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" Turns out, they do make &amp;#039;em liked they used to. At least that&amp;#039;s the case at Robert Talbott, where skilled cutters and sewers craft luxurious seven-fold ties using a technique that was lost to the world for half a century before the Californian brand revived it thirty years ago.  A little backstory: Before the crash of 1929, neckwear wasn&amp;#039;t exactly part of the everyman&amp;#039;s uniform, instead finding its home around the throats of only the well-to-do. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;d keep a bolt of silk at your haberdasher,&amp;quot; explains Mark Calder, creative director at Robert Talbott, &amp;quot;and he&amp;#039;d cut your ties as you needed. So a tie was made only of that silk, folded seven times into itself and then slip stitched together.&amp;quot;  When the market tanked, so too did the supremacy of the seven-fold. And when the Second World War came around and silk was requisitioned for parachutes instead of four-in-hands, the art form died out entirely, replaced by the kind of ties we now consider standard: lined, tipped, and significantly less silk-heavy. Well, until 1986, when Robert Talbott reintroduced the seven-fold, eventually establishing it as one of the Monterey clothier&amp;#039;s signature styles. As one of the few companies practicing this lost art form, Calder walked us through the process of making a seven-fold tie, explaining &amp;quot;In normal production, one yard of silk makes two ties, but in our seven-fold, we use a full yard of fabric. We start there.&amp;quot; 1. The Cutting  Next, the cutting. Sounds simple enough, but it&amp;#039;s an exacting process. &amp;quot;We pin our seven-fold pattern onto the tie at a perfect 45 degree angle, and our cutter will hand-cut that pattern.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s called a bias cut, and getting it right is a crucial part of creating a well-made tie. &amp;quot;The beauty of a bias cut is that it allows the fabric to fall straight. It doesn&amp;#039;t twist.&amp;quot; Which means no accidentally exposed labels, or the attendant embarrassment of realizing your tie&amp;#039;s been backwards all day. 2. Hand-rolling the Ends  From there, the tie is passed to a sewer, who hand-rolls the ends before helping the seven-fold earn its moniker by folding the silk from the outer edges into the center a total of seven times, giving the piece just the right amount of heft.  3. The Folds  And to bring it all together, a slip stitch\u2014done by hand, of course. 4. The &amp;quot;Lifeline&amp;quot;   &amp;quot;Down the center is the lifeline,&amp;quot; Calder explains. &amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s the most perfect way to make a tie because you&amp;#039;re talking about a person who can feel the tie, the fabric, and ensure that the stitch doesn&amp;#039;t penetrate through to the face of the tie. The lifeline allows the tie to stretch. And after it&amp;#039;s tied, it allows the tie to relax back into its original shape.&amp;quot;  5. The Bar Tack   Finally, the label is attached and a hand-sewn bar tack is added for stability. Then, one last step, this time using a pen instead of a needle and thread. &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;re limited,&amp;quot; says Calder. &amp;quot;We only make 40 of a design. And at the very end, it&amp;#039;ll be numbered. One of 40, two of 40, all the way to 40 of 40.&amp;quot;  6. The Finished Product  The result is an accessory that&amp;#039;s not only exceptionally stylish, but steeped in a tradition of genuine craftsmanship. And that&amp;#039;s exactly what makes it so special. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not whether it ties a better or worse knot [than a standard tie]&amp;quot;, says Calder. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s more about what you like having around your neck, what you like knotting, the way it feels in your hand... Authenticity and luxury are the essence of the seven-fold.&amp;quot; Sounds about right to us. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a35476/robert-talbott-7-fold-ties-america/>