WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Dressing up D.C.

Middlebury, Vermont - May 28, 2010

You can't help wanting to dress up when you visit Beau Ties Limited in Middlebury. I even tied on a bow tie to interview company president Bill Kenerson. "I think you've done a good job with it," he said of my tie. "I'd like to see you wear it all the time!"

For 17 years, Kenerson's brand has made the world a more formal and fun place with its colorful bow ties and the more common four-in-hand neck ties.

Now, Kenerson has some new bragging rights. "The feedback has been great," he says.

The designers are producing a line of ties for the United States House of Representatives. The gift shop there has some of the most stringent retail guidelines around. They want products that aren't just made in the USA, but made from materials that were produced here, too.

"As we all know, a great deal of our businesses have gone overseas," explains Liz Smith, director of corporate sales for Beau Ties Limited.

That posed a big challenge for Beau Ties Limited. While Vermonters cut and sew the fabric, most of their patterned silk is imported from China and Italy. "In fact, it's not possible to have silk made in the United States, because we have no silkworms," Smith adds.

But the company refused to give up. After months of looking, it found a Pennsylvania textile mill to weave a fabric with the U.S. House seal, and the donkey and elephant symbols of the Democrats and Republicans.

The fabric mimics silk, but is actually polyester. "We had to work hard to get this to the quality we can use for ties," Kenerson explains.

The U.S. House gift shop already sold out of some of the ties and Kenerson expects he'll be shipping more soon.

Beau Ties Limited does most of its sales through its catalog and website, but the new political ties are only available in D.C. at the House of Representatives gift shop. The store does take phone orders at 202-226-5362.

The company hopes the experience will help it expand its corporate custom-style line, and grow into selling through more government-operated sites.

The lesson Beau Ties Limited learned is that Americans still can get the job done in manufacturing, even if it takes a little extra work. "It's very important to keep things made in the United States as much as we can," Smith says.

Pride is woven into each stitch of these "Made in Vermont" ties.

Click here to visit the Beau Ties Limited.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont