There is a conversation I find myself having more and more often these days, usually with someone who has just walked into our studio at Vinuchi with a brief for a new staff uniform programme. They want ties, they want custom scarves, they want lanyards — and somewhere in the middle of explaining what they are after, they pause and say something like, "I suppose we are also looking at corporate jewellery, you know, branded pins, that sort of thing." And every single time, I want to say: yes, exactly, you have just arrived at the point I have been waiting for you to reach. Because the truth is that corporate jewellery and custom ties are not just related — they are, in every meaningful sense of the word, family.

Let me explain what I mean by that. If you trace the evolution of professional dress from military dress uniforms into the modern business wardrobe, you start to see something fascinating emerge. The regiment was, for centuries, the original branding exercise. A soldier's colours, his insignia, his decorative sash, his epaulettes — these were not merely decorative. They communicated rank, allegiance, and institutional pride at a glance. When that tradition migrated into civilian life, into the British public schools of the 19th century and eventually into the boardrooms and corporate corridors of the 20th century, it did not disappear. It transformed. The regimental sash became the school tie. The campaign medal became the lapel pin. One could say that what we now call corporate jewellery is simply the modern descendant of a very old human instinct: to wear your identity on your body, visibly and with pride.

Custom ties sit squarely in that same family tree. When a company comes to a tie manufacturer — and I would say there is a meaningful difference between a tie manufacturer and someone who simply makes ties — they are not just ordering a garment. They are commissioning a piece of wearable identity. The colours, the weave structure if it is a woven tie, the repeat of the logo motif, the hand of the fabric — all of these decisions carry meaning. Well-made custom ties communicate the same things that a well-chosen piece of corporate jewellery does: quality, intentionality, belonging. The two items speak the same visual language, even if they occupy different parts of the body.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why people do not always think of them together. The market separates them. You go to tie manufacturers for ties and you go to a jewellery specialist for quality cufflinks, brooches, branded pins and lapel badges. But I would argue that this separation is a historical accident more than a logical one. At Vinuchi, we see clients increasingly approach their branded accessories as a cohesive family of items, and the results, when it is done well, are remarkable. A corporate identity programme that aligns the colourway of the woven tie with the enamel tones of the lapel pin and the lining colour of the jacket creates something genuinely powerful. It is the difference between dressing staff and building a visual culture.

The South African corporate market has come a long way in understanding this. Back in the day, a company tie was often an afterthought — something ordered in bulk from whoever was cheapest, in a colour that vaguely matched the logo. Corporate jewellery was even further down the list, usually limited to a generic gold-toned pin with a logo stamped onto it. These days, the conversation is far more sophisticated. Clients understand that printed ties and woven ties are not the same product and do not communicate the same level of quality. They understand that a piece of corporate jewellery, whether it is a tie bar, a lapel pin, or a branded brooch, carries weight as a gift, as an award, and as a daily expression of brand values.

What excites me about where this is all heading is the growing recognition that these categories belong together strategically, not just aesthetically. When organisations invest in custom ties and corporate jewellery as a unified programme rather than separate line items, they are making a statement about how seriously they take their own identity. That is, I would say, the most encouraging development I have seen in this industry in years — and it is a conversation Vinuchi is very glad to be part of.