Its not surprising that custom ties and custom scarves in any format have managed to exist for so long, they are amongst trousers and dresses, skirts and shirts, blouses and shorts as one of the longest established forms of clothing.
Ever since the thirty years war so going back to the 17th century when cravats were invented by the Croat soldiers fighting as mercenaries mostly for France back in those days. Custom ties and custom scarves have developed from a very basic cravat or strip of fabric which was used to identify or create a sense of belonging for each and every Croatian soldier fighting on behalf of France and they needed to create something which would differentiate them from the French soldiers and give them their own sense of independence.
From this developed the actual cravat, introduced no less by French aristocracy as a now fashion item for wearing as an addition to their wonderful way of dressing and what an addition it was- custom ties in the form of cravats which were in fashion for many years. In fact. Cravats as a wearable item were still quite a big thing right up until the late 80’s.
I do believe that custom ties in the form of cravats will make a return to the fashion scene in one way or another at some stage and perhaps sooner than later simply because they are so retro and the youth has turned to retro for new looks of fashion, so I do believe that its around the corner to reappear just like paisley designs come and go.
Custom ties and custom scarves go hand in hand as they both fulfil a similar function which is from a corporate or uniform perspective to create belonging and recognition and although both items are no longer what they used to be from a fashion popularity perspective, they still continue to be popular both as printed ties and printed scarves and woven ties- keep in mind that it is not possible to weave a scarf from tie fabric, it is simply too heavy and also, the back side of woven ties is extremely rough and not pleasant on the eye.
Having said that from the perspective of school ties, although in many cases, the traditional school ties are still preferred as woven ties and not printed ties, it is a fact that school ties are becoming more and more popular in a format of printed ties, especially the ties which require some detail such as matric ties which are very often a bit out of the box compared to the standard school ties.
It is far easier most of the time to recreate a design requirement in print than as woven ties and this is understandable and also the downside of woven ties both in corporate ties format or school ties, club ties or matric ties, promotional ties or branded ties format.