Tender Co. Denim

[clawbytes]

I can't see the picture, Bill. ='(

 

But in any case, if the 129 shorts aren't short shorts, consider me a future owner.

 

Along with the pyjama set and some other items, my wallet's gonna be starving by Spring.

 

Say, I'm also considering getting your watch. Can I learn some more about it? Dimensions and all? Thanks.

[rodeo bill]

^thanks for this! I'm delighted. Sorry you can't see the shorts- I can't understand why, they show up ok to me? Feel free to email me if you'd like me to mail you an image. The watches are 35mm diameter (41mm length from the lug to the lug) and 13mm thick including the domed crystal. Again, feel free to PM or email me if you'd like more information: [email protected]

[rodeo bill]

Nice blog post went up today at Loftman, in Kyoto

 

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Blog by 上æ¾

Google Translate gives us this (I particularly like the last paragraph):

Hello everyone, It is Uematsu is working as a student bytes. 

In fact, items TENDER has or collect various things or was cut-and-sew Dattari shirt or pants was from when I went to my COOP is the audience still. 

 

Clothes of TENDER, because it was just not things that none were seen in the other this, new products arrived, and so excited to go to see in the store, it was not how fun. 

 

What a big favorite Among them, was the underwear of the type of detail called "driver's pocket." 

 

Normally, the back pocket of the pants comes with the ass. But, back pockets should be in the ass, I've been attached to the back thigh near the signal falls from a little ass "driver's pocket" of TENDER.

[altoclefchris]

Can you make that a selling point of your pants? 

 

"They come with ass!"

[Davil]

Google translate is wacked.  For some languages it will work perfect, but for others you end up with that.

[Youthxattak]

Its a shame those driver pockets aren't more readily available in the US. I think the pocket placement is pretty fun but it looks like the Japanese market is the only one really on the ball with this style.

[satchelbmoore]

yeah us americans are pretty conservative with our jeans. luckily william is showing us a few options past the standard 1947 501 template.

[Youthxattak]

yeah us americans are pretty conservative with our jeans. luckily william is showing us a few options past the standard 1947 501 template.

Now wait just a second brotha, don't you go hatin on 501s. I actually used to manage a Levis shop 3-4 years ago.

Just sayin.. If any usa shops wanted to maybe carry these.. Wink wink.. Hint hint... Your boy would be pretty stoked.

[rodeo bill]

^^I just brought a couple of pairs back from the factory- going up on the Stores asap 

[rodeo bill]

In the meantime, here are a few more new season photos. After a break from printed Ts in the last production, there are a couple of new prints in this collection. Both are repeats, screened across the hem of the finished garment. It would be a lot easier to print onto panels of fabric before they're sewn up into Tshirts, but this way the prints have a lovely inconsistency across the seams and the thicknesses of the folded fabric:

 

 

 

 

The plautus print (and also the boots print, below) is taken direct from the original 19th Century mortised cut that the logo was taken from, and at this scale has a lovely grainy texture. It's printed in navy blue water based ink, which softens and fades over time, unlike a harder, more rubbery plastisol printing ink.

 

Here are my own two Tshirts- these have become favourites and have been worn at least once a week for the last 6 months:

 

 

The prints run right over the care label, and the side seam:

 

 

This is a new T style- type 353. It has a finely bound hem and for the first time the cuffs are also bound, rather than the long rib that's been on Tshirts to date:

[Uchison]

Wow, those are gonna be added to my collection for sure! Wicked shirts. Great work William

[satchelbmoore]

with ss14 deservedly getting some attention, this is a little off topic but i just washed my french woad interlock l/s tee for the first time along with my og english woad henley for about the 25th time.

 

the difference is quite striking.  i wish my camera would pick up the fading of the woad on the calico placket on the henley better. gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rodeo bill]

beautiful! thank you. Indigo (and for that matter woad) is so hard to photograph. Great Red Wing mat, too!

 

An interview with a lovely set of photos went up yesterday on the excellent The Print Dept blog:

 

 

William Kroll is one of the finest menswear designers around in our opinion; in today's interview he explains how ingenuity, a love of construction as well as a healthy respect for heritage brought him to establish Tender Co.

I loved it! I did the foundation there, straight out of school, then got onto the menswear BA. I did a year out between my second and third years, doing a short apprenticeship with a bespoke coatmaker, but I was still technically part of the college, so I was there for 5 years all in. It's a big school, and you have to be quite driven and independent, but I found it really friendly and fun. I now go back as a visiting lecturer on the course I studied- I do the denim project. I'm really happy to still be involved.

 

 

I read that you visit Japan every 4 months now; do you still gain a lot of inspiration from the place?

Japan is a really special place for me. I first visited when I was at Evisu, which is obviously very heavily influenced by Japanese culture. The first time it felt so different to anything I knew, but as you spend more time anywhere, and get to know people, you discover that there are more similarities than differences. As a generalisation, I think Japanese people embrace specialisation- a person (or even a whole community) will devote themselves to perfecting something, and will be happy to repeat it for generations. This leads to great, deep, understanding and appreciation of skill, which I really respect. A real luxury of being able to travel is to gain understanding of different approaches to things, and apply them in new ways.

 

 

You have a very traditional approach to denim craftsmanship and designing. What has been your strongest inspiration behind this?

Denim design and construction is very important to me, and to my brand, but I like to think that it goes beyond jeans, and indeed construction. To me, denim design is about creating something that is evolved and fit for purpose (not design for its own sake), is constructed transparently (by which I mean a products construction should be evident by looking at it: a tailored suit with linings is 'clean on the outside, dirty on the inside', while a jeans jacket is just as tidy inside as out, and if you sew a pocket on the outside, you can see it on the reverse), makes the most of its materials and allows them to speak for themselves, and will improve and become more personal with wear. 

In my brand, I like to think this applies just as much to a hand-thrown natural red clay coffee mug, which shows the potters finger marks on the handle, will craze and stain over time, and reveals the unglazed fired mud on the base, or a pair of hand cut and hand polished sunglasses, riveted (not glued) and made from acetate derived from cotton, which will become matt and then polish up again over the years, as it does to a pair of vegetable dyed denim jeans, sewn with cotton thread and fastened with a lost wax-cast solid brass button.

 

 

 

You have experimented with log wood, Woad and Vegetable dyes in a number of collections. Are there any new dye stuffs you have worked with recently?

In the last season I dyed clothes with cochineal, which is a really interesting pink derived from beetle shells: it's the colour of the Redcoat infantry's uniforms of the early 19th Century, and of hunting Pinks. A new colour for the new Spring/Summer 2014 production is a fresh light green from chlorophyll. Grass stains!

 

You spent some time in Okayama with an indigo dye specialist; it must have been a unique and fascinating experience working in a dedicated dye atelier?

I was extremely lucky to be invited to spend time learning indigo, and I had a fantastic time! I met the indigo dyer on a trip to Japan before I'd started thinking about doing my own brand. We kept in touch, and when I decided it was time to try something new and he offered to teach me, I jumped at the opportunity!

 

 

You have a real dedication to doing things well and bring personality to your garments through your dye techniques, can you talk a bit about the choices you make when addressing each piece?

It's fun to try different types of products, and find out about the processes that go in to their production. It's always a discussion between me, the designer, and the person who's making something. My part is bringing my taste and aesthetics to the product, theirs is in the understanding of how the thing is made, and their experience of working with materials. I try not to have too fixed an idea of how anything will turn out before we've made a few samples- I think the most interesting products evolve into their design, rather than being too proscribed.

 

 

What comes first, fabric or design?

The choreographer Merce Cunningham worked with the composer John Cage using 'chance procedure': Cunningham would create a dance, and Cage would make the music, entirely independently of each other. The two works would only come together at the performance- the dancers wouldn't have heard the music any earlier than the audience. 

I don't take things that far, but I think it's a really interesting approach! I don't really have a formal design period- things are just going around in my head for a long time, and when it's time to produce a new collection I start to draw things out and see how the details fit together. In parallel with this I'll be looking into new dyes, and talking to the mills who produce fabric for me, and thinking about what we can do together. Once all these things have been worked through it usually all seems to fall together quite naturally.

 

What is the –

a) Strangest thing you own?

I have a re British Rail rail clip sitting on the mantlepiece in our front room. It's a big steel rod that's been bent into a sort of loose paper clip. They're used to fasten the rails onto the sleepers. It's a lovely object.

Oldest thing you own?

I used to go looking for fossils on the beach at Lyme Regis, in Devon, with my family when I was little and we'd go there on holiday. I always liked belemnites: they were squid-like cepholopods which lived about 250 million years ago. I think I still have some lying around- they're pretty old.

c) Most treasured thing you own?

A really great black cast iron grill pan that was my great aunt's. It's le Creuset, but not enamelled like the modern ones are. It gets hot really quickly, and stays hot, has a fantastic cooked-on nonstick surface, and lovely deep ridges along the bottom. We cook with it most days, and it's a lovely thing.

 

 

You launched a new label Sleeper early last year; can you tell us a bit more about that?

Sleeper is a project with my agent in Japan which involves adapting and reproducing garments from my collection of old British Rail uniforms. We're working with a fantastic factory in Okayama who produce real uniforms, and make things to a very high specification. By looking at these old utilitarian garments, but using very high quality English and Japanese fabrics, I think we've brought them up to be something really nice. It's mostly a project for Japan, but it's also stocked by Peggs & Son in Brighton, and Hickoree's in New York.

 

 

 

Do you get involved with collaborations with other designers?

I've been asked quite a few times to work on collaborations, and in theory it's a lovely thing to do. However I do think it's important to work together for the right reasons- there are so many collaborations where it's just a matter of one brand putting their logo on another brand's product and hiking up the price. The collaborations that I've most enjoyed have been with For Holding Up The Trousers (Morten, the owner, hand-makes suspenders. He came and interned with me a couple of years ago, and since then we've designed some products together for the Trestle Shop) and The Hill-Side, the house brand of Hickoree's in Brooklyn (we developed a new fit of jeans together, the 129, which is now a staple of the brand- the first run had The Hill-Side fabric sewn into the belt loops and pocket linings). 

In a wider sense, though, all of my products are collaborations between me and the people who make them. If you want to get even more abstract, I'd include the people who own and wear the garments or objects as well: all of my products are intended to improve as they age, so they're really not finished until they've been owned and loved to destruction.

 

Thanks William!

 

 

Pictures by Anabel Navarro

[rodeo bill]

Pandas!

 

two natural Welsh Black and Cheviot sheepskin Pandas, just came through the door, up on the trestle shop now (more here)

Edited February 21, 2014 by rodeo bill

[Graeme]

Were these originally undyed leather? I know that Tender belts darken up with wear, but that's a lot more extreme.

And the pandas are sweet.

[rodeo bill]

Thanks, and yes- these looked like this:

they must be a couple of years old bt now, but it darkened a lot within the first few months

[Youthxattak]

Not sure these picture do justice but all my natural tender leather is really darkening. Especially the belt pouch and wrist strap which get the most sun. My wallet has taken on the most sheen while my belt has the most intestering of coloration.

I've thought about completing the collection with the addition of the coin purse just due to how great they look with age... but I'm just not sure of how practical it would be for me in day to day use...not a big change person.

[rodeo bill]

^that watch strap!!

[Graeme]

Thanks Bill and Youthxattak.

I've seen a few pics of well loved Tender belts, but didn't realise they went that dark.

[muesive attack]

Taking us back to the AW for a moment, I just signed up here for sole purpose of waxing lyrical about Tender's guard's jackets. I bought the black sheep's wool one last year, and although it was initially tough justifying spending £350 on the jacket to myself, once I received it I fell in love with it. Love everything from the way it fits, the engraved horn buttons, the weird way the collar sticks up when done up, and of course the wool itself is the real star of the show, so gorgeous. My only real criticism is that the buttons seem to be attached very loosely, and I'd be gutted if I lost one,although I've already given the jacket plenty of wear and they haven't fell off yet.

 

I was so impressed that when the AW 13  navy double breasted version came down in price during the sales at Superdenim, I couldn't resist getting that too (along with cockade of course!). And I think I like this one even more! The colour of the dyed wool in the sunlight is just brilliant. Lovely jacket.  Since there aren't enough fit pics of Tender jackets in this thread I'll post one, albeit a really shit quality one using a dirty mirror:

 

Next I need to make a post waxing lyrical about my Tender 133 beaverteen trews, which are just about the best pair of trousers I own!

 

 

[Youthxattak]

New Verdigris 129s from the Tender Store came in the other day. Green isn't my usual go-to but this mint color is just too good. (much unlike my PBR.)

I'll try to take a better picture of the fabric later on. Perfect amount of slub to give some great texture!

[satchelbmoore]

lookin' dope! ^

 

scooped up three insane items from the hickoree's 70% sale today. 2 sleeper shirts and a woad linen fireman's jacket for $200. they are all probably gonna be too big but pretty excited anyway!

[jason995511]

I received my Tender Type 138 Strap-Back Jeans- Rinse Twill

in the mail and love them. I've been seeing a lot of the new Tender stock in person lately and William hit it out of the park once again. I'm planning on getting the Pyjama pants in Calico and the Tender Type 129S Slim Fit Shorts- Rinsed Twill

as well.

Why do you have to make such damn good items. I'm going to have to prostitute myself to pay my shopping bill.

[satchelbmoore]

 

Why do you have to make such damn good items. I'm going to have to prostitute myself to pay my shopping bill.

 

amen.

[jason995511]

Youthxattak

Pants look great, I'm staring at that watch though, nice stuff.

 

satchelbmoore

I really like that button down shirt you posted, did they make those in wattle?

Edited February 25, 2014 by jason995511

[satchelbmoore]

^good question. i don't remember seeing any. it's one of my favorite things ever. wearing it now, in fact.

[nachtelijk]

^the henley in wattle? iirc i saw it on Unionmade, but that was pretty long ago...

[rodeo bill]

^thanks for all the nice words! I'm so pleased people are interested in the new products! There were some wattle henleys, for Autumn/Winter 2012. I don't think I have any stock left, unfortunately. I'll take a look though.

 

As promised, and with apologies for the delay, here are some photos and an explanation of the new 'driver's' jacket, type 970 (this one in wattle dyed denim):

 

The starting point was a 1960s harrington style jacket, which has an overlapping vent in the back. I also wanted to make this jacket without side seams, and I worked out that if the shoulder becomes the overlap, you can actually cut the whole of each side of the jacket in one big piece. Here's the inside of the jacket, to show you what I mean:

 

 

 

So the dark side of the denim below is actually the outside of the front body, which has run over the shoulder and down the back:

 

From the outside, the overlap sits at the shoulder line, so it's quite unobtrusive:

 

A nice thing about having no side seam is that there's no break in the hem. I've made the most of this by putting no facing at the fronts, and running a single curved hem all the way from the collar at one side, down the front, round the bottom corner, along the bottom, up the other corner and all the way up the opposite front to the other side of the collar:

 

The only point not covered by this hem is the top edge of the collar notch, which gets its own short section of bias binding:

 

The jacket's finished off with linen-covered metal buttons, usually seen on underwear, which take the dyes really well:

[rodeo bill]

I'm lifting some modelled photos of this jacket (in rinsed denim and rinsed reverse twill) from the excellent Trunk, in Marylebone, London, who've just started stocking the main Tender collection (they've had some accessories in Trunk LABS down the road for a while now)

[nachtelijk]

please bring back the short sleeved henleys