About Us

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After working at Brooks Brothers, Joseph Banks and Nordstroms, Kirk Hinckley, the founder of the Club decided that the bow tie market was being ignored by the stores and that the bow tie wearer deserved and desperately needed a better selection of quality bow ties. He knew that a mail order catalog available worldwide could bring the community of bow tie wearers together so that he could offer an incredible selection of bow ties. In 1994 the concept became reality and the Bow Tie Club was born!

Mr Hinckley's goal was to provide a very high quality product at an honest price. He looked at all the sources and realized that either the quality was there but the prices absurd or the price was good but the quality lacking, so he knew the only way this would work was to find seamstresses to make his own beautiful bow ties. Not only had he started a catalog business but was also producing high quality bow ties Made in America!

At first, the patterns were purchased from design houses from around the world, but this was not an ideal arrangement since these designs were mostly made for long ties and not always suitable for the shape and size of a bow tie. This is where Mr Hinckley's wife Corinne Hsu stepped in and took charge of all the design and printing of new patterns in 2006! Her years of experience in the graphic arts field, coupled with her intimate knowledge of the bow tie business, helped her create the beautiful designs that the Club calls its "BTC Exclusives". The exclusive designs were met with rave reviews by customers from the very start as they are some of the first designs ever to be made specifically for the bow tie shape, thus elevating the forgotten bow tie wearer to the forefront of fashion!

A global nomad at heart, Corinne was born in Taiwan, lived in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe before landing in the United States to pursue her college degree in Graphic Design in 1986. She has lived in the States ever since and continues her journeys around the world, taking pictures of bow ties on location along the way. 

“My design style is inspired by my love of pattern, color and texture, they are the result, in part, of the appreciation of different cultures and their aesthetics. Creative work should be honest, a spark that comes from within. That’s what makes a design compelling and most importantly, sincere.” —Corinne Hsu on "The Story Behind the Design"

Mr Hinckley states that the Club is here to make the bow tie a real fashion statement! Going forward, the bow tier will never again be treated as an after thought by tie manufacturers who decide to have a small selection of bow ties to assuage the bow tie community. Now the bow tie man has a source of exceptional quality bow ties made in America and designed in America just for them!