Peanut ties the latest Suffolk fashion craze

Staff

Published Sunday, June 27, 2004

Suffolk News-Herald

Scott Nash is proud of his hometown, as well as its association with the little legume that put it on the map.

So Nash, who along with Bobby Richardson, owns Richardson & Nash Clothiers on North Main Street, figured there were others in Suffolk like him and that they would be willing to wear that pride around their neck for the world to see.

The store now has in stock its third shipment of peanut ties, and Nash said they are selling fast.

"Folks are proud of Suffolk, they're proud of peanuts," Nash said. "Suffolk is the peanut capital of the world, or at least it was, and it's gone over real well."

The idea for the goober neckwear sprung from a conversation Nash said he had with a manufacturer's representative who visited his shop last year. The salesman was telling Nash about a tie his company made for another community and the peanut tie was a natural.

He had hoped to get his first shipment in for last year's Peanut Fest, but capturing the peanut's true likeness proved elusive for designers.

"Getting a peanut to look like a peanut is a little tricky," he said, referring to early designs that more closely resembled something unmentionable in a family newspaper. "It's tough to get them looking like a peanut without getting them looking like something else."

But success was ultimately achieved and the first batch was in the store in time for Christmas. They sold out quickly. In just over six months, the tie's fame has already spread across the Atlantic. Members of the Sister Cities Commission took a couple dozen of the ties to Oderzo, Italy last month on their trip to hand out to local officials.

The City of Suffolk also made a volume purchase and is offering them for sale at the Visitor Center. The 100 percent silk ties come in red, blue and yellow and cost $29.50.

"It's a good-looking tie that says we're from Suffolk," Nash said.

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