How to Tie the Pratt Knot (Necktie)
Usage
The Pratt knot gives you a clean, symmetric triangle at the collar without the bulk of a Windsor. It is the knot to use for business and semi-formal wear when a plain everyday knot looks underdressed but a full Windsor looks heavy-handed. What makes it unusual is the start: the tie goes on reversed, seam outward. Working from that reversed orientation lets both faces of the final wrap sit cleanly, and an even triangle is the result.
Why Learn the Pratt Knot?
It solves a specific, common problem: you want symmetry, but you do not have the tie length to spend on a Windsor. The Pratt uses less material than either Windsor knot, which is what makes it the symmetric option that still leaves you enough tie. It is medium in size, thickness and formality, and it works with most tie fabrics — the one thing it is fussy about is the collar.
Common Uses
Business and Professional
- Business and professional attire wanting a clean symmetrical knot.
- Semi-formal occasions where a plain single-pass knot looks underdressed.
Everyday Styling
- Cutaway and wide-spread collars, where the symmetry balances the collar spread — this is where the Pratt belongs.
- Ties that would finish too high in a Windsor, since the Pratt spends less length.
When It Is the Wrong Choice
- Classic (non-spread) collars — the collar ends overlap the knot and it does not sit well.
- With a collar pin or collar bar, where the Pratt is simply too big to pair cleanly.
- Ceremonial wear, where a full Windsor's formality is the expectation.
- Anywhere the knot needs to be widely recognised — the Pratt is less familiar than the Windsor family.
Other Names
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Notable Features
- Symmetrical finish: a medium-sized, tapered triangle rather than an off-centre knot.
- Reversed start: the tie begins seam-out, which makes the symmetry possible.
- Sits between the extremes: more body than a plain single-pass knot, less bulk than a Half or Full Windsor.
- Economical with length: it uses less tie than either Windsor knot, though a little more than a plain single-pass knot.
Similar Knots
Half Windsor vs. Pratt Knot
The pair most likely to be confused by sight, since both build a symmetric triangle. The Half Windsor knot is the larger.
- Advantage: the Pratt is the more discreet, smaller version of the same silhouette.
- Disadvantage: to fill a wide collar, the Half Windsor does it better.
Kelvin Knot vs. Pratt Knot
Both sit between the plain everyday knot and the Windsor family. The Kelvin knot gets there with an extra wrap instead of a reversed start.
- Advantage: the Pratt finishes symmetrical, where the Kelvin leans to one side by design.
- Disadvantage: the Kelvin has no reversed start to forget and leaves no residual knot behind.
Four-in-Hand vs. Pratt Knot
Neither is an upgrade on the other. The classic everyday tie knot is faster and slimmer.
- Advantage: the Pratt gives a symmetric, tapered result for one more step's work.
- Disadvantage: it uses more material, so on a short tie the four-in-hand is safer.
Full Windsor vs. Pratt Knot
The Full Windsor knot is the maximum-formality end of the range, and the one most often written into dress codes.
- Advantage: the Pratt reaches similar symmetry with markedly less bulk and less tie consumed.
- Disadvantage: for ceremonial and mandatory-dress occasions, the Windsor is what is expected.
Security Level
This is a fabric knot worn under light, steady tension, so security is a comfort question rather than a safety one. Dressed and pulled down properly it holds through the day, though it has a documented tendency to slide down the collar on its own — a simple re-tightening solves it.
Downsides
- Easy to start wrong: the tie has to begin reversed, seam-out, and forgetting that is the single most common mistake with this knot.
- It leaves a knot behind: pull the short end out to undo the tie and a knot remains in the long end, to be untied separately.
- Less recognised: not as widely known as the Windsor family.
- Can creep down: it may slide down the collar and want re-tightening.
- Less formal: not the choice for ceremonial wear where a full Windsor is expected.
Structure
The wide end does all the work: under the narrow end, then over, up behind the loop just made, down through the neck loop from behind, and finally down through the small front loop. Pinching both sides as it closes sets the dimple, and because the tie starts inside-out, the face that ends up showing is the clean one. You can step through the sequence from any angle in the Knot IQ app.
History
The Pratt was created in the late 1950s by Jerry Pratt, an employee of the US Chamber of Commerce, who wore it privately for more than thirty years. In 1986, at 92, he taught it to television anchorman Don Shelby, who wore it on air with a spread collar, where its symmetry drew attention. It reached a national audience through a New York Times article on 30 August 1989 — before which, as Wikipedia's account of the knot notes, it was absent from the tie industry's standard reference of the time.
It was later catalogued as knot 5 in the notation of The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie, and documented there as a variation on the Nicky knot: both are tied inside out, but only the Nicky is self-releasing — which is why the Pratt leaves a residual knot in the long end.
How to Tie a Pratt Knot
Step 1
Start with the backside of the tie facing forward — seam out, tie reversed. Wide end on the right, small end on the left, with the tip of the small end resting slightly above your belly button. Only the wide end moves from here on.
Step 2
Bring the wide end under the small end, to the left.
Step 3
Bring it up to the centre, towards the neck loop.
Step 4
Pass it through the neck loop and down to the left.
Step 5
Bring it across the small end, to the right.
Step 6
Take it up into the neck loop from underneath.
Step 7
Bring it down through the loop you just created in front.
Step 8
Tighten by pulling down on the wide end, pinching both sides to set the dimple, then slide the knot up and adjust. Start the wide end well below the narrow end or the tie finishes too short. The Knot IQ Companion Kits are a straightforward way to drill the sequence.
FAQ
What's the difference between the Pratt knot and the Half Windsor?
They look alike — both build a symmetric triangle — but the Pratt is the more discreet and smaller of the two. It is a resemblance problem, not a performance mismatch.
Is the Pratt knot the same as the Nicky knot?
Close cousins, not the same knot. Both the Pratt and the Nicky are tied inside out, but only the Nicky is self-releasing. The Pratt leaves a residual knot in the long end that has to be untied separately.
Did the Pratt knot really originate during World War II?
No. Independent sources converge on Jerry Pratt originating the knot privately in the late 1950s. The wartime claim traces back to a single uncorroborated video source and does not hold up.
Why is the Pratt knot also called the Shelby knot?
Television anchorman Don Shelby wore it on air in 1986 after Jerry Pratt taught it to him, and the name followed. Both are in use, though crediting Pratt as the originator is the more accurate of the two.
