Ever since I was a little kid at Canisius Day Camp, I was captivated by the Blue and Gold. The Canisius school colors stood for everything Canisius meant to me. The blue and gold still fill me with pride for my school. Even to this day, I prefer teams in the blue and gold [with Notre Dame being the obvious exception – especially since they took down my UConn Huskies in the Women’s NCAA Basketball Championships]. And when Michigan would roll on to the field in their Maize and Gold [led by Bo Schembechler], I felt like a Wolverine.
I never wore my Boston College maroon and gold because it never felt right. Navy blue has always been my favorite color, and maroon just didn’t work. Anyone who has worked with me in design over the past forty years knows that Pantone 289 is the starter color of choice in all that we do [but I have made an exception now and again for Carolina Blue – and Dean Smith gets the credit for that].
In high school, we use to wear a tie to school every day. Frank taught me how to tie a half-Windsor knot, and I remember teaching Anthony the same way. Just as I came to prefer the blue and gold, I still feel the same way about a half-Windsor knot. I just don’t like the sight of a bloated full Windsor. Over my high school years, I inevitably gravitated to navy blue and yellow ties. I always had one I liked more than others, and when it would wear out, I would head to Campus Corner to replace it. Seldom could I find the exact same one, but it was always a combination of yellow with blue and white stripes.
Recently, I found my favorite tie online at Amazon.
It’s a Mr. Zhang tie, and you won’t believe how much it cost until you hit the link.
I started wearing a suit and tie to work again a few months ago. At Capax Discovery, we pride ourselves as being the adults in the technology room with our enterprise archiving solutions, and being in a sports shirt, especially since I am generally Skyping from Naples, just didn’t seem appropriate. Hence the coat and tie [which I have come to enjoy wearing]. It makes me feel more engaged, and it lets whomever I am meeting with know that I am not down here waiting to get in a round of golf – I am here to build, and I am hard at work doing just that.
Some of the staff at Capax Discovery HQ at the Walker Center have followed suit. The women at Capax Discovery [more often than not] are dressed more professionally than the men, but I think some of the guys are finally closing the gap. From what I can see in business today, this is generally the case. Certainly, at the Walker Center, the women running things are usually better dressed [professionally] than the men.
But what amazed me most when I started wearing a suit and tie again was how many ties were available on Amazon, how little they cost, and how easy it was to order a nice 100% cotton spread collar white dress shirt. An Isaac Mizrahi Men’s Slim Fit Long Sleeve Solid 100% Cotton Dress Shirt is only $19.99, and it’s a great shirt.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G2LPL5O/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
What Amazon has done to retail is truly remarkable. But, what is often lost, is the fact that Amazon has driven everyone to up their game. Retailers, as a whole, must get better at what they deliver or they will simply become a distant memory. At Tony Walker & Co, we have changed dramatically over the past several years. The environment we have created [and continue to innovate with] is remarkable. Simply having the newest fashionable product in the store for our customers is now just a small portion of the Tony Walker experience. From the Giancarlo’s Cafe’ to our Needles & Threads tailoring, to iWorldFundraising.org events, we have expanded what ‘shopping’ at the Walker Center is all about.
I’ll be back up north in a couple of weeks, and I can’t wait to see what’s new at the Walker Center for the Summer of 2018. I’ll see you at Giancarlo’s.
The [Amazon Under $10] Tie Collection
Tony Walker Post 
