Review of the SwitchWood 'Georgetowner' wooden bow tie box set

Wedding season is upon us, it's time to look your best. SwitchWood is a new company offering unique interchangeable wooden bow ties which will make you stand out from the crowd in both formal settings and in everyday life. SwitchWood was kind enough to send Examiner a review unit of the company's new "Georgetowner" wooden bow tie box set. It features three brand new designs from SwitchWood's recently revealed spring collection.

SwitchWood's spring collection introduces two new woods to SwitchWood's roster of wooden wing choices: The Canary and Birdeye. This raises the total number of woods available to choose from three to five. Each type of wooden wing is available in three different cuts: "Traditional," "Diamond Point," and "Shorty." The spring line also introduces several new knots, mostly in lighter colors than were available before. Combined with the lightly colored wood of the Canary or Birdseye, it's easy to see why the new line is called the spring collection.


The "Georgetowner" box set features not one, but two different interchangeable woods and one knot for less than the price of purchasing them individually from the website. Inside we received a set of "Traditional" Birdseye wings and set of "Shorty" Canary wings with a "Georgetowner" knot. Each wooden wing has a hidden rare earth magnet embedded into it, and you insert the ends of the wings into the plastic base of the knot where its locked securely by another earth magnet. The knot is connected to an adjustable thick black elastic which hides beneath your dress shirt's collar and connects with a metal clasp.

This writer wore the SwitchWood "Georgetowner" wooden bow tie on several occasions through the month. We received multiple comments, especially on the Canary wood. What we liked best about the product is that it's super light weight. Despite having interchangeable parts, the wings never fell out. The knot makes the wooden wings stick away from the body just enough so that they don't rub up against your neck or face when turning your head, a problem which some other companies have with their wooden bow ties.

We should note that one of the Birdeye wings we received had its etched burn-mark burn through the entire piece of wood through to the other side where it was visible as a black splotch. This was much more noticeable given the light color of the wood compared to the other wood types SwitchWood is offering. Holding the wing up to the sun, we could see small gaps of light coming through. Because we received a free unit we didn't make a big fuss of this to the company, as we're reviewing the wood and overall product itself. We're unsure if the particular wing we'd received was a reject sample that had been sent to us or had somehow slipped through quality control. We do, however, know that it isn't representative of the brand: SwitchWood's products are high quality and they have excellent customer service. We're confidant that they would replace a defected product free of charge if you experienced a similar unfortunate circumstance.

SwitchWood offers individual wings and knots a-la-carte for $40 each, allowing you to create a unique style or expand your existing collection. We recommend choosing one of the box sets, which features two pre-selected wings and one knot for $99. SwitchWood offers the ability to get custom etched engravings on the inside of wings for an additional $10, which is excellent when purchased for a groomsman or Father's Day gift, or to mark any other special occasion.