There's a question I get asked surprisingly often, and it usually comes from a procurement manager or a school bursar who has just realised they need to refresh their organisation's branded accessories. They'll phone about custom ties, we'll have a great conversation, sort out the details, and then — sometimes weeks later — they'll call back and say, "Oh, we also need custom scarves. Can we do those too?" And every single time, I find myself wishing we'd had that conversation at the beginning. Because the honest answer is yes, you absolutely should be doing your custom ties and custom scarves at the same time, and there are very good reasons for that which go beyond simple convenience. 

To understand why, it helps to think about how corporate and institutional identity dressing actually developed. Back in the day, branded accessories weren't really a concept at all. Neckwear has a long and fascinating history — most people in the industry know the story of Croatian mercenaries in 17th century France whose distinctive knotted neckerchiefs caught the eye of Parisian society, eventually influencing King Louis XIII and sparking what would become a European obsession with neckwear. But that was personal expression, not organisational identity. The shift toward institutions using accessories as a form of visual branding came much later, driven in large part by the British public school system, where striped or patterned custom ties became a marker of belonging. South Africa absorbed much of that tradition, and our school uniform heritage is deeply tied — if you'll excuse the expression — to that same logic of collective identity. 

Corporate identity followed a similar path. Through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, South African companies increasingly understood that how their staff dressed was a form of brand communication. Custom ties became a staple of that thinking, particularly for banks, airlines, and larger corporates. What's interesting, though, is that custom scarves were often treated as an afterthought — something added later for female staff or for winter uniform requirements, rather than being conceived as part of the same visual system from the outset. I would say that disconnect is actually one of the small but persistent failures in how organisations approach their branded accessories, and it's something we still see these days. 

The practical argument for ordering custom ties and custom scarves simultaneously is really about colour and consistency. When you're working with woven accessories — and at Vinuchi we work predominantly with printed ties and scarves because the quality and longevity are simply superior — getting an exact colour match across two different product types requires careful management. 

There's also the design conversation, which I find is where the real value lies. When a client sits down with us to develop custom ties, and we're also thinking about custom scarves in the same session, the design brief becomes richer and more considered. custom ties have to work within specific constraints — the width, the length, the repeat of the pattern. Custom scarves give you a much larger canvas, and one could say it's almost a different design discipline entirely. When you approach them together, the designer — and the client — can think about how the two pieces will coexist visually, whether they'll be worn together or separately, and how the pattern elements translate between formats. That kind of holistic thinking produces better outcomes every time. 

From a cost perspective, the efficiencies of combining orders are also worth mentioning. Setup costs in woven accessory manufacturing are real, and consolidating production runs is simply more economical. Tie manufacturers who are serious about quality — and I'd put Vinuchi firmly in that category — invest significant time in the sampling and approval process. Running that process once for both products saves everyone time and money. 

These days, organisations are more conscious than ever about the coherence of their visual identity. Whether it's school ties,  corporate ties, a hospitality group, or a club ties, the expectation is that branded accessories will look like they belong together. Ordering your custom ties and custom scarves as a coordinated exercise isn't just practical — it reflects a more mature and considered approach to how your organisation presents itself to the world. And in my experience, the results always show it.