When we talk about cleaning a silk tie, we’re actually talking about removing stains, because silk ties were never meant to be cleaned. Launder? Never! Dry clean? Not even that. These ties are extremely delicate and can fall apart easily. All you can do is keep the tie as clean as you can. If you’re good at that, the tie will be out of style and ready for the discard pile before it needs cleaning.
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There are commercially available fabric pre-treatment sprays which can make your tie stain-retardant. Though some neckties are manufactured with a blocking agent, you must still defend yourself. Use a tie restraint such as a clip or tack, and tuck a napkin in your shirt collar when you eat. Then you won’t need to worry about stains. Remember your necktie is a thing of beauty, not a bib.
Silk and Water Don’t Mix
Should an offending blob of something get past your defenses, act immediately. Remove the tie. Waiting any length of time will make removal of the stain virtually impossible.
Never, ever bring water anywhere near the tie.
- With a white paper towel, dab a small amount of stain remover onto the stain. If you are not in the habit of carrying paper towels or stain remover with you, get your wife or girlfriend to carry them in her purse or stash them someplace convenient.
- If you have no stain remover, try dabbing it with a clean napkin dipped in a little seltzer.
- Blot with the paper towel.
- For anything greasy, sprinkle a little talcum powder or corn starch on the spot as soon as possible and allow it to absorb what it can. After a few hours, brush off the remaining residue with a clean soft cloth. If the spot remains, repeat the process.
Caution: stain removers may discover your silk tie.
Methods of Last Resort
If it’s a soft silk tie, you can try this:
- Hang a towel over a hot radiator (not an automobile radiator).
- Take the silk tie and rest it flat on top of the towel while still on the radiator.
- Then, take a cold water vapor sprayer and evenly spray the area of the stain, being careful not to soak it.
- Use some very soft and absorbent bathroom tissue to blot the tie.
- Leave the tie on the radiator overnight.
- The next morning when you get up, check the tie. If the stain is still there, repeat the process.
If you should get butter or grease on your silk tie, which pretty much dooms the tie, don’t do anything until you get home.
- When you get home lay the silk tie on a flat surface with a towel under it.
- Sprinkle talcum powder or corn starch over the stain.
- Leave the tie on the towel overnight or for as long as you have to. This gives the stain a chance to be absorbed by the powder.
- Take a clean soft cloth or towel and gently brush off the powder. If it is still stained, repeat the process.
- This can take up to three applications before you know whether the stain is permanent.
f you haven’t gotten rid of the stain, which is very likely, then have the tie dry cleaned. They’re not meant for dry cleaning, and chances are dry cleaning isn’t going to get the spot out either, but this is your last resort. Ask the cleaner to use the gentlest chemicals he has. This is still not a guarantee that the tie won’t be ruined in the process.
I just read elsewhere on the web that some people have very successfully spot cleaned their silk ties using plain old alcohol and a blow dryer to quickly dry the cleaned spot (to prevent a ring). I have NOT tried it myself yet, so do not know first hand how it would work, but its worth a try on a tie that might just be ruined anyway! Best wishes!
If you notice a grease stain on fabric, try to treat it within a few hours. One thing to try is table salt or baking soda to absorb the oil or grease for about 30 minutes. Then brush off the salt or soda and then dab the spot with alcohol using a towel under the stain to prevent it from spreading. Let it sit for a few minutes then wash it right away. If the stain is still there try alcohol again then wash with Tide liquid detergent or Dawn dish detergent. If you still have a stain then use it as a dust rag. Hopefully this will work but only use this method on washable fabrics. If the fabric is not washable only us alcohol and a blow dryer to prevent water stains. This works well on linen and micro fibers. Good Luck!
Better than talc or corn starch is diatomaceous earth or attapulgite, a very fine siliceous powder with a strong affinity for oil and grease. Simply blot the stain with a paper towel and then apply the powder to generously cover the grease stain. Gently pat the powder into the weave of the tie and allow it to sit overnight. The next day, gently brush away the excess powder, and then flick (not pick) at the fabric with your nail to dislodge the powder embedded in the weave. If the grease stain is still present reapply the powder and try again the next day. diatomaceous earth, and attapulgite are both in the class of substances known as Fuller’s Earth. Fuller’s Earth has been used for centuries to clean and degrease clothing.
I was looking for tips on how to remove stains from a silk tie tonight and came across this site. I tried the alcohol and blow dryer tip that Sonia posted and it worked perfectly. I purchased a Gucci tie from a thrift store that had a few small set in stains and they are now gone! Thanks Sonia.
I was skeptical, but Sonia’s tip above using alcohol and a blow dryer really worked for me on a milk stain that ran down the entire length of my son’s light colored silk tie. JUST KEEP REPEATING. After the first couple of applications it may not look like it’s working, but eventually it will. Hooray!
“If you are not in the habit of carrying paper towels or stain remover with you, get your wife or girlfriend to carry them in her purse or stash them someplace convenient.”
Right. I’ll begin carrying around stain remover for “my man” when he starts carrying tampons for me.
I couldn’t get to this tie for 5 hours. When I got home I dabbed the stain lightly and repeatedly with spray and wash with plain white paper towel. Knowing that you can’t touch or do anything else with fine silk and knowing that this treated area would show a shadow where the spray and wash dried, I proceeded to spray the entire length of the front of the tie till it all was wet. In the morning I had a dry tie, stain perfectly removed and the tie was only slightly darker than original. If it were new you wouldn’t know the difference. Just a slight color change.
After 2 attempts of cleaning a stain at a reputable dry cleaner, I tried Sonia’s rubbing alcohol suggestion which worked great. Warning, though – on my stain I needed to rub and soak it for it to lighten, which it did, but my repeated process also lightened the base tie as well – the tie can now be used as my wife could not find the stain nor the lightened area upon inspection until I told her where it was. So the idea works GREAT – but I did this “extreme” by soaking and rubbing really hard five (5) times. Thanks Sonia – your idea saved my tie to be usable as a tie and not as dust cloth.
I first used alcohol and powder to remove stains from two rather expensive silk ties. It did not work. I already knew taking them to the dry cleaners would not work. As a last resort, I bought some club soda and wet the areas thoroughly. The club soda fizzed a little when I poured it on. After some light rubbing, the stains disappeared. I was skeptical so I poured on more club soda. Then I let them dry naturally. Now the ties are dry and there’s no sign of the stains. I just saved about $150 worth of my favorite ties. Amazing.
RE: I thought this kind of sexism was dead….
Herzco : Not everything is sexist, asking the girlfriend or wife to carry the stain remover in her purse has nothing to do with sexism. My girlfriend generally carries many emergency items in her purse. It is a matter of being practical. Most men do not carry a bag, storing these items in our wallets is not an option. My girlfriend would gladly carry this item for me. Just as I would gladly carry a pad or tampon for her in my Jacket pocket. Assisting your life partner is not sexism, its called a healthy relationship. By the way I still open doors and pull out chairs, also not sexism, it’s called basic manners. It is a shame that in this day and age simple co-operation can be viewed as sexist. No wonder so many of today’s relationships do not work out.
Truly Sad
I am going to try suggestion posted here, but first, answer this question: If water should NEVER be put on silk ties( I read online) then how can SELTZER aka Carbonated WATER be safely used to clean a silk tie? Need an answer please. Thank you.
Moxamomma…. it is entirely possible that a weak solution of carbonated water does not damage silk in the same way as tap water. Silk is a protein with tertiary structure held together by hydrogen bonding between amines and carboxylate groups- water disrupts the hydrogen bonding by bonding to the groups itself. Changing the pH of the water may well modify the hydrogen bonding nature in silk so that it is not disrupted.
The alcohol tip works wonders. Just saved a $150 Burberry tie from years at the back of my closet! I didn’t have a blow drier but a fan on really high setting worked amazingly. Thanks!
“I’ll begin carrying around stain remover for “my man” when he starts carrying tampons for me.”
I suspect you will never have to worry about this.
For years I have had great success removing spots from silk ties using contact lens cleaning solution–not the “all in one–cleaner + soaking solution + saline” type but the kind that was used by everyone with soft and hard lenses back in the ’80′s and ’90′s. Not terribly easy to find but still out there.
1. Spread a thick, dry terry cloth trowel on the floor.
2. Squirt the lens cleaner on the tie to cover the spot.
3. Lay the tie smoothly on the towel and fold the towel over so that the tie is sandwiched between two layers of towel.
4. Not kidding here–stand on and jump up and down on the towel where the tie is. The pressure forces all the cleaning solution into the towel bringing the stain with it. Remove the tie and spread it flat on a smooth surface to completely dry if necessary.
Wow! I followed Sonia’s idea of alcohol and a hair dryer, and it worked! I wiped the stain with an alcohol wipe, then used the hairdryer to dry it, then I used my finger nail to kind of scrape at the stain. I then used a white paper towel and scrubbed the stain. I repeated it three times with three alcohol wipes. Thank you Sonia for the idea!
That product mentioned above is actually sold at auto parts stores and wal-mart as an oil drying compound. It is used to take oil spots off of driveways, and works quite well on nasty, dirty motor oil. It is also used in some aquarium filters to suck out impurities. Combined with heat from an iron, this stuff works quite well on silk ties in about five minutes. I just saved my favorite $50.00 silk tie this way. I think this stuff is in kitty litter, also. That might also be worth a try.
Tried Sonia’s suggestion on a bright blue silk tie. There was a little spot showing where I spot treated it, so I blotted the rest of the area around the spot with alcohol and then dried it with a hairdryer and now the spot is gone and there really isn’t anything you can see now.