The silk neckwear has gone over big. Both Bill Clinton and Al Gore own Garcia ties, and Whoopi Goldberg recently had a Garcia-patterned dress made. Stone Ltd., which makes and the ties, has done $30 million in retail sales on the Garcia tie over the past 11 months and hopes for similar success with the Davis line. The Lennon ties, introduced last December, have done well enough that, ‘Imagine’ just in time for Father’s Day, maker Burma Biebas has issued a new batch featuring sketches Lennon drew for his son Sean. Each tie comes with a pamphlet explaining the art work the sartorial equivalent of liner notes.
The neckties let former rebels fly their freak flag discreetly in the boardroom, says Irwin Sternberg dent of Stonehenge Ltd. “They feel like they’re getting away something.” (A small “J. Garcia” or Miles Davis signature label on the back is the only tipoff to the tie’s pedigree.) But Garcia, for one, doesn’t take the whole enterprise entirely seriously, says spokesman Dennis McNally. Nor is he likely to flog the line. True to his ’60s roots, says McNally, “Jerry does not wear ties.”
