This was not a very hot July in Madrid, but the air that is breathed in the capital, dry and polluted, is always suffocating during the summer months and the tie does not help to cope. Specifically, that Wednesday the 2nd, the day dawned cool, about ı7 degrees in the center of the city, but even so, the Minister of Industry, Miguel Sebastián, decided to go without the symbolic garment to the plenary session that was being held in Congress to speak of the economic crisis. Since the dawn of democracy, when the young socialists, with Felipe González at the head, boasted of not wearing this bourgeois garment, such disrespect had not been seen in the Lower House. Because, except during electoral campaigns, today it is almost as rare to see a politician (from the left or the right) without a tie as a priest in a cassock or a banker dressed in sportswear. So Sebastián's gesture (and despite the fact that it had an expiration date, since with the arrival of autumn the tie has returned to the ministerial collar) brought the dilemma about the use or disuse of this masculine accessory back up to date.

The league of those without ties soon rushed to read in the untie of the minister one more sign that the controversial garment is not in as good a state of health as it used to be. In his argument, he handled revealing data. According to a recent Gallup poll, the number of Americans who wear ties on a daily basis fell last year to an all-time low of 6%, compared to ı0% in 2002. And sales of this accessory in 2007, almost 475 million euros, they are far from those recorded in ı995, when the sector lived happier days and had a turnover of close to one billion euros. Things have gotten so ugly that the Men's Fashion Accessories Association, which brought together North American manufacturers, was dissolved last June due to the crisis in a sector that lives off imported models.

If in Spain, and the rest of the world, we end up following the steps set by the American textile market –as usually happens although with some delay–, the tie should begin to shake. At the moment, and according to the Textile and Clothing Information Center (CITYC), in 2007 a whopping ı0,ı65,000 units were sold in our country, which means that we spend more than 43 million euros on ties . But, despite the good figures, national production, just like in the United States, has fallen by almost 27% in the last four years. And, on the other hand, according to the Business Association of Textile Trade and Accessories, the sales registered until August were 3.4% lower than those made a year ago, another proof that its use is decreasing.

Three centuries of debate. Despite the fact that this garment is, since the end of the 19th century, a basic of the male uniform, historically it has had great defenders who have considered it a symbol of masculinity (there are even those who see in it a phallic symbol...) and bitter detractors who have criticized its total uselessness. But the truth is that originally, it did have a reason.

The primitive ties (whose paternity we owe to the Croatian mercenaries who served the French king Louis XIV, who wound colored pieces of cloth on top of his shirts) were very well received by the French because they replaced the starched and uncomfortable collars of lace that the knights suffered until the middle of the s. XVII.

The tie that we know today, which was born in the 1920s and is significantly simpler than the one that was worn until then, does not exempt the scarf when it gets cold, but it does anguish when the heat arrives and, far from being seen as a garment current and designer, it is associated with a classic and conservative style (with the exception of models with a narrow upper, dark colors and materials that resemble leather that some exponents of British pop and actors have made fashionable in the last season). Why then does such an impractical garment still hang around most men's necks? In addition to being a handy gift for children on their parents' birthdays, it seems to retain its place in men's wardrobes for its aesthetic value, its association with elegance and protocol and, above all, for its great symbolic strength ( brings credibility, power, prestige...).

Michael Solomon, editor for years of men's magazines like Esquire and author of fashion books like Shirt and Tie, acknowledges that "it's not a particularly comfortable garment, it always goes out of style (or comes back when we've thrown it away) and it's not even practical. But it's still established itself as a fundamental part of menswear because it ties all the elements of their clothing together, it brings instant respectability and it's a great symbol of individuality."

Pedro Mansilla, sociologist and fashion critic, also believes that the tie was imposed because it is the only note of personality and coquetry allowed in the rigid masculine dress: "Men are obliged to dress in such a ritualized and similar way that they find in the tie the only window to freedom through which a suit acquires a personal tint". Paradoxically, rather than making a difference, it contributes to standardizing men...

In any case, the tie also managed to conquer the world by marking differences between one and the other and becoming the symbol of what those at the base of the social pyramid wanted to achieve: it was part of the uniform of private schools, it was the key to enter the most exclusive restaurants, was worn by those who did not perform physical work...

"Until not long ago, mothers were proud that their children went to work wearing a tie, even though they earned much less than their fathers who were plumbers or bricklayers, because wearing one was a sign of distinction, of having studies, of being able to become someone" , explains Rafael García Lozano, coordinator of Styling at the Escuela Superior de Moda y Empresa. But things have changed and the tie around the neck is no longer seen as a class distinction: "This garment has lost value since it became popular and an intermediate position can afford the same tie as his superior. In addition, nowadays people with money and power they look for a more personal and intimate luxury and many do not want their way of dressing to betray who they are or what they have", adds García Lozano.

The influential Gianni Versace, before making his debut on the Paris haute couture catwalk in ı990, predicted the disappearance of the controversial garment and announced that he was removing it from his clothes: "It is no longer a symbol of distinction, but something that they wear until bandits, and even plastered businessmen want to do away with the cumbersome tie," he declared. The thing was a punctual scandal, but his distrust, like the one that the designers of the beginning of the s. XX, once again made it clear that this accessory never enjoyed unanimous support, not even among the industry that lives off its sales.

In fact, years before Versace's funeral, there were already those who gave her up for dead when they saw how new technology companies, led by young people in t-shirts and sneakers, like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, managed to reach planetary dimensions. Gates, who was for years the man with the greatest fortune on Earth, is a paradoxical case because he has made his retirement at the head of Microsoft coincide with a rediscovery of the tie, and in many of his last public appearances he has posed with her around his neck: "It could be a matter of age," says Mansilla, "or maybe he's a little tired of always looking like the poor guy in the photo when, in reality, he's always the richest."

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On the contrary, Steve Jobs, his eternal rival and founder of Apple, has made the no tie one of the most important precepts of a religion professed by thousands of young people around the world and his uniform (jeans, white sneakers and a sweater black turtleneck) is imitated by a large number of the faithful: "Several times a year the heavens open up and God Steve, iGod, lands on the stage of the Moscone Center: the audience screeches with delight and the technological scene stops because it doesn't It is not only a myth of management, but it also manages to appear so: heterodox, untied, with its own style...", explains the professor at the Instituto de Empresa Enrique Dans.

The Gates and Jobs thing was just the starting gun. The real problems for the tie began when, with the search for relief by flag, a concept became popular in North American companies (which, thanks to globalization, spread to the rest of the world) that, in all honesty, has not finished with the tie, but it has hurt him: the casual friday. The strategy is to allow employees to skip the corporate dress code on Fridays. The Human Resources experts who invented it assure that not only did it not damage the image of the companies, but it also contributes to improving the work environment, teamwork, productivity and even the relationship with customers.

increasingly questioned. The world looked so wonderful without a tie that in some companies the measure began to be extended to other days of the week, as long as commitments allowed: "It was a transition period in which people carried their ties in their pockets, if at any time of the day he had to put it on, and he banished it definitively on the weekend", recalls Mansilla. Finally, during the boom of Internet companies, the young dot-coms imposed business casual, a twist that proposed to workers to bury the suit and tie uniform and replace it with another based on beige pleated pants and shirts with buttons on the collar (preferably, with emblem on the lapel).

Despite so many attacks, the tie emerged victorious and entered the 21st century tied above all to the necks of the bosses of the political and financial sector, where hardly anyone dares to discuss its presence. But more and more voices question his reign and we are witnessing a resurgence of the protest movement against the tie that is not denied by any of the experts consulted (although they are not sure of its disappearance). "It is evident that a relaxation in dress and a greater informality that is well seen by society is taking over men, even those who occupy the upper echelons," acknowledges Mansilla. "The most well-founded attacks against the tie have always been based on its null utility", points out García Lozano, "and for this reason, in the long term it could be relegated". In addition, the members of the anti-tie league seize on new arguments to win their crusade.

Japan was the pioneer country in taking off its tie for the sake of energy saving and the Kyoto protocol in defense of the environment. Four summers ago, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did it, and it has become a national tradition ever since. The Cool Bizz Campaign promoted by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment recommended going to work during the humid and suffocating summers in shirt sleeves to be able to raise the thermostats in the offices to perhaps an excessive 28 degrees. Outcome? The eastern government claims to have stopped emitting half a million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. And he is so happy with what he has achieved, that at the last G-8 summit held this July on the island of Hokkaido he tried to internationalize his success by urging his illustrious guests to meet in more informal and ecological clothing.

Here in Spain, the first company to jump on the bandwagon of anti-corruption social responsibility was Acciona. Since 2007, its employees wear casual clothes between June ı5 and September ı5 because, according to the company, by raising the air conditioning to 24 degrees they lowered energy consumption by about 50,000 kilowatts (a saving of 6.5% on the bill) . Miguel Sebastián and Celestino Corbacho, Minister of Labor who, in solidarity with his colleague, took off his shirt in the summer, also cling to the noble cause of ecology to leave the tie at home. The applause of those who believe that ties do not marry high temperatures and the criticism of those who consider that the Government should wear this garment when exercising representative functions, no matter how "anti-ecological" it was, rained down on them in equal parts.

Two more degrees. The latter, worried about safeguarding the unwritten norms of urbanity and elegance, threw their hands in the head in case, with the excuse of air conditioning, textile anarchy was imposed in Congress and we ended up seeing the ministers in shorts and sandals through its corridors. "Actually," says Mansilla, "the counterargument for those who hide behind the heat is simple: this garment is supposed to add two degrees of temperature to the body, while the jacket adds five, so, when it comes to saving, it's better to stay in a shirt and tie But, of course, apart from the gay community, accustomed to taking care of their bodies, hardly anyone dares to do that because it means entering an embarrassing level of intimacy that exposes the michelin, the pectorals, the possible sweat stains..."

Regardless of the temperatures, one of the last hopes of those who hope to one day see the tie come out of the closet has come from the hand of science. Two years ago, several investigations related the use of this garment with the increase in intraocular pressure that, in the long run, could degenerate into glaucoma (a disease that can cause total loss of sight). Doctors at the Eye and Ear Institute in New York concluded, after conducting a study with 40 patients, that "the tight knot constricts the jugular vein and increases blood pressure in the vein and within the eye." To avoid this, they recommended wearing it as loosely as possible.

The tie is perhaps the garment with the greatest symbolic value (it conveys hierarchy, order, security, seriousness...) and that ensures its survival. So her detractors decided to use that argument to kill her. As in Iran, where anti-tie sentiment grew thanks to the campaign that its political leaders carried out to denounce that the accessory was a symbol of Western oppression that, in the name of national identity, should not be used. The message was so strong that today most Iranian executives wear elegant Western suits, but without the blissful garment.

The same argument has been used in South America, where many leaders have made headlines for dispensing with the controversial garment on their official trips to tied countries. It was the newly elected president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, for wearing a sweater at his reception with the king of Spain. And very possibly it will be the new president of Paraguay and former Catholic bishop, Fernando Lugo, who already attended his inauguration in sandals and without a tie, making it clear that his past linked to Liberation Theology was going to mark the government of him.

Pedro Mansilla is convinced that, for this theory of the liberation of the tie to spread in the West, its non-use would have to be institutionalized politically: "If the next president of the United States were sworn in without it, it would be easier for us to start relegating it to the back of the closet. In fact, higher towers have fallen. In his day, John Kennedy was the first president to be sworn in without his hat in his hand and that was the beginning of the end for this garment."