The GeekDad Guide to Geeky Ties


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Father’s Day approaches! For many men, this means that they will be getting a new tie, whether they like it or not. Sure, wearing a tie can be a boring affair, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of interesting neckwear choices out there with companies like the Cyberoptix Tie Lab, the Speicher Tie Company, ThinkGeek, Scatterbrain Ties, Projectorties, Beau Ties Ltd., Ties.com, and many more offering ties that appeal to all sorts of geeky interests.

We recently wrote about Game of Thrones bow ties, but there’s so many more geeky ties out there. Here are 25 ties that go beyond the standard stripes and solids.

Milky Way Galaxy Tie

Milky Way Galaxy Tie
An original design of the Milky Way Galaxy adapted from an 1822 star chart. Ice blue ink on french blue, navy, or royal blue silk. Also available as a bow tie. (Cyberoptix Tie Lab).

Firefly “Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal” Bow Tie

Firefly "Curse" Bow Tie
A fantastic scene from Firefly depicted on a bow tie. How great is that? No, don’t answer. We know. It’s really great. (Speicher Tie Company).

ThinkGeek ‘Ties Suck’ Tie

Ties Suck Binary Tie
Cornflower blue tie with a repeating silver binary code that tells people what you really think about wearing a tie. (ThinkGeek).

Circuit Board Tie

Circuit Board Tie
For the electronics enthusiast, an eye-catching tie printed with with metallic copper and silver ink on green or black. (Scatterbrain Ties).

Cthulhu Tie

Cthulhu Tie
Cthulhu may wait dreaming in his house at R’lyeh, but that doesn’t mean you can’t wear the Great Old One for a night out on the town.

Space Invaders Tie

Space Invaders Tie
This tie takes you back to the early days of video games when all you needed to occupy an afternoon was a pocketful of quarters. (Beau Ties Ltd.).

Star Wars Narrow Ties

Star Wars Narrow Ties
Japanese toy maker Kotobukiya offers a selection of twelve different Star War-themed ties featuring the iconic images of R2-D2, C-3PO, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, X-Wing fighters, and the Death Star.

Om Edition Sonic Fabric Necktie

Om Edition Sonic Fabric Necktie
Designer Alyce Santoro creates audible neckties—wearable works of art, each woven from 50% cassette tape and 50% polyester thread. You can run a tape head over this tie and it will emit sound. The Om Edition was recorded with a single frequency (136.1Hz, the note Tibetan Buddhist monks often use in the OM chant). (Sonic Fabric).

Annapolis Wooden Bow Tie

Annapolis Wooden Bow Tie
A handcrafted wooden bow tie made of exotic “bloodwood” from tropical South America. (Never Old Boys).

Powered by Bacon Tie

Powered by Bacon Tie
At GeekDad we have a slight love affair with all things bacon, so we had to include this bacon-powered design. (Zazzle).

Space Shuttle Controls Bow Tie

Space Shuttle Controls Bow Tie
The diagrams of switches and dials that make up the Space Shuttle Shuttle’s communications system printed in ice blue ink on french blue, navy, dark brown, or charcoal silk bow tie. Also available as a necktie. (Cyberoptix Tie Lab).

Vincent Van Gogh TARDIS Bow Tie

Vincent Van Gogh TARDIS Bow Tie
Remember that time The Doctor and Amy met Amy’s favorite painter in 1890? Now you can keep that memory alive for all of time with this inspired bow tie. (Speicher Tie Company).

Doctor Who 11th Doctor’s Bow Tie

11th Doctor Bow Tie
Speaking of The Doctor, any geeky tie list is incomplete without the bow tie that made bow ties cool again. (ThinkGeek).

Black Tie #000000

Black Tie #000000
Black ink. Black tie. Black hexadecimal. No question about it—this is a black tie. (Cyberoptix Tie Lab).

Steampunk Gears Bow Tie

Steampunk Gears Bow Tie
Cotton tie. Gray gears. Lots of gray gears. Very steampunk. (Speicher Tie Company).

Harry Potter House Ties

Harry Potter House Ties
The Sorting Hat might choose what House you belong in, but you get to choose what house —Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff—you wear to the office. (ThinkGeek).

Paisley-oids Tie

Paisley-oids Tie
A slightly subversive, retro-gaming twist to the classic paisley tie. (Scatterbrain Ties).

Pi Tie

Pi Tie
Transcend style with this irrational take on a constant fashion accessory. (Projectorties).

Elements Tie

Elements Tie
The Periodic Table of the Elements, rendered in (really) bright colors on 100% silk. Also available as a bow tie. (Beau Ties Ltd.).

Lorem Ipsum Bow Tie

Lorem Ipsum Bow Tie
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus condimentum in massa quis interdum—in black ink on a charcoal tie. Also available, the Lorem Ipsum necktie. (Cyberoptix Tie Lab).

ThinkGeek Power Tie

Power Tie
Deftly navigate tricky office politics in this classic power tie. 100% silk tie with repeating power symbols woven right into the fabric for that extra boost of power. (ThinkGeek).

Ampli-Tie

Ampli-tie
Collin Cunningham models the Ampli-Tie, a very cool and very geeky VU meter necktie. It’s powered by Flora, the wearable electronics platform from Adafruit. This one will require a little sewing to put together, but when it’s done, your formerly humble necktie will light up in response to sound waves. Watch the demo and a tutorial on how to put it all together.

Intergalactic Bow Tie

Intergalactic Bow Tie
It’s full of stars! And a few planets and asteroids, too. (Beau Ties, Ltd.).

Aperture Science Logo Tie

Aperture Logo Tie
Invented by the design wizards at ThinkGeek, this classy black tie sports a repeating silver-gray Aperture Science logo. Perfect for wearing to those staff meetings at the Enrichment Center. (ThinkGeek).

Penny Farthing Frog Tie

Frog on a Penny Farthing Tie
A frog riding a big bike. What’s not to like? (Scatterbrain Ties).

DIY Geeky Tie

DIY Geek Tie
If you can’t find a geeky tie to your liking, over on the Etsy blog Michele Beschen shows you how to make a patterned tie of your own design.
 Necktie Icons by Michela Tannoia from the Noun Project. CC BY 3.0.

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Tom Fassbender recently completed a year-long trip around the world with his wife and two daughters. When he's not scouring the Internet for weird stuff, reading a book, or leading a group of 8th graders through a game of Pathfinder, he's riding a plane, train, boat, or automobile somewhere in the world. He writes about adventure and coffee at Fordsbasement and is also the author of the retro-noir mystery By the Balls: The Complete Collection.