Tender Co. Denim

[rodeo bill]

^thanks  you should ask Stallwart (he has pictures of his logwood dyed grain-out wallet on the previous page). His has aged beautifully, and it looks like quite a bit of the dye has rubbed off, leaving a really interesting patination. These new wallets are rough-out, though, so the dye should have penetrated deeper. Certainly comparing these wallets with the coin purses (which are grain out) the wallets are a deeper black colour.

 

In other news, I think all of these jeans have appeared here in the past, but not for a while. I took these photos this afternoon for The Taste Makers, a store in Tokyo which stocks Tender and wanted some worn images for their shop:

 

 

 

 

 

top to bottom, 132 woad dyed, 132D wattle dyed, 130 weld dyed, 133XX For Holding Up The Trousers special Unborn

[stallwart]

Great job! Will the tan leather beneath show through the back dye after some time? Or has the black dye penetrated deep enough so that it will remain black (or at most greyish) throughout its lifetime.

To Vanquish Gold

 I’ve rubbed some of the logwood away plus worked it a bit myself, depending on the light the tan shows through. Looks more greyish with a tan background and black over on top in normal light.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2014 by stallwart

[clawbytes]

How often do you wear your jeans, Bill?

 

I've had mine since summer and they're still very dark. I think I'm cursed with denim. They never wear out on me. =(

Edited February 6, 2014 by clawbytes

[satchelbmoore]

^keep wearin'm!

[rodeo bill]

How often do you wear your jeans, Bill?

 

I've had mine since summer and they're still very dark. I think I'm cursed with denim. They never wear out on me. =(

A friend in Japan once described me as a 'heavy user' which I took as a compliment 

 

I wear the same pair of jeans every day (not least because it means I always know where my keys, phone, wallet, coins are) and I keep wearing them until they've worn our, or at least until they look nice and I fancy moving onto something else. I think since I started the brand, in the summer of 2009, I've got through 6 pairs of Tender and a deadstock pair of Lee, so I guess I wear just over a pair a year to leave them in the sort of state in the pictures above. I'm now wearing a new fit experiment, and they're coming along nicely- should be really lovely in a few months when the fit gets into shops.

 

As Satchel so rightly says, though, there's no secret- just wear'm!

[redragon]

Belt update, around a year of wear and still going strong.

 

Really love the deep color development.

 

 

[rodeo bill]

thank you! really nice. I love how the brass on the tongue has polished where it sticks through the belt, and is tarnished underneath

[jason995511]

Hey William,

Are the pajama pants slim fitting or more of a straight fit?

[rodeo bill]

^they're pretty slim fitting, but it depends how recently they've been washed…. I find they get looser (especially around the knee) after a couple of wears, but with a wash they come right back to being more fitted.

[jason995511]

William, are the Strap Back Jeans in Rinse Twill, sized the same as your other jeans? It seemed like by the measurements I saw on a site, that the waist was larger than usual. I wasn't sure if that was because of the strap. Just want to know if I should order the same size I usually get in past Tender jeans or if I should size down. I usually get size 5.

thanks

ps. they look great, can't wait to get them.

[clawbytes]

It's here, it's finally here! The first batch of Tender items are now on Unionmade!

 

omgomgomgomgomgomgomogmomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgmgmomdomfd;gfomd;fl,fd,f

[rodeo bill]

William, are the Strap Back Jeans in Rinse Twill, sized the same as your other jeans? It seemed like by the measurements I saw on a site, that the waist was larger than usual. I wasn't sure if that was because of the strap. Just want to know if I should order the same size I usually get in past Tender jeans or

if I should size down. I usually get size 5.

thanks

ps. they look great, can't wait to get them.

Thanks very much for this, Jason- I'm delighted you like the look of them! The new 138 fit is based on the 130, which is quite easy, and with a higher waist and tapered legs, but the 138 has the waistband cut off and replaced with a calico facing on the inside and a canvas webbing belt with sand cast brass loops adjusters at the fronts. Because of the slightly lowered waist due to removing the waistband, the waist measurement of the 138 corresponds more to the upper hip of the 130 (if that makes sense), so fits a little bigger, although you have the full belt (as well as standard belt loops) to adjust this. 

 

In short, go with the measurements but yes, you might want to size down. Especially as, if I remember right, you have the 129 wattle beaverteen jeans, which are a slimmer fit and also that particular run came in tighter than intended.

[rodeo bill]

It's here, it's finally here! The first batch of Tender items are now on Unionmade!

 

omgomgomgomgomgomgomogmomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgmgmomdomfd;gfomd;fl,fd,f

 thank you so much for this!

 

This morning, Rob over at Lineage of Influence did a nice post with some photos of the new production:

 

Friends of the blog and makers of beautiful denim (amongst other things), Tender have kindly sent over some images of their latest collection for Spring/Summer 2014. This latest range sees the label creating clothes that are softer and lighter in feeling, and also experimenting with construction and the way that the garments are put together.

[rodeo bill]

In addition to the core denim range which is brilliant as ever, new items to the collection come in the form of ‘butterfly’ shirts – so named from the idea that a small change can bring about a cascade of different effects. In this case removing the side seam on a shirt means the sleeve is put on upside down, the pockets shift, the armhole construction is reconsidered, the plackets are reversed, and extra wide selvage fabric has to be specially woven in England. It’s a reimagining of the garment from the ground up but still looking like a shirt.

The railway references that have been present in earlier collections remain, but in a subtler and less workwear influenced manner than previous seasons. Jacket shoulders overlap, reinterpreting a 1960′s British Rail driver’s Harrington jacket liner, and shirt sleeves are cut from English ticking on a plain fabric body, giving a nod to early 20th Century conductor’s sleeved waistcoats. Pyjama trousers are cut from cross-hatched English calico, and dyed with green chlorophyll, tan wattle, and deep blue woad.

The range of beautiful leather goods the label produces are still present – heavy-duty and Oak bark tanned leather belts feature either natural or painted brass buckles (in a variety of styles) and the same leather also goes into making wallets, coin purses and Tender’s fantastic Sidings boots. And if that wasn’t enough, the accessories and produce range developed for the Trestle Shop continues to expand with hand thrown red clay carafes, mouth blown glass bottles stoppered with natural cork, and hand-linked, hand-dyed cotton socks.

As always everything is made in England and is designed to improve and become more personal to its owner over time. For more information on the label, to find a stockist, or to buy online go to the website here: Tender.

As clawbytes so eloquently notes, things are starting to come through to shops, and there'll be more in the coming weeks as the last few styles are finished and dyed. I'm rushing around all over the place at the moment, but I think it'd be cool to do some more detailed photos and descriptions of some of the new products- there's a lot of thought gone into them  . More soon.

[jodi]

Wow. I only have one Tender piece so far (woad-dyed woo!), but I really have to save up for at least one piece from this new collection, it's gorgeous. What are those shoes there Bill? They look great.

[redragon]

Seriously interested in the butterfly shirt, construction sounds amazing!

will be on lookout for pics.

Edited February 11, 2014 by redragon

[Uchison]

My favorite pair of jeans:  

 

what to do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The crotch was already repaired once as you can see, but it seems as if I need a couple more repairs 

What would be the best way to repair it?

[Uchison]

And a couple of extra pics

 

[rodeo bill]

^^they look beautiful! With the stitches coming out, the worst one there, I'd say, is the hip stitch opening by the pocket. I changed the construction a couple of seasons ago, so this stitch only is now sewn with polycotton thread (it's a hidden stitch, so doesn't show, but is now a lot stronger than on your jeans). It looks like yours were made for Autumn/Winter 2011, or maybe Spring/Summer 2012, which was the last production made like this. If you could email me at [email protected] I'll get them fixed for you, with pleasure. We can discuss which of the other stitches you'd like re-sewing. 

[Uchison]

Noooo, really? wow, really cool William.

[Youthxattak]

Two cheers for old jeans!

So I was gonna try and just patch this myself with some fabric underneath.. Is this something that requires a more intense repair? Im a beginner level sewer but it seemed like something I could probably fix up.

[rodeo bill]

^^ I hope we'd all love to see an update on the whole of your jeans, if you have the time?! A little patch behind there, or just refolding and resewing through the original seam should be a pretty easy fix, and will hold it nicely.

 

Jodi, thank you so much! And welcome to superfuture. The shoes in the image above are my old pair of rough out low-top crepe sole shoes (there are some photos a couple of pages back). The same shoes are available with grain out, here. I think I have a couple of pairs of rough out left, too- please just let me know if you're interested.

 

Redragon, thank you! Shirts are the last thing to be made up, hopefully the first lot will be done next week. I'll get some photos out as soon as poss 

Edited February 11, 2014 by rodeo bill

[liquiditytrap]

Stumbled across some new Tender jeans over at Unionmade.com (new to me at least). The "twist fabric" looks like it makes an interesting texture and the dig the brass buttons on the off-white/cream/whatever fabric. I wish they had better, up-close pics. The fabric looks similar to corduroy to me. Type 138, you can see in one of the pictures.

 

I have the flower pot trews from a couple years ago (or longer? *sigh*) and I've been itching for some new Tender apparel.

 

[EDIT] It looks like the 138's are discussed a few posts above mine

Edited February 12, 2014 by liquiditytrap

[rodeo bill]

^thanks! Very glad you like the look of the 138s- I'm really happy with them. I have a pair at home- I'll get some photos up asap (sorry, I know I've said that already, but I'm rushed off my feet at the moment…). In the meantime, here's a bit of information about the fabric:

 

(I know a lot of people will know a lot of this already, so sorry if this is boring/patronising). When people talk about right hand twill (levi's, most other denim) vs left hand twill (traditionally lee, leepro) they're talking visually about the direction of the diagonal 'twill' line on the fabric face- top right to bottom left is rht, top left to bottom right is lht. The relevance of the direction of the twill, apart from the direction which the legs will twist on unsanforized fabric (rht legs twist clockwise, lht anti-clockwise), is how the fabric drapes: right hand twill is harder and tighter, while left hand twill feels more fluid and drapey, especially after some wear. The reason  for this is not actually the direction of the weave, but the direction of the weave in relation to the direction of the twist of the yarn….

 

Most cotton weaving yarn (as opposed to wool worsted yarn, but that's another story!) is spun in a 'Z' twist. This means that if you look closely at the twisted fibres of the yarn you would see that they go from top right to bottom left, like the diagonal in a letter Z. When this Z twist yarn is woven into a right hand twill fabric, the yarn is twisted even tighter (think top right to bottom left x top right to bottom left). When Z twist yarn is woven in a left hand twill, the twist in the yarn counteracts the direction of the fabric, slackening the yarn, causing the fibres to lie more parallel and giving the fabric a softer, drapier feel. I hope that makes sense!

 

Here's the yarn used of this special reverse twist twill, as viewed through a loupe at the weaving mill:

 

As you can see, the diagonal in the yarn runs from top left to bottom right, making this an 'S' twist yarn (like the diagonal in the letter s). This reverses the properties that weaving directions would give to a Z twist yarn.

 

Here's a closeup of the fabric I had woven for these garments:

 

It's a right hand twill (the twill lines go from top right to bottom left) but as the yarn is an S twist it has the properties of a standard left hand twill- it hangs more freely than the opposite twill would, and with wear it will become softer and more relaxed.

 

It's an 18oz cloth, and the twill line gives it a lovely texture. Here's a stack of offcuts:

 

and here's the cloth being laid out for some 129S shorts- a special order for superdenim:

[rodeo bill]

ps, not really relevant, but a while back I posted a piece by Emily King on the Maharam site about Tender. Today she just published another article there about Goodbye Baby & Amen, a book of photos by David Bailey edited by my grandfather, who was then art editor of British Vogue. It's an incredible book and a great article with lots of pictures. Worth a look 

[jodi]

Hey Bill,

 

Firstly, your grandad sounds amazing. Thanks for linking through to that review. The book looks great, it's Bailey at his most essential, and the art direction looks very sympathetic to that.

 

Secondly, I kind of want you to say no, because saving up will be torturous, but do you have the rough-outs in 9? I'm an 8.5 wide, so is that the size you'd suggest?

[rodeo bill]

^thank you! he was. 

 

I've PM'd you about the shoes- feel free to get back to me there, or drop me an email: [email protected]

[clawbytes]

Did somebody say 129 shorts? *ears perk up*

 

More info on them please!

[rodeo bill]

^yep! type 129S. These were done in rinsed or chlorophyll-dyed reverse twill as an exclusive for superdenim.co.uk. I don't actually have any photos, but they've just been delivered, so should be online before too long- I'm sure you could contact them to reserve a pair, or for more information.

 

I did sample one pair in rinse denim, size 4. These didn't make it into production, so there's only the one pair. Here's a photo:

[stallwart]

To Vanquish Gold

 I’ve rubbed some of the logwood away plus worked it a bit myself, depending on the light the tan shows through. Looks more greyish with a tan background and black over on top in normal light.

 

http://s371.photobucket.com/user/afhgus/slideshow/logwood

 

for sale £65 incl Uk Postage.   PM if interested.  Thanks, if your not happy, sale or return after one week

Edited February 16, 2014 by stallwart