Tender Co. Denim

[rodeo bill]

Here are a few photos of this season's bias-cut trews, made from English-woven (and fire-retardant!) mattress ticking. I don't think I've posted them here before, apologies if I have:

Same spec as the 'flowerpot' canvas trews from the last production, which I posted up a while ago. The pattern's based on Scottish 'trews' (possibly the first full length woven bifurcated leg covering, and the origin of the word trousers) cut on the bias and without a side seam. I had hoped that the term 'ticking' was because the tight weave would prevent ticks burrowing through to/from the horse hair inside a mattress, but alas it's just from the Greek 'thyke' meaning covering or sheath (so mattress ticking is the fabric covering a mattress).

For Spring/Summer, these come with an English-made natural cow horn button, engraved with the Tender face logo, Plautus, and sewn on through his eyes. As this isn't a selvage fabric (it couldn't be, to be wide enough for the diagonal pattern), there's a length of herringbone tape supporting the pocket mouths, rather than the selvage strip used in the jeans.

I had worried that these would be very full-on to wear, being diagonal stripes, but in fact they come across pretty subtle and summery- i've been wearing them a lot.

Here are some lovely closeups from the good folks at Hickoree's:

[lance]

bill, your t-shirt loks like it's indigo dyed and without the elasticized arms and hem. Will you be offering it or have i missed it in previous seasons? thanks

[rodeo bill]

^well spotted, and thanks for asking. I'm afraid though that the Tshirt isn't strictly Tender. It's an apprentice-piece from when I was learning indigo in japan. The T itself is generic (hanes, I think). Just what I happened to be wearing out in the sun this morning. No plans to do Ts this way at the moment.

[lance]

thanks for your response, bill.

[shinobi2000]

Oh please please let the new season have an overdyed jean jacket! I would totally wear a jean jacket dyed with your purple logwood.

[rodeo bill]

Oh please please let the new season have an overdyed jean jacket! I would totally wear a jean jacket dyed with your purple logwood.

not at the moment I'm afraid, although there might still be a couple of jackets around dyed black logwood (feel free to email me if you need any help). In the current season, the new jacket shape, much lighter and summerier,is cut from English-woven left hand twill cotton drill, cut against the grain, so the warp runs along the hem of the jacket, and creates some interesting shrinkage effects. In purple logwood it's exclusive (outside Japan) to Unionmade SF:

here's my own type 915 jacket, in mattress ticking, with contrast calico facings:

If you're after a type 900, though, which is the jeans/chore coat, you can find it at the excellent OEN shop (the189 is one of the best blog/magazine sites out there, in my opinion, and I'm really happy they're stocking Tender). They exclusively have the 900 jacket in a rinse wash with the removable liner made from ticking:

[shinobi2000]

wow, you are your best salesman :-) Keep the idea in mind. Currently I'm not looking for a summery jean jacket but something a little thicker for fall/spring. Most places I look has the standard indigo denim which I find a little too mainstream. I think jean jackets should enter "exotic" dye territory now the way a lot of jeans already have. Don't worry about making a sale to me bud, those purple logwoods are already on their way to me from unionmade. :-)

[The Flâneur]

Bill, I've been meaning to post, that I received my Tender Hook Buckle belt in size 2, which was perfect, just as you recommended —not really surprising given how intimately connected you are to your products. The quality was apparent as soon as I opened the box: a lovely seductive melange of vegetal/animal aromas, no doubt from the tanning and currying. Quality, which is confirmed in the hand and feel of the belt, including the sturdy brass buckle. Really, really, lovely, and a nicely resolved (innovative?) piece of design. A triumph! I also got a cow horn comb, which comes in a Tender stamped calico case —nice touch! A lovely little extravagance, which indeed adds pleasure to the grooming ritual.

[wgmds]

my pants are sold! as soon as i get the money, it'll be funneled to superdenim for my new "unborn" one washes! finally all of my talking is coming to something!

Edited April 21, 2012 by wgmds

[rodeo bill]

^thanks all very much for the kind words! And wgmds, your jeans have gone to a really great home (I've been emailing with the recipient)

[shinobi2000]

It's my birthday in 2 weeks! so I went on a denim binge getting 3 pairs of "non-japanese big name" brands. This label was the easiest to order from since it was available at unionmade. I'm starting to be an overdye junkie so when I saw the pics of the purple dye above I had to include this in my denim binge.

This has got to be the most unique fitting pair of jeans I've ever owned

My camera doesn't capture the richness of the purple as well as above but here's a try:

My one let down with this pair is that I wish the overdying process was done just slightly neater. Or at least the drying process could be a little neater. The dying leaves some wrinkly streaks -- which would be ok and in fact gives it a lot of character provided the streakiness was random and all over. instead it's wildly uneven: I have large patches left almost black and untouched while other sporadic areas are cut with faded wrinkles

Other than that it's nice to have a pair in my collection that isnt another same levis repro, or modern slim cut. Thanks man! and get to that jean jacket!

[rodeo bill]

they fit really nicely on you, thanks for posting! I'm pretty sure, though, that they are black (rather than purple) logwood dyed. Thanks very much for getting a pair, and happy birthday

[rodeo bill]

^^fit's lovely! PM'd you.

here are a couple of pics of a belt that was done as a special for the Fil Melange store in Tokyo (the makers of Fil 'em All's, a lovely brand, and a lovely shop). Their colours are orange and white:

Edited April 25, 2012 by rodeo bill

[wgmds]

money is in and the 130s will be as soon as some banking stuff is handled! those guys look pretty great, and i cannot wait until i have a pair--that fits....

[liquiditytrap]

Hey guys. First post! I signed up basically so I could participate in this thread. Thanks to Bill for all the cool pics and updates.

My first and only Tender product so far is the flower pot trews. They fit great. Nice relaxed, comfortable cut. I actually wear them uncuffed. I'm 6'1" and usually wear pants with 34" inseam, so these don't bunch up too much (I think the trews have a 35" inseam?). Maybe I'll take a couple pics if people want. I'm looking forward to those tan, loose looking pants I saw a couple of pages back (release aw12?).

[rodeo bill]

^thanks for your post, and welcome to the future please do post some pics, sounds great! More about the pants you're interested in over the coming months.....

[Maguire]

Been introduced to Tender co. by shinobi2000 on another Sufu thread and loved it so much so I cancelled my er007-2b order and have decided to get a pair of 130s instead. I am having a tough time considering which size to get, since the measurements provided between retailers. I'm a size 34 TTS, but the thigh measurements are what matters more for myself.

I've emailed both Goodhood and Daniel Jenkins regarding the purple logwood dyed model and have gotten conflicting measurements:

Daniel Jenkins: Size 3 - waist 32" (81cms) / front rise 11.5" (29 cms) / back rise 14" (35.5cms) / upper thigh 12" (30.5cms)

Goodhood: Size 3 - Waist: 31" - Front Rise: 11" - Back Rise: 14" - Upper Thigh: 10.5" - Leg Opening: 7"

I'm sure the waist will stretch with wear so I'm considering a Size 3, but the discrepancy of an inch and a half in the upper thigh is causing some confusion. fwiw, both retailers used this as a guide

http://blueingreenso...w&id=30&Itemid=

And a visit to either to try them on is sadly not possible with my current schedule. Any help with sizing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[grooveholmes]

The goodhood sizing on the thigh is wrong.

[Maguire]

Yeah I thought so since my SDA103s are a 11", and from what I gather from the pics, the 130 cut has much more thigh room. Thanks!

[shinobi2000]

Been introduced to Tender co. by shinobi2000 on another Sufu thread and loved it so much so I cancelled my er007-2b order and have decided to get a pair of 130s instead.

HA!! Look at that!! I'm getting you business William!

[rodeo bill]

here's a very nice little piece which was put up on a student's blog a couple of weeks ago. Liz was really professional and polite, and I'm really impressed by her other interviews. Looking forward to seeing where she goes.....

William Kroll (Tender Co.) Q+A

God is in the details for William Kroll. You’d be hard-pressed to find a business more aptly named than his menswear label Tender Co., such affection as Kroll’s for the garments he’s manufacturing is a rare find. Even the t-shirts are thoroughly thought-out, using a one-piece cutting method which eliminates shoulder seams, a point of stress and common cause of discomfort to the wearer. As a brand Tender has great reverence for history and for the ancestral roots of workwear and many designs are based on those worn by the hard labouring men of bygone days.

Appropriately, denim is Tender’s main export. The cloth once picked out as sturdy enough to clothe prospectors, factory workers and cowboys now spans social strata. The rivets ornamenting your favourite jeans would once have prevented garements ripping seam from seam at stress points. Look at a pair of Levis and you’ll see a memento of their lineage in the logo; two horses straining to pull apart a pair of these ‘indestructible’ trousers.

Although Americana seems almost woven into the fabric all Tender Co.’s products are cut, sewn and dyed here on british soil using heritage techniques. Leather for belts and accessories is tanned using the ancient oak bark method at a tannery that has stood on the same site and used much the same technique since the Roman invasion. Additionally, synthetic colour is eschewed for vegetable dyes, with garments painstakingly dip dyed by hand to build tone. This creates a richness and subtlety that cannot be produced via synthetic methods and over time the hue develops and softens, areas of wear revealing the cotton below. Taking up to a day to fully colour one item means vegetable dying is not an option for mass production, but rather a labour of love.

Unlike many brand’s attempts at ‘heritage’ marketing Tender comes across as completely bona fide. Visiting the website (www.madebytender.com) is a brief education in traditional manufacturing techniques and an insight into William’s own curious, intelligent and slightly bookish nature. There’s a real art to Tender Co. so I was very happy when William agreed to answer a few questions on influences and ethos:

Your garments are deeply rooted in tradition, particularly in terms of manufacturing techniques. What makes this kind of authenticity so important to you?

I’ve always been interested in the way things are made, since I started having a go at making furniture and clothes when I was 14 or so. I like when you look at something that was made a long time ago and you can see how it was put together. In a way it connects you to the person who did the work, if you can understand how and why they made it that way. Also, manufacturing techniques can tell you a lot about the time and situation the thing was made in. I think by trying to work on traditional lines of evolution in construction, you end up with a product that’s a bit more interesting and rounded.

Have you always wanted to produce garments this way? If not, at what point did it become a specific interest?

I did a year out from college to study with a bespoke tailor and cutter, who taught me a huge amount of respect for construction. He was quite unusual in that as well as being a superb (one of the best) traditional hand-tailor, he’d previously worked in factories, so he understood mass production too. That’s quite rare in the tailoring world. A lot of people think that you can only learn anything interesting from the very top of a field, but people who do things for a wider audience (in manufacturing, art, food, whatever) often have very fresh and extremely valuable views on things. My old boss taught me to respect different ways of doing things.

Do you have any environmental/ethical viewpoints that have encouraged you to keep production UK-based and using ancestral methods or is it a labour of love for the pieces?

I think that bringing environmental rhetoric into a conversation about the tiny level of production that I’m involved in can be a bit hypocritical. If I buy fabric from Japan, which itself is woven from cotton grown in the US, ship it the UK, sew it into clothes here, then fly it back to shops in Japan, I think it’s a bit difficult to present it as an environmental project. From that standpoint you’re actually much better off producing vertically in China or India. Having said that, from an ethical point of view, I am working with very specialist and skilled producers in England, who do a superb job and are paid well for it. It’s a real luxury to be able to spend time with people who really understand what they’re doing, and take pride in doing a good job, and I hope this attitude comes across in the products I design.

I find something quite romantic and fascinating about the history of jeans and the relationship one builds to a favoured pair. Is this something which drew you to denim and workwear?

Not initially, but certainly as I’ve come to appreciate denim it’s become one of the most (if not the most really) important things. The first time I got interested in clothes at all, and the first item I bought for myself, with my own money, was a pair of Evisu jeans, which I saved up for with weeks of paper round money, when I was 14. I was drawn in by the branding in the first place, but then when I finally owned them I became really excited about the way they were put together (and I started trying to make my own jeans, copying the stitch lines). I wore them every day, but I was very scared of losing the lovely dark colour, so I didn’t wash them, and I tried to keep them as clean and tidy as possible. It was only months later that I realized how nice and faded they’d got, and with my second pair (also Evisu, also saved up for) I went too far the other way really, washing them a lot to try to speed up the fading process. Now I have the attitude that it’s just jeans, and the best, most personal, results will come from just living your life in them, and not too thinking too much. Incidentally, a decade or so after I bought that first pair of jeans, I got my first job, as an assistant designer at Evisu, where I stayed until I started doing Tender, three years ago. Nothing wrong with a good bit of branding to draw you in!

Your interest in the history surrounding the products you design extends into the brand imagery. Could you tell us more about this?

Well, the name, Tender, is the coal truck on a steam engine. When I started off thinking about how to do a pair of jeans that was personal to me, and with a British slant to it, I was thinking about the railways, and the Industrial Revolution (Brunel, that sort of thing). I like old trains, and the way that they are made so simply, and understandably. There’s no magic involved. The word seemed to fit what I was after, and I like the idea that the owner of one of my products becomes its ‘tender’, looking after it, developing it into something more personal and special than when it left me.

As far as visible branding goes, there’s the elephant, which is a mortised advertising cut taken from a book of C19th advertisements given to me by my grandfather, who was magazine designer. It’s an ad encouraging young men off on the gold rush, to Nevada. This of course was where jeans as we know them were born, so it seemed an appropriate start. The face (Plautus) was an unexplained part of the elephant graphic, and I blew it up and adapted it for Tender’s logo. Plautus was a Roman playwright, and perhaps the first great plagiarist. He translated forgotten literature from the Greek, and passed it off as his own. Not so different from what I’m doing really!

Do you have a set period for the ‘research process’ or is it something more constant for you?

I think as a designer you’re always looking around and seeing things that start ideas off. Because I’m producing Tender seasonally, there’s a natural period when one season goes into production when you start sorting out the next season, but it all overlaps. What I do like to spend time on is the initial samples, which I make myself, to test out the details and shapes, to make sure that they’ll work in real life, not just look good or be conceptually interesting.

How have you found the experience of running your own brand and sourcing uk-based factories and craftspeople?

It’s fun! But can be extremely challenging. I’ve certainly learnt more in the last 3 years than ever before, I’d say. It’s so much about relationships, and understanding what people want and need from you, in order to make things easier for them. I’ve been extremely lucky to have met some really wonderful people, who’ve been extremely kind to me, both on the production and retail ends of what I do.

There’s a movement towards authenticity and heritage, as well as environmental awareness, among emerging designers. Why do you think this is?

It’s certainly helped get Tender off the ground (if it is), and it suits my personal taste- there are lot of things around at the moment which I think are brilliant, but I don’t know if there’ll be a broader, long-lasting change. I hope so. Of course there have been people doing the kind of thing that’s popular at the moment for years, and they’re doing very well now. Having said that, from a real fashion angle, I think the pure ’heritage’ dressing-up-as-a-farmer thing is evolving now, as it should, into something a bit more sophisticated. That doesn’t mean that the people who were on to serious vintage before won’t still be into it, and it will continue to be relevant and interesting to them. Real environmental/ethical concerns can be brought to people’s attention by small-timers, but real change will need legislation I think.

As to why it’s happened/ening,I don’t know- obviously these trends are much broader than just clothing, and I suppose it has a lot to do with the alarming financial, political, and environmental situation that much of the West finds itself in at the moment. There’s something reassuring about the idea that things are built to last and with an eye to the past (which we know, in 20-20, rose-tinted, hindsight, wasn’t so bad!). I truly believe though, that you’re better off buying well and infrequently, and fixing or adjusting over time, rather than buying cheaply and expecting to throw things away.

What are you working on right now?

I’m very busy! Later in the spring my fiancée Deborah and I are opening up a web shop, the Trestle Shop (www.trestleshop.com), to show experimental and supplementary things outside the main Tender line. This has taken me outside of clothes, to other little things which I’m also really interested in (I’m writing this on the bus home to London from seeing a cabinet maker and a potter). Aside from that, Tender AW12 (which is a lot more varied and broad than any other production so far) is going into work at the moment, and I’m developing new fabrics and ideas for SS13. I also teach the denim and sportswear projects at Central St Martins and Westminster, so as I say, I’m keeping busy.

Edited May 1, 2012 by rodeo bill

[rodeo bill]

another special ed. to show: "blackout" 130 jeans for tenue de nimes, amsterdam

Unlike the standard production unborn jeans, where the ecru cotton thread shows up the construction of the garment, these are sewn with tone-on-tone dark navy thread, putting all the emphasis on the fabric itself. The name is a nod to the Rolex Explorer 'Black-out', produced in 1990, where the white tritium arabic numerals at 3, 6, & 9 were replaced with black fills. It'll be interesting to see how these fade- the thread will become more noticeable, rather than less, over time.

[wgmds]

here they are! the thighs look a little big, not sure if they look too great on me

so here's an update. i just emailed superdenim and asked about their stoking of the 129 cut. I think i would like to exchange these guys for a pair with a slimmer thigh and lower waist--exactly what the 129 is to the 130. i figure that if i'm planning on wearing these for +2 years that i might as well love the fit.

thoughts?

Edited May 10, 2012 by wgmds

[big truck]

If its the unborn model wgmds then they look really good in william's picture above, uncuffed with brown boots. You have Indys? I'd be tempted to go with the them and no cuffs. The SDs, IMHO, look best with big wide jeans.

[grooveholmes]

i didn't think the other pair looked bad on you either, but it's really about how comfortable you are wearing them. when i feel like wearing loose jeans, my 132s are what i go to; i like the silhouette and comfort. i'm a fan of how the thighs are roomy and taper, but it's not for everyone. once you get them hemmed i think you'll be fine.

[wgmds]

[grooveholmes]

dude. they look fine on you.

enjoy them-- they will last a lifetime and will look great over the years.

[Thor]

i think those look mint, with either boots.

don't hem them, keep the cuffs

[redragon]

@grooveholmes

Definitely agree the 132 is one of the most comfy jeans I worn.

[rodeo bill]

wgmds, thanks so much for posting up, and they look great on you! i kind of liked the 132s on you as well, but these are definitely a better fit for you. very glad it worked out.

personally I can't get my thighs into 129s at all, and the 130 is a fairly slim fit for me. I alternate pairs of 130 with 132s. Right now I'm on 132, as comfy as can be: