Men’s Style Revival

Being a Texan (and still living here), you have to look long and hard for fashion innovators or designers that can trace their roots back to the Lone Star State. You have the incredible Tom Ford, who was born in Austin and raised in Houston; and then you have Chloe Dao, winner of Project Runway season 2, who has her flagship boutique, Lot 8, about five minutes from where I work.

And that’s about it.

So whenever I see some style worth noting originating from my state, it always excites me. Knowing that much, when a colleague introduced me to a site called Sine Die, I was instantly intrigued.

Sine Die, Latin for “without another day,” is the phrase that signifies the adjournment of a regularly-convened or special session in the state legislature, and has been a fixture in Austin jargon for years. The company’s founder, employed for years on the Capitol, took the phrase and combined it with the cannon from the Gonzales Flag to create a logo that adequately symbolizes the past and present Texas; a beginning and end, if you will – the cannon representing the genesis of the State of Texas and Sine Die representing the end of a tireless work session.

As of this writing, Sine Die is solely a purveyor of ties, although their website claims that it is a “homegrown clothing company.” Perhaps that can be read as a sign of planned expansion or growth.

The ties strike my fancy for a couple reason:

One – they seem to follow the pattern and fit the mold of your traditional Hermes or Ferragamo ties, with the unique color/pattern combination. But instead of fluffy bunnies or dinosaurs like you see in the links above, the symbols on the Sine Die ties represent something unique or experiential about Texas such as oil gushers, cannons and even kolaches – a tribute to the Czech infusion of the 19th century.

The kolache tie

Second – while your Hermes and Ferragamo ties run about $160-$170, the Sine Die ties are less than half of that at $68 per. Granted, the more expensive labels are importing handmade, Italian, silk twill products; the version on Sine Die’s website states that these are also handmade from silk, so you will not be sacrificing much in quality – just that you will not be able to say that your tie’s silk is from the mills in northern Italy. But how often does that really come up in conversation?

Currently, the ties can be ordered from the website or, apparently, bought at a shop called Lone Star Legacies in Austin. Hopefully other locations will pick them up soon as well.

And in case you are thinking, “isn’t this the type of thing I will find one day hanging in a gift shop at the airport with other bits of Texas frippery?” My answer is, I don’t think so. To announce your product claiming quality, style and a laissez-faire (said with a Texas accent) attitude means you have greater things in mind.

I showed these to my father last night, and his response was to tell me he thought he was going to go order about five of them. Some for himself, and some as gifts. While I am not saying you need to go buy five, give one a try, and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: My father did end up buying two of the ties and I had a chance to inspect them the other day. As expected, it is a lower quality grade of slik than, say, your Hermes or Ferragamo, but the tie itself is a good medium width, it seems durable, and the design in real life (not in pictures) work well with the colors. So far I give it a thumbs up.