This Upstart Neckwear Brand Makes a Compelling Argument for Wearing a Tie
“If you’re wearing a tie in today’s world, it almost feels like you’re a member in this little, quiet, secret club,” says Nathan Green, founder of the fittingly named and newly minted tiemaker Secret Society, which quietly launched this past November in a supposedly post-neckwear world.
If the tie is truly as dead as so many have claimed, no one seems to have told Green. A born clotheshorse whose penchant for style confounded his farming family, he found his calling in college while working the floor of the Baton Rouge men’s store Harper’s Haberdashery. After a few years of a “big boy” sales job he felt compelled to take after graduation, he drifted back into menswear with a job at Sid Mashburn’s Atlanta shop, which he came to manage by 2017.
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His working tour of great Southern menswear stores continued when he relocated to Birmingham and took a position as a sales representative at the 103-year-old shop Shaia’s. He was soon accompanying its fourth-generation owner Ken Shaia on market trips, where he noticed that neckwear had become an afterthought. Green began fiddling with the idea of starting a tie business himself, and was compelled to act after Shaia tossed him a strip of fabric with the command, “Make a tie by the weekend, and I’ll know you’re serious and I’ll help you start a tie business.”
With his employer’s blessing, Green began to build out Secret Society using the contacts he’d made from his many years working in men’s stores. Its aesthetic, described by Green as “That intersection of rock ‘n’ roll and prep, plus the casual nonchalance of the Italians and the regimented vibe of the English,” comes across in an initial offering that’s classic in spirit but a bit more punk in practice. To wit: club ties dotted with skulls, high-contrast block stripes, and slouchy silk knits—ranging in price from $95 to $165. All while still offering the sort of blue-chip repps or geometric prints you wouldn’t think twice about knotting up for a wedding or a job interview.
Secret Society also offers a collection of what Green calls “alumni” ties, one-of-ones made from vintage silks sourced from the archives of his partner factories, like a peach-paisley Liberty of London fabric or a very ‘80s brown-and-yellow foulard. Green plans to produce his own fabric designs in the future, and is also dabbling in accessories with cotton and wool pocket squares hand-rolled for him by a woman in Virginia.
While Green certainly belongs to a team—“I’m still the type that wants to wear a tie to a ballgame,” he admits—his decision to start Secret Society comes down to more than just personal taste. He believes his day job provides a “cheat code” into what’s coming down the pike next for men, and has noticed a return of more classical styles such as pleated trousers and double-breasted jackets during market days.
For many, starting a new neckwear brand in 2025 may sound like founding a new floppy disk firm. But if Green’s betting right, he—and his freshman brand—may soon be in a plum position. “If there’s going to be a resurgence in neckwear, why not start it in 2025 and be out in front to lead that charge?” Green says.
Finally, he has a pithy message for men who find themselves on either side of the knotted divide. “I’ll just say thank you to those guys that are already doing it. And if you’re on the fence, wear the tie, man.”
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