Bow Tie Infographic

Ever wonder what's more popular: A Bow Tie or a Necktie? How about what bow tie color men wear most often? Well, we did some research using Google search statistics, our website traffic, sales data, as well as surveyed some of the worlds largest tie producers to find out some interesting bow tie facts which we decided to display in form of the infographic above.

1. Top 5 Bow Tie States
Ever wonder in which States you are most likely to run into men wearing bow ties? Well, we found out which are the Top 5 States with the highest concentration of "men interested in bow ties". To get this number we used Google's regional search statistics as well as adult men population data. The #1 Bow Tie state in the US is: Mississippi.

2. Bow Ties vs Neckties?
While we certainly see more neckties on a day to day basis, men are much more interested in bow ties. Take a look at the historical search graph for "bow tie" vs. "necktie" related keywords (google search volume). While the interest in "neckties" has been somewhat declining we see a big search increase in "bow tie" related keywords. This trend is also visible in our sales date. Over the last 2 years bow tie sales have outgrown our necktie sales.

3. Self-Tie vs Pre-Tied Bow Ties?
The true bow tie aficionado will argue that the self-tie bow tie is the only acceptable option. While we agree that self-tie bow ties are sartorially more respectable, sales and production numbers beg to differ. We asked 5 of the world's largest tie manufacturers, producing millions of bow ties per year, which style they sell more. You will be surprised to find out that 78% of all bow ties produced are pre-tied compared to 22% being the self-tie style. This goes to show that the "occasional bow tie" wearer, the one who is required to wear a bow tie either as part of a dress code or part of a uniform, prefers convenience over style.

4. Only 1% of Men Know "How to Tie a Bow Tie"
Together with our sister site, Tie-a-Tie.net, we recently surveyed 8,900 adult men about their tie habits. One of the questions asked was "Do you know how to tie your own bow tie?". Surprisingly only 92 men answers yes, which equals about 1% of the population surveyed.

5. New Years Eve is the #1 Day to wear a Bow Tie:
We analyzed the website traffic of Tie-a-Tie.net, the world's largest "how to tie a tie" website, teaching over 4 million men each year the art of tying different tie knots. The days that bring the most visitors to the site via "how to tie a bow tie" searches are: New Years Eve, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, and "National Bow Tie Day". Looks like Pee Wee Herman, the Nutty Professor, and the Chippendales continue to be popular Halloween costumes.

6. Black is Still the Most Popular Bow Tie Color:
Our sales date shows that black is, by a large margin, the most popular bow tie color. This shouldn't come as a surprise since the black bow tie is part of the formal black tie dress code. One color that surprised us was pink. Almost 1 in 14 bow ties sold by us is pink in color. Most of these are sold during the spring and summer months, and are worn at weddings and proms.

Are we missing any interesting stats you would like us to research? Let us know by leaving a comment below.