About Re-Tied
Meet Shellie
Re-Tied by M.W. Designs is Shellie Washington's one-person studio in Ohio. Every piece starts as a necktie somebody already wore and comes out as something new.
The collection I inherited
My father collected neckties for most of his life. Nothing expensive. They were working ties, bought off racks and out of thrift stores, and he picked each one because the pattern or the color or the feel of the silk caught his eye. By the time he passed, the collection filled several boxes.
I didn't want them sitting in storage. Ties are made of good fabric, silk and wool and cotton, cut into a shape that's only good for one thing. So I started taking them apart to see what else that fabric could become.
What it became is what you'll find here: statement ties, collars and cravats, made one at a time at my worktable in Ohio. I take each tie apart, press it, pleat it by hand and put it back together as something new. No two come out the same.
Made from old ties
Every piece is cut from a necktie that already existed: vintage and secondhand silk, wool and cotton. No new factory fabric.
Only one of each
There are no production runs. One tie makes one piece, and once it's cut and finished it can't be made again.
Finished by hand in Ohio
Pleating, pressing, beading and sewing all happen at one worktable. No outsourced labor, no assembly line.
Real pieces, out in real life.
Photos from Shellie's Facebook: her pop-up tables and the pieces she wears herself.
See what's available now
Every piece in the shop is one of one. Once it sells, it's gone.