Tender Co. Denim

[HGS]

I haven't had a chance to pick up any Tender gear yet, but this is my favorite thread on here, I love all the interesting behind the scenes action all very well explained by @rodeo bill

[Georg]

Modified Tender 473 Sack Shirt

Starts to lose colour very lovely

[rodeo bill]

On 4/17/2025 at 9:36 AM, Georg said:

Modified Tender 473 Sack Shirt

 

I love this modification! Did you cut away the pleats from the inside, or is the fabric still there? If so it would be cool to let them out again once the main body fabric has faded out a lot, so you'd get a much darker contrast in the sides. Either way, though, lovely job- very exciting 🙂

[Georg]

Thank you @rodeo bill. The fabric was not cut off, only the pleats were fixed- front and back. The colour is already darker inside the pleats. The pleats make the shirt thicker and very comfortable to wear.

[UkeNo]

Lovely email yesterday @rodeo bill

As someone who’s looking to move soon, it was interesting to see how your location has had an influence on your outlook and as a result your designs. 
I hope you and the family are well and enjoying this new stage in your lives? 
Looking forward to the new US based products as they come. 
It’ll be interesting to see the next release of denim jeans and jackets that have all been sewn locally to you now. 
 

Michael. 
 

 

Edited April 30 by UkeNo

[ATWM]

Agreed, I quite enjoyed the latest email. And am looking forward to what is next.

Also excited that the shop down the street from me is going to stock some Tender stuff I hear … amazing, I can go try things on and get something while on a bike ride in town and picking up groceries from the farm stop. Probably can only do that once a year, but still. The perfect scenario, really. 

[rodeo bill]

Thank you so much, both! Actually, I'm going to continue making jeans in the UK for the foreseeable future- it's the seasonal things that will be coming through made in the US. I have a lot of denim fabric in stock in England, and this way I can keep repeat orders of jeans going there while doing the more hands-on stuff here. It's all still shaking out, but I really appreciate the enthusiasm.

Michael, best of luck with the move, and AlienToy indeed! I'm very excited to be starting up with Today- they seem to be lovely people and it's a great store.

I mentioned this in the newsletter too, but how's this for a beautiful colour?! purple logwood on very fine yarn cotton Mackintosh:

[MJF9]

10th anniversary type 900 jacket and 132X jeans... out and about...

[merzbot]

WORKING has been landing at stockists the last few weeks. 

SKEWed x WORKINGWORKING PULLOVER JACKET（PINK） - The Tastemakers & Co. ONLINE SHOP

TENDER STORES | WORKING SLACK JEAN

This project really excites me. It's neat to the see the influence of Rob's time at Stone Island and CP Company showing in the designs. My introduction to this world came while trawling the internet in the early 2000s for 'British streetwear' and discovering Jeff Griffin Studio 😄

 

Of the recent Type 900 Jackets, the Turquoise and Prussian Blue are my picks. The way the olivewood buttons contrast with each shade is gorgeous!

[rodeo bill]

Thank you for this @merzbot! I want to do a superfuture-level rundown on the Working SKEWed jeans in the next week or so, but actually I just came on to show some details of the 900 Bull Denim, so good timing. 

This fabric is woven with a 100% cotton warp and a 50/50 wool/hemp weft. Generally speaking, dyes react differently with cellulose fibres (eg cotton, linen) and protein fibres (eg wool, silk), and even more generally speaking dyes stick better to protein than to cellulose. This can be quite subtle, for example with woad, where the blue is relatively deep across all the fibres in the fabric (with the original undyed fabric below):

the khaki, particularly, took to the wool much more readily than to the cotton or hemp, creating a sort of turquoise wool fuzz over the top of a paler green cotton/hemp ground:

lastly, though, here's a version which is a little more subtle, but which I'm really excited by. This is dyed hadal blue with a formula that reacts only with wool, so that the cotton and hemp remain completely undyed. It gives the effect of a fabric woven with an undyed warp and a melange fibre dyed warp, where dyed wool is spun with undyed hemp, but all with a single garment dye. The jacket reads as denim, but with the softness and lightness of the bull denim cloth.

[srudy]

Omg William, need! @rodeo bill

Edited May 26 by srudy

[MJF9]

@srudy well said... it's a beauty!!

[julian-wolf]

Big enough to hold two quarts of ice cream with room to spare, and wooly enough to keep them mostly cool 😎 

[Denimstoyevsky]

Just noticed that Burg & Schild, here in Berlin, have pairs of 131s for sale... Anyone have fit pics for these? And/or what are the thoughts? Do people like this cut? Planning to go check them out today. Thanks. 

[vexed_wear]

Tender 136 Jean Swap (Size 3)

Hi there — apologies if this post goes against any rules.

I know this is a bit of a long shot, but just trying my luck.  I'm looking to swap my Tender 136 jeans in size 3, 19oz (unborn denim) for a pair of Tender 136 Extra Wide jeans in 12oz, also in size 3, possibly 2.

These have been washed twice:

• Once when I first received them

• Once more after just a couple of wears

They’re still in a gently worn, rinsed one-wash state.

Reason for swap: It’s simply too hot for me to wear 19oz denim in Bangkok as these days I’m mostly outdoors and tend to stick to anything lighter than 14oz.

Happy to share photos or discuss further. Let me know if you’re interested!

[chicote]

Here’s a short sleeve Wallaby shirt, number 423 maybe?, that my partner appropriated from my closet a couple of years ago. Tender items have always been so difficult for me to photograph because of the subtlety of so many of their fabrics, but this overcast day here gives a nice flat light that hopefully shows a little of the wonderful dialectical texture this shirt is developing, somehow smooth and rough, soft and robust all at once.

[rodeo bill]

beautiful @chicote, thank you for the photos. Here's a picture of it brand new. The fabric for this was called 'Laundry Bag Cloth' and was a 100% cotton version of fabric woven for NHS hospital laundry sacks- the warp is pale blue (if I remember correctly) with a white weft and occasional blue weft bands, which mark off where the bags would be filled to and seamed. This was made on the same loom, just the weft was switched from polyester to cotton. Here's a photo of the original garment- it's a wattle dyed 424 Wallaby Pocket Short Sleeve Shirt from SS17

 

 

 

[chicote]

Yes you’re right, in real life you can see the pale blue showing beneath the upper layer of fibers — doesn’t seem to come through in the photo much at all unfortunately, it’s one of the most mesmerizing things to me about this fabric. Thanks for the info William!

[julian-wolf]

I’m really glad this got brought up! The first shirt I got from Tender Co. was a long-sleeved Wallaby in this same cloth, but dyed khaki. It was given to me as a gift, used, so I never knew anything about the details of the fabric. The khaki dye over the blue reads as a lovely yellowish–green. It’s still a favorite of mine.

[ATWM]

I don't know how amenable you'd be to crowdsourcing ideas @rodeo bill but given the place based ethos you expressed in the recent newsletter I'm curious if you'd ever entertain using pokeweed to dye a batch of something. It's an American native and can yield some really nice reds with the right mordants. https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/pokeberry-dye-recipe-ze0z1801zmos/ 

Even better because it's a plant a lot of people dislike and is poisonous but is kind of amazing in its own way (like milkweed). 

[rodeo bill]

Thanks for the suggestion @ATWM! I'd not heard of this, but Deborah had, and now I see it there's quite a bit of it around our neighbourhood. Deborah had already been thinking about getting some- she's developing our backyard into a very small native forest garden. Interesting!

 

In the meantime, Lukas Mauve just wrote a lovely piece for his substack Present Forever (well worth a look through generally) here: https://presentforever.substack.com/p/the-tender-co-interview

[rodeo bill]

On 6/11/2025 at 1:47 PM, ATWM said:

I'm curious if you'd ever entertain using pokeweed to dye a batch of something

Even better because it's a plant a lot of people dislike and is poisonous but is kind of amazing in its own way (like milkweed). 

spotted this this morning growing under a neighbour's fence! Also Milkweed is everywhere (and a beautiful plant too)

[ATWM]

@rodeo bill Nice! We’ve got a pollinator garden - our milkweed this year has really taken off. 

But my favorite is our baptisia - (aka wild indigo / false indigo) - could be a good one for your backyard if you get full sun. It has historically been used by Natives for dye even, but is a lot lower yield than the more common indigo dye plants. 

You also may find you can harvest enough black walnuts in your neighborhood for a batch! 

[Le Clown Bleu]

recently found out about tender, wish i grab some bits while it was still here in the UK though not sure how the sizing is i quite like how  fun it it looks

[rodeo bill]

thanks @Le Clown Bleu- you can find some things at Goodies Oxford, Peggs & Son Brighton, and The Bureau Belfast.

A couple of images of these went out in the newsletter I just sent out, but here are some more details. The best-worn pair of Weaver's Blanket Denim trews I've seen, very kindly brought in by a long-time customer and great friend of the brand. Note the twill switching at various points:

[Well27]

Really great read today, tanks:)

[Jurassic]

 my 129s washed and going away for the summer