The tip on Shibumi ties is either hand-rolled or untipped. In this picture, we see the hand-rolled variant, which means that the upper material is carefully folded into a roll by hand and secured with stitches. This method is the most time-consuming and the one requiring the greatest care and most experienced seamstresses (and thus the most expensive). No other part of the tie requires as much skill and experience as this one: the stitches should be as close and even as possible. Here is a close up:
You can see the other option of finishing the tip (self-tipped) here:
You take a piece of the upper material and sew it to the backside of the tip. This variant we mostly use on our repp stripes. On cheaper ties you often find a different material for the tipping - a way of cutting costs, since the upper material is most likely more expansive. We believe that only self-tipped ties really look good, so we do all our tipped ties in this fashion.
On the back of our ties you’ll find a beautiful bartack stitch:
On the small and wide blade, the tie is held together by a decorative bartack stitch, which we usually make tone on tone. This stitch can be hidden as well, but we decided on the traditional bartack stitch as a nod to the great tradition of handmade ties in Italy.
On the topic of making it special: all our labels are sewn in by hand, also the loop you can use to secure the smaller blade of the tie. This loop is also not just added on top of the tie but integrated in the long seam, making it much less likely to rip off and more pleasant to look at.
The long seam is made using just one long piece of thread, which sticks out in a small loop at the small and wide end of the tie. This loop allows you to pull the tie back into shape should it have gotten wrinkled in a tight knot or barfight.
The lining of Shibumi ties is made entirely of wool and carefully selected for two qualities: keeping a nice knot (so you don’t have to readjust every few minutes) and returning the tie to its original shape after wearing.
