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In 1994, Lee Allison got the crazy idea
that he wanted to create his own line of neckties. Armed with a
baker’s dozen of original designs, he found two silk mills,
one in England, the other in Switzerland, both willing to take a
chance on the young man with no experience but fresh ideas.
The Lee Allison Company was officially launched from a Chicago
brownstone in the spring of 1995. From the beginning, Lee Allison
neckties (or four-in-hands
as he prefers to call them) were always a little bit different,
whimsical but sophisticated, and of the highest quality. The difference
was that Lee actually designed his own fabric rather than simply
buy what the silk mills had for sale. Of the original 13 designs,
11 had themes, two did not. Later that year, the collection was
bought by Barneys New York, and The Lee Allison Company was on its
way.
The business has since moved to a 4,500 square foot loft/studio
in the Bucktown area of Chicago, where it remains today.
Over time, the Company’s offerings have grown to include
bowties, cummerbund sets, formal vests, pocket squares, the occasional
pillow, and suspenders (braces, for you Anglophiles). And in 2002,
the Company added a line of fine cotton dress shirts, its first
non-silk offering.
Lee Allison products are sold here at this website, through our
catalogue, and in better
specialty stores throughout the United States, and to a very limited
degree abroad. Please see our list of retailers
for a store near you.
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