Tender Co. Denim

[Maynard Friedman]

I really like the Max Bill, been trying to justify one for ages but just can't right now. Looks great on that strap.

[whozdrew?]

My collection seems to be growing...

[jason995511]

whozdrew?

-Get the wattle pair if you haven't already. Favorite pair of socks I've ever had.

[whozdrew?]

I would if I could. Seems pretty much everywhere is sold out atm. I've actually been trying to avoiding socks all summer here in California. These will stay on ice until the season suits. Needless to say, I'll need to pick up a few fresh pairs of sneakers before wearing them.

[satchelbmoore]

Drew, Jason tried hard to clear us out of Wattle socks but we still have a couple left.

[whozdrew?]

Thanks Satchel, I'm going to have to check back with you in a few weeks. Though the wattle is very tempting, I've spent enough on next season's socks for a while.

[jason995511]

Looking forward to the Fall/Winter preview hopefully happening soon, ah William....

[Graeme]

The last fortnight has involved a Tender shopping spree. It's a good thing that the Trestle Shop and Tender Stores are on a short break.

It started off quite innocently. I saw a Cochineal dyed shirt on the Tender Stores. It wasn't picked up by any UK stores as far as I know, and he had a mutant one that happened to be my size...

Along with a tin of their tallow leather dressing, which is definitely not vegetarian friendly.

Last weekend I went down to Brighton, and caught the Peggs and Son sale. They had a pair of Tender Type 138 belt back jeans going cheap, and I couldn't resist.

Then I ran across the Fable and Folly sale, at which point it went horribly wrong...

They ship their goods in very nice packaging.

I picked up a belt for a German friend - I'll be seeing him this weekend, and it saved him a chunk of change on postage.

A very fine wool flannel scarf.

An oh-so-cute bear. Unfortunately these are not child friendly, or I'd have picked them up for my nephews.

And one of the Tender watches. I'm was really impressed with the quality of this, as it felt up there with some things that cost an awful lot more.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Graeme

[satchelbmoore]

wow! serious scoops!

[clawbytes]

Really like the watch but I'm afraid it'll have to remain in my back log until I apply for a promotion at my job. =(

[rodeo bill]

^^^whozdrew, thank you! new socks coming through soon. 

^^jason, I'm just starting to get FW14 things in now, so there's a lot going on. I'll put up some information and photos as soon as clothes are ready to go out to stores.

^Graeme, WOW! I'm delighted you're enjoying the shirt, and all of your other things. Thank you so much.

 

Here are some photos which just came through from my buddy Samuel, at Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn. These are special 3/4 sized sipping glasses for their whiskies. Chocolate Whiskey, Bourbon, and old fashioned Moonshine:

 

 

the special KCD branding iron was cut out of steel by my jeweller, and it has vertical symmetry, which is really nice as it means it reads correctly from both sides of the glass base 

Edited July 14, 2014 by rodeo bill

[solargarden]

People from the states who ordered from the trestle shop/tenderstore, did you get hit with duty fees or anything?

[rodeo bill]

^(PMd you)

[rodeo bill]

Here are some making pictures for a new trestle shop product: hand whittled clothes pegs:

 

They start as a piece of English Ash,

 

which gets split

 

and prised off into a stick which can be worked:

 

the pegs are worked on a shave horse, which was made by the woodworker himself. It looks like an extremely lo fi motorbike

 

A peg gets sawn off:

 

Now, a hole gets drilled through the end of the peg- this will allow it to flex without snapping. It took a lot of experimenting to get this part right:

 

Then, the blades of the peg are sawn through with a coarse saw, leaving the internal edges rough, and so more grippy:

 

 

Finally, the edges are bevelled with a pen-knife, the whole is lightly countersunk, and the whole think gets a quick rubdown with sandpaper

 

Then they're rubber stamped and packed a pair to a box of wood shavings, from their production, ready to use:

[rodeo bill]

William, planning any experiments with the wattle dyes at all? You'd pretty much have at least one guaranteed sale over here

The socks look amazing btw.

 

well, I tried… I knotted up some socks and put them in to the wattle dye. I just got the results today, didn't work! They came out a lovely clear colour, with no variation at all:

 

this does make sense, as the wattle dye soaks into the fabric- it's not an oxidising dye, like woad, which needs contact with air to make the colour stick. Plain tan wattle socks up on the shop now 

[satchelbmoore]

BUMP

here's a little series I put together of how I roll my jeans cuffs....



(not to be taken entirely seriously).

Free/Man kindly posted it, here's what they had to say:


William Kroll of Tender Co. has become a good friend of mine over the last couple of years. It's exciting to watch a friends both brand grow and evolve, especially when he has created such uniquely exceptional products. I highly suggest you familiarize yourself with the way he creates his hand dyed selvedge denim, the process of woad dyeing shirts and the intricate details that go into the chore coat– just to start.
The Tender Double Cuff is something he has fostered for quite some time, and it's a method I use as well. Some guys hem their denim to have little to no break, while others simply roll the excess length, which doesn't always stay in place. William explains a little about the Tender Double Cuff for you.
"The Tender Co double cuff allows more control over the length and depth of cuff, relative to how much you want to shorten your pants, to a regular cuff. Also it lets you show the hem of the jeans, which on Tender's jeans is double folded and lock-stitched, showing a little fringe of unbleached weft yarns. On a practical level, this type of cuff is less likely to roll down than a regular turn-up, as it's not a simple roll. Finally, I read a story once that cowboys on the prairie didn't want to throw cigarette butts away, as they might cause a wildfire. Instead while they were riding they'd put the cigarette out in their jeans cuff, using it as an ash tray. I like to think that the Tender double cuff is substantial enough that it could put up with this without the fabric burning through!"
TENDER Co.

[exaptavist]

.

Edited October 9, 2015 by hoggreaser

[exaptavist]

.

Edited October 9, 2015 by hoggreaser

[rodeo bill]

^wow! Thanks, I hadn't seen this. Diaries is one of the best, and the owner, Mr Yamaguchi, is THE best. It's always a treat to see him. Quoting this from one of the links above:

 

Sorry for the lack of news in the last week or so, I've been crazy busy getting the coming deliveries ready, as well as showing next spring's samples to shops. Just back from New York, and off to Tokyo in a few of weeks. Lots to do. More soon!

[exaptavist]

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by hoggreaser

[rodeo bill]

As promised, here are some details of the new Type 128 slim-straight! 

 

This has been a long time coming, literally it's taken a while to develop as with everything else: the first pair was made about 8 months ago (and popped up a few pages back, at the time), but also this is an interpretation of the very first pair of jeans I made, around 1997….

 

At the time I didn't have a clue how to make a garment, and I figured out the pattern and construction as I went along. Starting on the 128 late last year, I wanted to simplify a pair of jeans down to something very minimal, and I realised I was making a lot of similar decisions: there's no yoke (then because I hadn't noticed it was a separate panel, now because I wanted a flatter seat, making a yoke technically unnecessary) and the front pockets are put on as patches (then because I couldn't figure out a cut-in pocket, now because a patch seems like the simplest, cleanest technique, which matches the straight cut). There's no shape at all in the side seams, meaning the selvage runs all the way up to the waistband. Because there are no pocket bags, the size label can't go in the normal place (on the pocket bag) and is on the waistband, with the care tab sewn underneath it. I like how this brings things over to workwear, and emphasises the slightly navy issue feeling of these jeans.

 

Here are some worn in photos of my own pair, worn since last winter (care tab cut off):

 

 

 

 

the belt is also a new design, of which more soon!

 

The type 128 is on the Stores now in rinsed denim. For the moment it's an exclusive there and in a couple of shops in Japan. 

[clawbytes]

Wait, which store again?

[jabber]

http://www.tenderstores.com/type-128-rinse-denim-straight-jeans/

[rodeo bill]

I just got a really nice mail from a Trestle Shop customer exactly a year after he received a wallet. Here's his update:

 

Which inspired a comparison shot:

 

(mine's relatively new, I reckon about 4 months. I have a much darker more worn-in one, but it was wanted for a display in a shop so I started on a new one )

 

Many thanks Ryan!

[rodeo bill]

^^^as promised, here are some photos of the new 'frame' buckle design, here about 6 months old on a black oak bark leather belt:

 

 

 

This is the first of belt I've done narrower than 1½"- all the other belts have a double-width 'T' shape centre tongue locked into the outer box section. For this belt ( 1⅛"), there is not enough leather width for a double-width tongue, so the tongue has to fit over the frame, rather than vise-versa. Because of this, if no parts of the buckle are to be bent after casting (one of my self-imposed buckle design rules ), the frame itself has to be open, like a keyring. The tongue is looped over the frame, and is held in place when the belt is sewn on. On black leather with a bronze buckle on the Trestle today, and in tan or brown at stockists and the Stores, soon!

[fineartmajor]

I was thinking about selling my Tender jacket...

Then I figured out a way to make sure I couldn't sell it.

Modify it!

 

I noticed that it was wearable inside out, except that the floating pocket looked sort of odd.

Before I sewed down the floating inside pocket I decided to add a pocket on the outside.

I used an Indigo / Cyan denim which matches pretty nicely, and some navy thread. 

 

 

Holds a bunch of pencils.

 

 

Here's how it looks being worn, and how my roomate looks when he's eating ramen noodles.

 

Andddddddd,

then I sewed the floaty guy down, and removed the Tender label from the pocket.

 

 

But, I made sure to keep it somewhere else: on the placket.

 

 

Edit:

 

Another picture being worn:

Edited August 8, 2014 by fineartmajor

[rodeo bill]

^^AMAZING! it looks really great, I can't decide which way round I like better. THank you so much for posting photos- this is exactly how I hope people will treat Tender garments. Jason, do you have some photos of your project for us…..? 

[rodeo bill]

Looking forward to the Fall/Winter preview hopefully happening soon, ah William....

 

I'm sending out boxes to stores this week and next, so new things should start appearing pretty soon! Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of details, which I'll put more up about soon. I've been wearing a shirt, jacket, and pullover from this season as well as the jeans and belt a few posts back, so I have some worn garments to photograph too.

 

The yellow is turmeric, ground as a spice and an interesting dye. It should fade really beautifully. The grey is a welcome return to black logwood. The jeans (not pictured here, but appearing soon) came out particularly well this time.

 

The photos were taken by Deborah at the 'pleasure gardens' in Battersea Park, built for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The photos are multiple exposures. The idea was to reference Victorian long-exposure photography, where the subjects had to stand still for long periods of time. They come with a respectful nod to Hiroshi Sugimoto- I'm a big fan of his long-exposure seas, forests, diomaras, and cinemas- highly recommended!

Edited August 13, 2014 by rodeo bill

[jason995511]

Awesome William, finally a jacket long enough for me Looks great

Can't wait to see all the new stuff. I will make sure to get the other project up here and share the photos, just haven't gotten anyone to take the pictures yet.

Thanks for sharing the photos, congrats on the new line.

[rodeo bill]

^^thank you! Now for something completely different. Here are some lovely photos of the only pair of woad dyed 133 straight-cut trews with a leg pocket. These went to a very good friend of the brand in Japan, who is currently wearing them while dry stone walling in Yorkshire. They're looking great, and this is one of the coolest hobbies I've ever heard of