Secondary School Ties - Favourites? Alternatives to stripes?

[WatchingTheFooty]

I know, I know, I expect lots of you will think that the best kind of tie is no tie at all.

However, for those schools that do have ties, is there an alternative to stripes that works well? Are stripes so popular because they're traditional, or because they look good? Know of any "different" ties that work well? If your DH wears a tie to work, do you have a favourite that might work with a fairly traditional school uniform? (Looking for ideas as input to a re-design!)

Do NOT go for the all black look that my local school chose. Combined with black trousers and blasers, the boys spend 5 years looking like they are going to a funeral.

When I was a school we had navy with small white oak leaves ( school badge design) all over. Looked very smart.

Does the school have house ties? If so you 'll need a design that can accommodate different colours.

I like stripes btw.

DCs school has a plain navy with just the logo at the top. Only boys wear the tie. Prefects get silver logo rather than blue logo, but girl prefects get a silver blazer pocket badge instead.

Our school has the school crest on the tie , which I liked as it had to be under the knot so kids had to have there tie tied properly , no halfway down there shirts , or big knots etc as badge wouldn't be in correct place. So everyone looked the same.

We used to have black ties with white swans sporting gold necklets and a chain. The swan was the emblem of the County and, yes, a few did get coloured in. Still the best ties though!

our 6th form tie has teeny tiny school crests all over

Shred the ties and let the pupils wear hoodies, jeans and trainers.

DD reckons they get 30 minutes more teaching time in non uniform days.

(6x5min wasted per lesson because SLT insist they line up outside and have ties, skirts, half mast trousers and presence of perfect uncomfortable, impractical black shoes confirmed each period)

And yes if you must have ties, not black or black with tiny dark crests.

One local sixth form have black ties and black everything else it is a bit funereal on the boys.

The girls lighten the mood by wearing night club style skirts.

My DS has the school crest dotted all over his, the older pupils just have single crest which is located just below the knot, as another poster said. I say dotted, but I suppose they are actually arranged in diagonal lines ie stripes, but not as obvious
I think ties with some sort of design look smarter than those of a single colour. The local comp has plain ties in 4 different house colours which just don't look like proper ties.