The Pratt knot is a method of tying a

necktie A necktie, long tie, or simply a tie, is a cloth article of formal neckwear or office attire worn for decorative or symbolic purposes, resting under a folded shirt collar or knotted at the throat, and usually draped down the chest. On rare o ...

. It is also known as the Shelby knot. The knot was created in the late 1950s by Jerry Pratt, an employee of the

US Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business association advocacy group and is the largest lobbying group in the United States. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging of President Willi ...

. It was popularized as the Shelby knot after then 92-year-old Pratt taught it in 1986 to television reporter

Don Shelby Donald Gilbert Shelby (born May 27, 1947) is a retired American journalist who was a news anchor on WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota for much of his career. He is regarded as an experienced investigative journalist, as his work has earned tw ...

, who he felt had been tying his tie poorly on the air. Shelby then refined the Pratt knot with local clothier Kingford Bavender and wore it on the air with a spread collar where it stood out and attracted attention for its symmetry and trim precision. The knot is a variation on the Nicky knot. Both the Pratt and Nicky knots are tied inside out, though only the Nicky knot is self-releasing. Before its popularization in a 1989 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' article, the knot was unknown within the fashion world and not recorded in the tie industry's standard reference guide of the time, ''Getting Knotted – 188 Knots for Necks'' by Davide Mosconi and Riccardo Villarosa in Milan, Italy. The Pratt knot uses less length than the half-Windsor or Windsor knots, and so is well suited to shorter ties or taller men. Unlike the

four-in-hand knot The four-in-hand knot is a method of tying a necktie. Also sometimes known (in UK) as a Bucket Knot, due to the shape of the finished knot. Some reports state that carriage drivers tied their reins with a four-in-hand knot, while others claim th ...

, the Pratt method produces a symmetrical knot. It is of medium thickness. Using notation from and according to ''

The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie ''The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie'' is a book by Thomas Fink and Yong Mao about the history of the knotted neckcloth, the modern necktie, and how to tie each. It is based on two mathematics papers published by the authors in ''Nature'' and '' Physica& ...

'', the knot is tied * Lo Ci Lo Ri Co T (knot 5). File:Tie diagram inside-out start.svg File:Tie diagram inside-out l-c-l i-o.svg File:Tie diagram inside-out l-r.svg File:Tie diagram inside-out r-c-end.svg

References

External links

Encyclopedia of tie knots at Thomas Fink's homepage
* * {{Necktie knots Necktie knots

See also

References

External links