This recently happened in my campaign.
We were fighting a dragon, and it kept flying around its lair, making it very hard for my Barbarian to hit it. We ultimately won, but 3 of the party of 5 died.
Later, while dividing loot, I saw that I had been carrying a Potion of Flying the whole time, and the fight probably would have gone better if I had used it.
If you were talking about neckties, maybe. Loosening social ties doesn't sound natural, at least to me.