Cyberoptix TieLab in Crain's Detroit Business

[My better half is in the news again...]



The Line On Design: Bethany Shorb

If you think most ties are boring, you're not alone — designer Bethany Shorb agrees. Visit the Web site for Cyberoptix TieLab, Shorb's online boutique, and you'll be greeted with a promise in the form of a slogan: “Ties that don't suck.”

Shorb's neckwear venture began as an afterthought back in 2006. Completing a screen-printing project, the Cranbrook Academy of Art-trained artist decided to make a tie for fiance Michael Doyle. He liked it, but more important, others did too. Lots of other people. And Shorb's business was born.



Initially it was only online. But Shorb found customers around the world eager to purchase her brand of screen-printed quirky neckties, more likely to feature a cascade of "40s-style falling bombs, a delicate print of tiny butcher knives or a stylized plague bacterium than the subdued stripes, dots or chevrons found on conventional neckwear.

“Part of being a successful marketer is seeing what's being done badly,” she said. “People say, 'Why don't you do T-shirts?' There are enough T-shirts. No one feels bad about T-shirts. Ties? Ties suck.”