Tender Co. Denim

[Snake]

Bill,

Are SS11 weld and woad dyed tees slimmer than the woad dyed tee from the AW10 collection? Or the sizing is the same?

From the photos, the SS11 woad dyed tee seems to have a deeper shade of blue. Is it just the lighting or something changed in the dyeing process?

[rodeo bill]

hiya^^ the spring Ts (type 351) are the same fit across the body, but they're a bit longer, and with a scooped, jersey-bound hem, rather than the sweat-shirt style rib on the first lot (type 350). As they're a little longer I guess photos seem proportionally slimmer, but the chest is the same.

Dyeing-wise, all natural dyeing is a bit unpredictable, which is what I think's lovely about it on the whole these Ts did come out a little darker perhaps. The woad T that I've been wearing for the last 18months or so has faded loads- I didn't notice it at the time, but when i compare it to a new T from the same batch they're totally different (in a really nice way!)

[Snake]

Thanks for the explanation Bill.

Mind posting some pics of your faded type 350 woad dyed t?

[rodeo bill]

Sure, will do. At the moment it's with a friend in Japan.... but as soon as I get it back I'll stick up some pics next to the orginal

[Snake]

Check out Lineage of Influence, preview of Tender A/W11 collection. Duck pants and jackets, logwood dyed ts, belts, jeans and lots more.

[ThisSunday]

Tender tee. The color is gorgeous

[simontuntelder]

I just keep returning to this thread.

Bill, keep us updated on what's going on in your head - and in production of course.

[rodeo bill]

hi folks,

sorry not to have been on it much lately- I've been busy....

ThisSunday- thanks very much for posting- looks great! And in very good company with MFSC there

here's a little flipbook style set of photos, dyeing shirts with woad (same as ThisSunday's T):

and a little [shameless] plug for a nice bit that went up on the189 the other day...

[niix]

That is so awesome.

Can I come over and dip everything I own in there?

[arya_triad]

Hi,

I'm just wondering is this goodhood exclusive 130 jean undyed? So not indigo or weld dyed?

Cheers.

[rubyblue]

It's indigo dyed of course, but not woad or weld over dyed as we are used to see from Tender...

[arya_triad]

It's indigo dyed of course, but not woad or weld over dyed as we are used to see from Tender...

Woops, sorry should've been clearer. Yes, I meant woad or weld..

Thanks for the answer!

[thirdhand]

Heads up, Unionmade has some new Tender stuff -- Logwood dyed jacket and jeans, indigo dyed belt, and a few other things.

Been wearing my type 130s for a while, starting to show some wear. Anyone have update wear pics of their tender gear?

[Snake]

That logwood dyed denim jacket and belt look awesome.

[orangetrousers]

Old pic of my Tender belt.

It is my favourite item of clothing.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[grooveholmes]

Anyone have update wear pics of their tender gear?

Its been so damn hot in NC-- I havent worn the 132s since last winter. The relaxed fit makes it hard to break, but I really do love my pair. They'll definitely be worn exclusively with my TWFI once cooler weather arrives.

[rodeo bill]

Hi all,

thanks for the nice comments! I plan to get back on it with some photos of the new season's things in the next couple of weeks. I had a question in PM about the raw 'unborn' 130s, which have been delivered and should start appearing pretty soon. I don't have any fresh un-worn with me at the moment, but I thought maybe people might like to see some half-worn....

I'm not quite sure how long these have been on the go, maybe 5months? Lots of washes (re grooveholms on the heat, the only way is to wash them lots....) no photoshop, these pics are pretty accurate for colour:

[rodeo bill]

while I have my camera out.... here are some pictures of the prototype leather satchel from tender's 2nd collection (carried through into the new season). I've been using this a fair bit for the last year, although it's had long spells out of use (being used as a selling and production sample):

as I say, this was the original sample, so there were a few changes into production- the main thing is the strap- this was fastened with studs, but they weren't secure enough, so I changed them to cast brass loops, where the strap double back on itself like with a D-ring belt. For this sample I just took the studs off and knotted the strap through the single loop.

and the shadow where the flap's stopped the leather ageing- this is my favourite bit!

[wgmds]

I was going to rep, but I'm out. I can't wait till I gain some weight so I can fit into my 132s.

[rodeo bill]

^thanks wgmds! very kind- and I'm sure you'll eventually get some good use out of your 132s.

Here's a new bit from the 3rd collection- again this should be showing up in stores over the next few weeks. It's an oak bark-tanned leather belt pouch, taken from the pattern used for the metropolitan police's hand cuff pouch. Also just the right size for a point&shoot camera....

the original police pouches are made from a pretty nasty black polished split-grain leather, with black pvd hardware, honestly they're not that nice. But made in oak bark leather, with all brass hardware and white stitching I think they come up more interesting. This one has had a bit of use over the last few weeks, but you can see how it'll turn up in a while (same leather on the belt, worn for 2 years):

this is how I wear it:

[rodeo bill]

Here are a few photos I took of the first sample satchel being put together. This is in a cheaper, stained, leather, to test out the pattern and construction techniques.

(my real leather was still on the shelf!):

here's the pattern I made, from which the bag is hand cut:

the body of the bag's cut from one single piece of heavy leather which wraps around from the top front all the way to the end of the tab. The sides are cut from thinned down leather, which means they collapse inwards if the bag's not full (otherwise the main panel might collapse vertically, which would make it less easy to carry). It's easier to see on this sample, with darkened leather, than it is on the real thing, where the hide is the same colour all the way through.....

the buckle has to be sewn on tightly- too tightly for a machine to manage. so holes are punched with a machine, and then the buckle is sewn on by hand:

the top corners, and the back straps, are riveted with brass tube rivets:

which are pushed into place

then kick-pressed:

apart from the leather, there were various things wrong with this sample (the buckle finish was wrong, the strap fixing didn't work right, the strap was too short, and so was the closure tab) it turned out pretty nicely!

Most of these details were fixed on the second prototype (which I wear, photos above) and all were sorted in the production

[rodeo bill]

sorry these posts are all out of order.....

but here are a few photos of hand stamping the 'unborn' jeans bags. The bags are all made by me, out of English-woven calico, cut along the selvage. They have a jute drawstring and they're riveted at the corner.

Each bag get's stamped on the front with the Tender elephant, in black, and the size, in red:

then a brief bit about the denim goes on the back, and I fill in the type and size:

every pair of Tender jeans comes with a signed letter, handing them over to the new owner.....

production numbers are still small enough to pack in the front room:)

[Snake]

Unborn 130 jean.....lol.

How many washes have those logwood dyed 130 gone through? They look great.

From the pics at Unionmade, the black logwood dye doesn't seem to pentrate the leather as much as the woad dyed version. Is it just superficial and will wear off easily?

Edit: your faded 350 shirt looks great as well.

[rodeo bill]

thanks! the worn-in jeans are from raw (unborn ). The logwood dyed jeans are brand new and I don't have any broken in yet. I'll try to get some detailed pics of the logwood pieces up at some point in the next few weeks.

The logwood dyed leather came out really great- unlike the tiny run (3!) of indigo-dyed belts, the logwood dye doesn't cover up the character of the leather. Where there's extra grease in the skin it acts as a resist, giving a streaky effect to the dye. They're properly dyed though- so it shouldn't rub off. I'll post dyeing and product pics soon

[thirdhand]

Bill,

Thanks for the updates! Always love to see what you're up to.

Drew.

[commodorewheeler]

thanks! the worn-in jeans are from raw (unborn ). The logwood dyed jeans are brand new and I don't have any broken in yet. I'll try to get some detailed pics of the logwood pieces up at some point in the next few weeks.

The logwood dyed leather came out really great- unlike the tiny run (3!) of indigo-dyed belts, the logwood dye doesn't cover up the character of the leather. Where there's extra grease in the skin it acts as a resist, giving a streaky effect to the dye. They're properly dyed though- so it shouldn't rub off. I'll post dyeing and product pics soon

Can you tell us a little bit more about the logwood-dyed denim? In some pics it looks black, in some it looks dark blue, in some you can see both colors.

Either way, it looks great!

[rodeo bill]

Thanks again everyone for your interest.

I don't have any logwood pieces with me right now to photograph, but I can explain a bit about the background to this vegetable dye....

Logwood, or bloodwood, comes from the haematoxylum campechianum tree, that is native to the West Indies and South America. When the wood is broken up into chips and soaked in water it makes a blood red liquid which can be used as an indicator solution- changing colour depending on what it is added to.The Aztec and Mayan people used bloodwood (so called for the deep red colour of the raw heartwood, which makes the best dye, (and as in haematoxylum (haema=blood))) for centuries, and as finding a black dye had historically been very difficult in Europe, when Logwood started to be brought back from the Americas by the Spanish, in the C15th, it was very highly prized.

Now we get to the good stuff! In the 1500s Henry VIII, wanting a more steady supply of Logwood, sanctioned privateers (essentially pirates) to ‘relieve’ Spanish trading vessels of their cargo. This continued into Elizabeth I’s reign (Sir Walter Raleigh brought back Logwood taken from Spanish ships) and was a major factor in the escalation of hostility between England and Spain which culminated, in 1588, with the sinking of the Spanish Armada.

On 21st Novemeber 1660, when Samuel Pepys (highly recommended suggested reading if anyone doesn't know his diaries!) bought 'A new black cloth suit and cloak lined with silk moyre' it would have been dyed with logwood.

[rodeo bill]

[little shameless plug- the guys at tucked have put up a little review of a trade show I did last week. In general I'm not putting things up about the next collection, but since it's out there I thought I'd let you guys know:rolleyes:]

[rodeo bill]

I've had a couple of questions about the logwood hand-dyed belts.

These start off as Tender's 'standard' belts, so hand cut from oak bark tanned leather, with lost-wax cast solid brass buckles. All hand made in England (pictures of all of this further back in this thread).

Here's the dyeing process......

the belts get a pre-soak to allow them to accept the blood wood:

here's the dye. Now you can see where the name comes from!

and, as if by magic....

The lovely thing about dyeing onto heavily greased leather is that the oils act as a resist, so the dye comes out very streaky, with the natural leather colour peeping through.

[wgmds]

Natural leather boots?! You're really expanding. Those things all look pretty dope. Awesome work, bill!