your dress shirt should show. The jacket should lay straight, and without wrinkles on your shoulders.

The pants:
Fitting pants is much easier than the jacket. That’s why you always want to start with the right jacket first. For your pants the only two things that matter are:

1. The color and fabric must match to the jacket
2. The pants must fit at your waist.
   

The length of your pants will always be altered to the right length. The classic look of the pants is slightly relaxed when standing, and about 2-3 inches of your dress socks showing when sitting down.

Your Cheap Neckties Team

Top 6 Tips on Cleaning Silk Ties

1. Avoid stains in first place:
This is a little easier said than done, but a few scenarios are most common for getting your silk ties ruined. The most common way silk ties get stained is by eating. Next time you go to a business lunch or dinner wear a napkin. Opening of the your shirt’s buttons and tugging your necktie under your dress shirt is a great option, but should not be used at a formal business lunch or dinner.

2. Avoid Wearing Solid Color Ties
Fine solid color ties will show stains the easiest. For that reason, avoid wearing solid color ties in lighter colors during dinner/ lunch events. If the solid color tie is part of your dress code, then it is advisable to have the same tie with you as a back up. At Cheap-Neckties we offer solid color ties as low as $5. There is no reason why not to buy two of the tie you like.

2. Use Cold, Not Hot Water
If possible rinse the stain on your tie with cold water right away. Avoid hot water. Hot water will cause the stain to penetrate deeper into the fabric. Simply rinse, and do not rub the stain in. At the most, dampen the tie with a moist piece of cloth.

3. Rubbing Alcohol
Diluting rubbing alcohol with cold water is a good option to clean your tie should the stain have dried already. put the solvent onto a piece of cloth and carefully tap it onto the stain. Don’t overdo this. Sometimes the stain is gone sooner than you think.

4. Dry-Cleaning a Necktie?
Dry-cleaning a necktie should be your last option. Should you have tried everything, and the stain on your silk tie is still there, then consider going to the dry-cleaner. The risk of dry cleaning a necktie is that the fabric and the inlay of the necktie will get damaged. The stain might be gone afterwards, but the tie won’t look and tie the same as before. Talk to your dry-cleaner and get more information on how the silk fabric will be treated. The tie should never be pressed or ironed as this will ruin the inlay of the necktie.

5. Send The Tie in:
Some very high end necktie brands, costing in excess of $150, offer the option to have the tie cleaned and resown by hand. This involves opening the seam of the necktie, cleaning the fabric to a as-new condition, cutting a brand new inlay, and sewing it back together. If you have a necktie that was either very expensive, or has some sentimental value (fathers day gift for instance), then this option might be right for you.

6. Keep Your Jacket closed:
If none of the things above worked for you, then keep your jacket on, and the top button closed. Wear a 3-button jacket so that the stained area of your necktie won’t be visible. You can still wear your tie and no one will notice the stain.

If you liked this article, you might also find helpful:
Learn How to Sew on a Button

Your Cheap-Neckties Team

Tips to Match Your Cufflinks

The color options and materials for cufflinks are endless. How do you match your cufflinks? How does the shirt color and the necktie color affect your cufflink choice? How about your shoes and belt? What cufflink colors are most important? Below you will find some helpful tips on how to match your cufflinks.

Cufflink Basics
Cufflinks are a great accessory for any man. They add more sophistication and elegance to a typical blend business attire. When wearing cufflinks, make sure to always wear either a necktie, or a bow tie. If you are new to cufflinks, and are planning on buying a pair, then choose a color and style that will go with almost any shirt, suit and tie. The plain silver set of cufflinks would be best. If you prefer gold instead of silver, make sure to match the cufflink color to your belt buckle. Typically gold cufflinks get matched with a gold belt buckle, a brown belt, and matchingbrown shoes.

Matching Cufflink Colors
If you like to wear cufflinks with more color, try to match the color to other smaller pieces of accessories such as neckties, bow ties, belt buckle, shoes, and your wrist watch.

Different Cufflink Designs
Cufflinks are there so that you can add your own personal touch to your attire. Be creative and express yourself! It is advisable though to be slightly on the conservative side for business attire. Especially if you are going to a new business meeting, choose a slightly less shocking design. Cufflinks can be a great conversation starter. If you love duck hunting for example, why not wear a pair of cufflinks with some flying ducks. People that share the same passion as you will notice, and you will immediately find a common interest.

Most popular necktie for $5

Are you curious that the best selling necktie is for only $5? We went back and looked at our sales statisitcs for the last 90 days and picked the winning $5 necktie for you.

To buy this necktie, click on the image above, and add the tie to your shopping bag. We will post shortly about the most popular neckties in each price range.

Wholesale Neckties and Bow Ties

Do you need a large quantity of ties for a special occasion, company event, or club gathering? Are you looking for Neckties to outfit your employees with a new uniform? Before you place your order, you might want to learn more about our wholesale pricing on Neckties and Bow Ties. As a general rule, the larger the order of neckties you purchase, the larger the discounts will be. This way you can get fine, high quality neckties as low as $3.80! Only cheap-neckties will be able to offer such great wholesale pricing on neckties and bow ties.

For more than 50 neckties, the typical price break will be about 10% off from our already low prices. At cheap-neckties we offer high quality products that get inspected before we ship them to you. Should you not be 100% satisfied, simply send the ties back to us , and we will refund your purchase.