Tender Co. Denim

[grooveholmes]

Looks great, truffles. So many great pieces, so little cash.

[rodeo bill]

^seconded, really nice fit on the jacket, and the jeans look great on you too, in my opinion. Thank you for posting!

Edited June 1, 2012 by rodeo bill

[Blacktruffles]

Yes, grooveholmes, I'm now broke Will post the other pics soon. William, am eagerly waiting for your S/S12 to be out as I would like to get myself a pair of 132s. I can't seem to find any 132s in SF. Any idea when that would be?

[Uchison]

Those tees are amazing! Me want. I'll be in London next week. Where can I get them in London?

[wgmds]

you can check on madebytender.com

[rodeo bill]

Those tees are amazing! Me want. I'll be in London next week. Where can I get them in London?

Thank you! Very pleased you like them. These particular henleys are a special with The Hill-Side, exclusive to Hickoree's in Brooklyn NY. In London you can find Tender at Goodhood and Number Six. (Thanks wgmds too)

[rodeo bill]

Yes, grooveholmes, I'm now broke Will post the other pics soon. William, am eagerly waiting for your S/S12 to be out as I would like to get myself a pair of 132s. I can't seem to find any 132s in SF. Any idea when that would be?

Again, so great that you have these pieces, I'm really grateful! SS12 has been available for a while now (in fact most of the pieces you bought are from SS12). AW12 should be in stores around end July/early August. If you'd like to PM or email me ([email protected]) I can try to help you track down a pair of 132s. In general they're slightly harder to find than 130s, and I'm not sure there'll be any coming to SF in the immediate future, but we can have a good look around...

[shinobi2000]

truffles, any other pics of the purple 130s? I wanna see the color on other people.

[dkatz]

Some Tender stuff on Context's flash sale

[rodeo bill]

here's something a little off-piste, but still interesting, I hope. my good friend, (and tender intern/photographer) Morten Kristensen has started a really lovely line of belts and suspenders, for holding up the trousers, hand made by himself in Copenhagen. Here's a piece about him (and some very kind words about tender), showing some of what he's up to. this is from Denim Hunters, which I hadn't come across before, but it looks like a good read in general. morten's also around these parts, and put up some pics of his own Tender boots a few pages back in this thread.

For Holding Up The Trousers

We all need something for holding up our trousers, at least some times. As you’ve probably heard before the devil is in the details and the right accessories completes your outfit. If you’re wearing Japanese ring-spun selvage jeans, handmade British leather shoes and fine shirts of Egyptian long stable cotton your belt (or suspenders) should naturally also be of equivalently high quality. Copenhagen-based one-man brand, For Holding Up The Trousers offers a solution to this issue with roughly crafted hardwearing belts and suspenders that will last you a long time and only get more beautiful with wear.

Behind the illustrative yet slightly cryptic name taken from Webster’s dictionary’s description of “suspenders†is a man with a passion for well crafted things made with attention to rugged details. His wardrobe is filled with clothing from Mister Freedom, outerwear from Nigel Cabourn and boots from American brands like White’s and Wesco, but he’s in no way a braggart about it. He just doesn’t like compromises. His name is Morten V. Kristensen.

Morten grew up on a former farm close to Blåvand on the southern west coast of Jutland. Both his parents are ceramicists and Morten himself has also been into crafts and arts. He actually made his first belt back some odd 8 years ago. Still, for a while he thought he should pursue a career as a film director and in 2007 attended the European Film College in Ebeltoft.

Upon seeing There Will Be Blood and the wardrobe of the unpolished gold miner-turned-oilman, Daniel Plainview (portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis), Morten found his true calling. In the autumn of 2009 one of Morten’s friends was looking for a belt supplier for his shop in Copenhagen and asked Morten if he could make some. It lit a spark and Morten really got a taste for creating unique and exclusive leather goods.

Morten is very inspired by the suspenders the man is wearing in this picture found in the book The Klondike Quest - he often finds inspiration from old pictures and movies that showcase the late 19th century Americana, but he also uses Japanese magazine like Workwear to get ideas.

For the moment his studio is located in his apartment in Vesterbro. The first thing you notice when entering the apartment is the quite heavy smell of rough leather. Soon Morten will be moving into the workshop of CPHmade in Amager.

In 2010 he moved to London to attend the London College of Fashion, but being the nerdy outsider who only wanted to do things he would wear himself Morten soon realized that he didn’t want to be part of the traditional fast moving fashion industry. He quit school and worked part-time as a intern for Tender and owner William Kroll.

Morten is eternally grateful for his time with Tender, “without William I probably wouldn’t have made it anywhere,†as he put it. Among other things William Kroll introduced Morten to his present sales representative in Japan. To pay the rent while he lived in the expensive British capital, Morten worked as a stooge for a horse race bookmaker. Today, even though the public reception of For Holding Up The Trousers has been overwhelmingly positive, Morten has a 9 to 5 job to make ends meet.

The materials used are sourced from suppliers known to deliver quality components, like Swedish tannery Tärnsjö.

All products come in heavy cardboard boxes and suspenders are accompanied by ceramic buttons made by Morten’s mother.

The rivets are (naturally) punched in by hand. On some of the products you will find a little “m†like it’s the case with the suspenders above. For the moment though Morten mostly stamps all his leather products with the number 3715, which was the identity code of his childhood home from when it was functioning as a pig farm. Back then they used a special devise (below) to stamp the pigs before they were sent off to the slaughterhouse. Today the device has a new decorative and less fatal function.

Now, let’s have a closer look at some of the products.

For more pictures visit For Holding Up The Trousers’ website and you can also follow the brand on Facebook. The products are sold in Maritime Antique &in Copenhagen, but you can always contact Morten by email if you’re interested in buying online. If you liked this article then you’ll probably also find it interesting to read about and see pictures of how Morten makes a belt. More on that later.

Edited June 14, 2012 by rodeo bill

[georgebryanbrussels]

These suspenders remind me of those made by Paco Lopez in Sevilla. The leather work is amazing there http://www.laguarnicioneria.com/

[georgebryanbrussels]

here are these suspenders, worn with super high rise slacks, they are for the andalusian horse riding gear: http://www.laguarnic...alle.php?nid=39

On top of these slacks, they wear zahonas from which the north american "chaps" are probably derived. Look at the needle work, Paco Lopez does it on an un motorized old Singer, his father used to do the embroidery by hand with a flat awl and thin stripes of cat leather... http://www.laguarnic...lle.php?nid=37. I can post a pic as son as I find out how to do it...

[redragon]

Tender Co. 131

~6 months, weekend wear

Not much to see overall but some spot are beginning to show promise...

Partly oxidised brass button

Curved pocket from wear

Front pocket fades

Liking the jeans more and more each time I wear it

[rodeo bill]

^redragon, thank you so much for posting these pics! I particularly like the curve forming on the front pocket mouth. please keep us up to date as they evolve further.

[rodeo bill]

drumroll...... the tender co. trestle shop is now open!

it's been a lot of work, but it finally went up late last night. please take a look and I'll be happy to help out with any questions either here or by email.

If people are interested I'll be putting up detail and making pictures over the next few days/weeks. In the mean time, already today there've been two very nice blog posts (that I've seen) at lineage of influence, and the189.

[redragon]

^

Arghhhhhhh

I can feel my wallet getting lighter already....

[georgebryanbrussels]

très beau le trestle, Bill...

Let's have the main line there too And s'il te plait, do more bias!

[georgebryanbrussels]

oh, à propos de bias... Would you post photos?

[gregd]

Amazing service from the Trestle Shop.

I ordered a black stained belt with bronze S buckle at 3pm yesterday - and it was delivered at 12 today! Thanks William!

It's a very nice complement to the brown wire buckle that was one of my first Tender purchases.

Very stuff and heavy right now - but really looking forward to seeing it develop like the brown one. The colour contrast between the buckles is interesting - the bronze has a deeper shade than the brass - very nice with the black leather.

Looks like I was lucky to get one - they sold fast!

[Thor]

I have a pair of the woad died 130's . i am thinking of buying the purple logwood, but are they different enough to justify the exp ?

anyone who has both can help ?

Edited June 17, 2012 by Thor

[attackwithstones]

wow William! you created such a unique assortment of goods. really thinking outside the box and taking your brand in a new direction. I like it!

[rodeo bill]

thank you attackwithstones, lovely to hear

[Thor]

Bill, can you help ?

[Thor]

Bill, can you help ?

[Thor]

Bill, can you help ?

[rodeo bill]

^I thought I'd stay out of it, as obviously I'm somewhat biased! If it's helpful I'd be happy to take a comparison photo of the 2 next to each other, if you like? (tomorrow, when there's some light)

I'd say they're pretty different- from a distance the purple logwood ones look a lot blacker, and 'warmer', whereas the woad are definitely blue/greener. Then from closeup they're completely different.

[Kai Fong CHng]

Here are a couple of photos. Tender mattress ticking cap replacing my graduation mortar board http://www.flickr.com/photos/79808030@N03/7390342708/in/photostream

[Kai Fong CHng]

Here are the fit pics and a fading shot of my purple logwood 130s

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79808030@N03/7390342260/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79808030@N03/7390341280/in/photostream/

[rodeo bill]

Bill, can you help ?

here are a couple of pictures of the woad dyed type130 jeans compared with the purple logwood dyed type 130:

taken inside by the window, no photoshop. hope this gives you a clearer idea of the differences in the dyes!

[Thor]

thanks bill, my good fellow.