Business: A Rage for Ties That Bind

The stylish executive now wears a company cravat

A time-honored British tradition—the old school tie—is now taking root in American business. In Britain, graduates of Oxbridge colleges, officers of army regiments and members of London clubs have long worn institutional ties as a way of recognizing other "old boys" without asking. Now Americans can pick out a colleague or a competitor at a sales convention according to the cravat around his neck. Corporate neckties have recently become a bullish $12 million industry. Says A. Harvey Schreter, whose Baltimore-based company has made about 600 different company ties: "Last year our business grew by...