Tender Co. Denim

[rodeo bill]

^thanks! I guess you mean the ones with cat's paws? Actually those are just my own shoes (Ducker's, nothing to do with Tender). Rob just really liked them and took a photo....

I will be doing a pair of boots coming up in the next collection, but no pics yet. I'll be sure to keep you up to date as soon as they're ready to go out.

[arya_triad]

oh lol I thought that's the boots the writer was talking about! my bad..

the boots for the next collection, I assume you would be working with one of the english maker?

[grooveholmes]

Special duck jeans made for TdN. Only 12 made... Gorgeous.

[rodeo bill]

a little, and totally shameless plug for a bit that just went up on i-D

This i-Sustain series is a really exciting thing to be involved in, and it's a very nice shoot, with some bits of Margaret Howell, ARN mercantile, Christopher Raeburn, Cabourn et al. :)

[Mr Black]

Have just happened across this thread. amazing AMAZING stuff and so proud that it's come from the UK.

Really stoked and immensely impressed.

[rodeo bill]

^thanks very much! really kind of you

Snake kindly put up a link to a cutting from Free & Easy a little while ago, but I've only just received my copy, so here it is:

I was really happy they put this in- I'd just arrived in Tokyo a couple of hours before and come straight out to meet my friend, and we went over to the Rugged Museum on the way to a hot spring (natural hot spring on the 6th floor of a shopping centre hurray Tokyo!). I'd been in the trews over a really long flight and just changed my Tshirt quickly, so I felt really gross. Luckily for me though everything's Tender and the F&E photographer did a lovely job in the little studio they have at the back of the shop. It was really nice when I introduced myself- they only asked because they liked my trousers, but the guys in there knew my brand and were really complimentary. It was a big honour!

also a very nice editor's recommend in 2nd!:

[jacob_davis]

Hey bill or anyone who might know ,

So I have the first run of the type 900 jacket. I removed the buttons , but now I lost the back pieces.

Does anybody know where I can find some replacements.

Thanks

[rodeo bill]

^sent you a pm, but I'll be happy to send you some replacement button pins if you let me know your postal address

[rodeo bill]

The very good folks over at helmstyle have put up a little interview we did a couple of weeks ago, with a few photos of AW11 products. Apart from this it's a lovely blog and well worth a look:)

[rodeo bill]

Sorry it's been such a long time- there's some exciting stuff going on, and I'll try to get some more factory photos up in the next few weeks. In the mean time, I'm sure most of this will be nothing new to most of you guys, but here's a little denim guide that I put together for The Buttery Store, who'll be carrying Tender from the new year:

The Denim Weave Process by William Kroll of Tender Co

Traditional blue denim is a cotton twill fabric, woven from a yarn-dyed indigo warp and a white or raw cotton weft (fill). Weaving involves feeding the horizontal yarn, the weft, between the vertical warp yarns- at its most basic the first line goes over one/under one/over one etc. This would give you a plain- (or a basket-) weave. If you use two different colour yarns (e.g. indigo and white) in a plain weave you get a cloth which is an even mix of blue and white on both sides. This is how chambray is made:

On a twill fabric, rather than weaving over one/under one/over one as in a plain-weave, the weft is passed, for example, over two/under one/over two etc. This pattern would make a 2-by-1 twill. On a twill fabric woven with indigo warp and white weft, this means that one side of the cloth is two parts blue to one part white, and the other side is two parts white to one part blue- this is why on a pair of jeans the inside is a different colour to the outside.

The pattern of weaving can be adjusted to make different twills, for instance 3-by-1 (over 3/under 1) 3-by-2 (over 3/under2) etc. This arrangement is slipped along in every horizontal line of weaving, so that the cloth doesn’t fall apart (in the same way that bricks are laid one row slipped across half a brick-width from the row below it, to keep the wall from falling down).

Looking at a piece of denim fabric, the twill line is the diagonal textural stripe created by this slip in the weaving lines. On the front (mainly blue side) of the denim, this is a blue diagonal spaced by the thinner white weft showing through. On the back (mainly white side) the diagonal goes in the opposite direction, and is mainly white, picked out by the blue warp from the front.

Depending on how the weaving pattern is set up, the fabric twill has a different ‘direction’. The most popular direction of twill for denim (traditionally used by Levi’s, and also for Tender’s jeans) is a right hand twill. Looking at the fabric lengthways, on the blue side, the diagonal twill line goes from top right to bottom left. Due to the way that the yarn which the fabric is woven from is originally spun, right hand twill fabric twists the yarn tighter during weaving, creating a ‘harder’ and more robust cloth.

While Levi’s used right hand twill denim for their jeans, Lee traditionally used a left hand twill fabric. This is made in basically the same way, but woven in the opposite direction, so that looking down the fabric the twill line runs from top left to bottom right:

Weaving in this direction causes the yarn to untwist slightly, resulting is a softer, more drapey fabric than a right hand twill woven in the same pattern from the same yarn.

Just as a rubber band twisted up and let go will quickly unwind itself, so the twisted cotton yarn used to weave denim ‘wants’ to revert to its original straight format. Depending on how the fabric is woven this will express itself in different ways:

Right Hand Twill Jeans

Left Hand Twill Jeans

In the photo above left, the English-made Tender Co. type 130s, cut from right hand twill denim have twisted after a year or so of wearing and washing. You can see that on the left leg (as worn) the outside leg seam is on top, and on the right leg the inside seam is on top. Looking down at your legs while wearing these jeans, you’d be able to see that the legs have twisted clockwise from their original parallel construction.

The 1970s US-produced Lee Riders, in the photo above right, are made of left hand twill denim, and have twisted anti-clockwise. This is because the fabric is woven in the opposite direction, and so untwists correspondingly.

‘Loomstate’, or raw, denim will twist at the first wash. Tender’s 130 jeans cut from loomstate right hand twill 16oz Japanese selvage denim will be hot soaked for The Buttery Store, and so will already have shrunk and twisted. Today, denim purists enjoy the character that this twist brings to the garment (also visible in ‘roping’ at the hems), but original jeans manufacturers were keen to solve what was seen as a problem with the fabric.

While yarn or fabric treatments such as sanforization could control leg twist to a certain extent for Levi’s and Lee, the third of the ‘big three’ jeans brands, Blue Bell (later Wrangler) devised a different solution to the leg twist dilemma. Wrangler’s signature broken twill denim is a pattern where one line is woven to the right, and then the next is woven to the left. This creates a fabric which tries to untwist first clockwise and then anticlockwise, all the way down the garment, balancing itself out so that the cloth remains stable and the garment construction seams stay parallel, even after years of wear.

(Source: madebytender.com)

Tags: tender co denim weaving selvage style fashion the buttery store

[rubyblue]

Thx for sharing william.

[rodeo bill]

A few months back the chaps at The Very Best got in touch for the 2012 London-shot Moustache Calendar, in aid of the Movember men's cancer charity, asking to borrow some clothes. They did a really nice little shoot, some of which can be seen here.

Tender's proudly representing May, along with Jeffrey West boots and a Norton bike, modelled by the lovely Matt

[grooveholmes]

This has always been my favorite thread-- I could just read and re-read all the great bits of information William posts. Don't have much to contribute, but I've been wearing my 132s as the weather has cooled down a bit. I've been meaning to get some fit pics up of the logwood henley, but as my gut is something to behold these days, I pretty much wear it as a layering piece.

[gregd]

Bill, that piece for buttery was really good. I knew some of this but not all. Your piece is short and a model of clarity!

Had to rush off to look at my jeans to check them. The Tender and most of the Evisu were right handed twill, but one pair of the Evisu (which are a Lee style jean I bought in Japan) were a left hand twill (and much softer). One pair from Evisu (which look to have a a lot of colour variation) looked to be a Wrangler type broken twill from the outside - but the inside looked like a single direction, so suspect they are something different again.

Have just gave the first wash to the Tender Logwood died jeans from Belin, the colour variation is looking interesting - should post a picture...

[gregd]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Tender Logwood jeans after a first wash. The colour variation is really less than it looks in the pictures, but still very interesting. Really looking forward to seeing how this develops.

https://picasaweb.google.com/gregpicasa/Tender?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJCXj8W2wtvd9QE&feat=directlink

(link updated)

Edited December 5, 2011 by gregd

[grooveholmes]

gregd- i couldn't get the link to load any images.

x-post from the ande whall contest thread. logwood dyed henley. super-comfortable and superbly constructed.

[gregd]

Have updated the link - someone please let me know if it works this time!

[grooveholmes]

Cool-- thanks for fixing. Yeah, the color seems a bit uneven in the pics. How did you wash/dry them?

[gregd]

Cool-- thanks for fixing. Yeah, the color seems a bit uneven in the pics. How did you wash/dry them?

Just washed cold inside out - and then line dried.

Think they need to relax and be worn more - think I saw similar from the Jacket. It was very stiff when new but after a lot of wearing and one wash is now relaxed and softer.

[Thor]

I would love a pair of Tender jeans, there just doesn't seem to be a pair in my size available in the whole wide world.

[kimi]

Pretty shameless first post but y'all tender fans i have my Logwood jacket on ebay at the mo - ebay

[grooveholmes]

I would love a pair of Tender jeans, there just doesn't seem to be a pair in my size available in the whole wide world.

What model were you looking for? If you're a 36, Hickorees has some of the slim models avail in your size.

http://www.hickorees.com/brand/tender-co

[Thor]

Thanks holmey.

[rodeo bill]

thanks greg and holmes for putting up pics, greg they're starting to look nice, but yes some more wear'll do them a lot of good

thor, great that you'd like a pair! Hickoree's is definitely a good bet. Feel free to email me if you'd like any more information.

Here are the woad 132 jeans from the last production that I've been wearing pretty much daily for coming on for 4 months (new here). They're coming on interestingly I think. Fading pretty slowly, but with a nice even deep blue. I patched on a thigh pocket a couple of months ago, which I've been using to keep my wallet in. Even though this is half the age of the rest of the jeans, it's fading a lot more already, and looking much more contrasty. I think with a bit more time that subtletly in the woad'll come out really special...!

[grooveholmes]

I really love my 132s. I wore them today and got a few compliments from folk who appreciated the silhouette. the looser fit isn't for everyone, but it suits me fine-- i especially like wearing em on cooler days. and yeah, these are tough faders for sure. I'm only now getting some wear pattern from my moleskine.

[rodeo bill]

Cool factory pictures coming up! I've just delivered some lovely pieces of natural black sheep lambskin. I have to pop out for a bit but later on I'll stick up the full tanning process, in the mean time here's a teaser.....

[lance]

Bill, what are you planning for the black sheep lambskin? Very Interesting!

[rodeo bill]

Tender's sheepskins come in to the tannery as a by-product of the English meat industry. In the abattoir the skin is the first thing to come off, so as in a leather tannery, the skins come in with 'meat on one side and shit on the other':

for most production the natural hair colour is irrelevant, as the whole skin will be bleached and re-dyed (even to achieve 'natural' colours), but I wanted to pick out real black sheep. This has to be done before anything else happens:

The first job is to salt the meat side (which will become the suede) in order to make it easier to flesh. This is basically the same process as with leather tanning, but as this is a 'hair-on' process the salts used must be harsh enough to strip off the meat but not cause the hair to fall out. Therefore liming, as used in leather tanning, isn't appropriate.

The salt is rubbed on by hand:

The skins are left like this for a few days, then they go into tanning, in huge vats:

to be continued.....

[grooveholmes]

Dyed lambskin? What makes black sheep skin particularly special? I can't wait to see where this goes... This is like that episode of Dirty Jobs where he goes to a tannery...

[darly900]

Best thread on superdenim imo, process pictures are fantastic.