Tender Co. Denim

[rodeo bill]

Thanks for this! Very sorry that production is running a little behind- a lot of the fabrics have been developed from the yarn stage this time, which takes a little longer than using stock yarns. Coats are being sewn at the moment, and I hope to deliver them to shops, and have the on the Stores, around the week after next.

In the meantime shirts and knit are online, together with new 136 jeans:

this style is 'Oxford' jeans. Here are some 'Oxford Bags' which the cut is based on:

Story has it that in 1924 the University administration outlawed knickerbockers, specifically plus-fours (wide shooting trousers cut at a normal width plus four inches), gathered tight at the knee. In rebellion, students continued to wear their plus-fours, but concealed by an even wider pair of trousers over the top. This sounds a bit unlikely... a more credible account has it that the Oxford rowing team took to wearing wide woollen trousers over the top of their rowing shorts on cold mornings.These trousers could be quickly slipped on and off over shoes and shorts, without using a changing room- a precursor to track pants. The picture above is of the Oxford Rowing crew in 1928, 

Later Oxford bags were cut even wider, with lots of pleats into the fronts, to add in extra fabric, but these original, slightly more modest bags were flat fronted like jeans. Type 136 are cut pretty much straight down from the hip and crotch, with no taper inside or out. They're a standard Tender 36" inseam so that they can be worn with jeans cuffs or hemmed a bit shorter more like trousers. 
 

[redragon]

The fit looks very similar to the 131 you did couple of years back.

comfy silhouette max! 

[JDelage]

6 hours ago, rodeo bill said:

... plus-fours (wide shooting trousers cut at a normal width plus four inches)

My understanding is that plus-fours are called this because they go 4 inches below the knee. There are also plus-twos and plus-sixes, but they never were as popular as the fours.

[rodeo bill]

17 hours ago, redragon said:

The fit looks very similar to the 131 you did couple of years back.

comfy silhouette max! 

Thanks redragon! 131 were quite a bit slimmer- they were a special (more than a couple of years back, in 2011!) and were 130s with a straighter leg, quite similar to 129s. These are much wider altogether, but, as you say, very comfy! 

14 hours ago, JDelage said:

My understanding is that plus-fours are called this because they go 4 inches below the knee. There are also plus-twos and plus-sixes, but they never were as popular as the fours.

Thanks for this. I was quoting, from memory, what the trouser-maker who worked in the same tailor's shop that I learned coat making in told me. But I didn't put it at all clearly, and also may just be wrong. What I was told was that plus fours (or as you say twos, or sixes) were cut wider by that measurement but then brought in under the knee (that's the bit I missed above). So 2s 4s and 6s would all be the same length but of varying bagginess above the knee. Wikipedia agrees with your understanding, though, about plus fours, and the inference is indeed that 2s and 6s would have been shorter or longer, rather than tighter or looser. I'll see if I can find out any more!

[bartlebyyphonics]

posted this elsewhere, elsetimes: but yup as I understand it the oxford bag got pretty huge in the hem...

nice addition to the cuts @rodeo bill

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by bartlebyyphonics

[rodeo bill]

ps if anyone's interested I've just created an instagram account @tender_co  

Of course I'll keep putting everything up here, but for a few images and the odd new product I'll try to keep on top of that too!

[JDelage]

On 10/26/2018 at 1:24 PM, rodeo bill said:

ps if anyone's interested I've just created an instagram account @tender_co

Hmm... Can't find it. Can you post a link to your profile?

[propellerbeanie]

34 minutes ago, JDelage said:

Hmm... Can't find it. Can you post a link to your profile?

https://www.instagram.com/tender_co/

[JDelage]

Thanks @propellerbeanie

[rodeo bill]

Had a catchup with a couple of old friends yesterday. Rob Newman (who was a student of mine, then an intern, and is now working on various exciting things while being an accessories designer for Stone Island) was wearing his pair of woad dyed 130s. 6 and a half years old, worn twice a week for that whole time and with 3 or four rounds of repairs. They look amazing!

special mention also to his belt- I introduced Rob to Morten, of For Holding Up The Trousers, and Rob worked with him in Copenhagen. This is a belt he made during that time:

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by rodeo bill

[edmond]

Hey bill where can i see your stuff in tokyo?

[JDelage]

I'm surprised the cuffs are holding up so well on a 6 yr old pair!

[rodeo bill]

11 minutes ago, JDelage said:

I'm surprised the cuffs are holding up so well on a 6 yr old pair!

They're holding up really nicely all over, with just a few repairs to stitching. Rob's certainly not babied them, either- I think they've been washed fairly regularly, which certainly helps.

13 minutes ago, edmond said:

Hey bill where can i see your stuff in tokyo?

Thanks for this- the biggest selection is probably at Nestrobe, but there are nice things at Pheb, Brown & Seedling, Dan, Hag-Le, Ware-Mo-Ku, Maiden, Post 78. Links here: https://www.tenderstores.com/contact/ for all the stockists

[SallyKolchine]

Hey Bill, what's the sweater you're wearing in this photo? Something Tender?

[rodeo bill]

^aha! you caught me. It's a prototype for next Autumn, so nothing out in the wild for a year I'm afraid. I work about a year ahead, and always wear new developments right away to get a feel for them while there's time to make changes before production. All I can say is this is a really nice piece and technique that I'm very excited about, but it'll be a while before I have more to share I'm afraid, sorry.

[: )]

On 03/11/2018 at 12:46 AM, rodeo bill said:

Had a catchup with a couple of old friends yesterday. Rob Newman (who was a student of mine, then an intern, and is now working on various exciting things while being an accessories designer for Stone Island) was wearing his pair of woad dyed 130s. 6 and a half years old, worn twice a week for that whole time and with 3 or four rounds of repairs. They look amazing!

special mention also to his belt- I introduced Rob to Morten, of For Holding Up The Trousers, and Rob worked with him in Copenhagen. This is a belt he made during that time:

 

How much of the taper do you lose if you hem the inseams from 36” inches to 30”. Will the hem openning and “fit” change significantly and be noticeable. 

As I would like to preserve the intended fit but too short to pull off an 8” cuff.

 

Edited November 3, 2018 by : )

[merzbot]

On 11/2/2018 at 8:46 AM, rodeo bill said:

Had a catchup with a couple of old friends yesterday. Rob Newman (who was a student of mine, then an intern, and is now working on various exciting things while being an accessories designer for Stone Island) was wearing his pair of woad dyed 130s. 6 and a half years old, worn twice a week for that whole time and with 3 or four rounds of repairs. They look amazing!

Hell yes for the jeans, hell yes for the boots 8-)

[rodeo bill]

2 hours ago, : ) said:

How much of the taper do you lose if you hem the inseams from 36” inches to 30”. Will the hem openning and “fit” change significantly and be noticeable. 

As I would like to preserve the intended fit but too short to pull off an 8” cuff.

 

many thanks for this. It's not really an issue- I've measured my size 4s at the hem and at 30" inseam and there's just over 1/4" difference, but anyone wearing these jeans rolled up (for example in these photos) and not hemmed is effectively wearing them at the shorter length (ie slightly wider hem) anyway. I've had various hemmed pairs back over the years for repairs and they always looks great shortened- there's no effect at all to the general fit, and I think the relatively shorter leg gives a really nice proportion. I decided to make long inseams to start with as a nod to traditional one-length-fits all jeans, and to allow owners to hem or cuff their jeans as much or as little as they like.

I hope this helps!

59 minutes ago, merzbot said:

Hell yes for the jeans, hell yes for the boots 8-)

you should have seen the muddy state of his hands when he arrived at the pub! Rob more than does his clothes justice :-)

[: )]

Will there be a restock of type 130 (overdyed or rinsed) in size 3. 

[rodeo bill]

7 hours ago, : ) said:

Will there be a restock of type 130 (overdyed or rinsed) in size 3. 

thanks for this. Jeans production is really backed up at the moment, I'm so sorry I'm not expecting to have space to make more jeans until the Spring... We have one pair of 130P with passenger pockets in a size 3, otherwise I can suggest going for 129s, possibly sized up to a 4, or we have various other fabric options. Please email me if you'd like more specific information. 

[rodeo bill]

Yesterday I spent the day doing a seminar with students on the MA Fashion Futures course at London College of Fashion. I've done this class a couple of times now and both time it's been a really interesting, thoughtful group of people to talk with. The course is loosely based around sustainability in the fashion industry and the philosophy and ethics implicit in the products we wear. I showed them all some Tender garments, and talked a bit about my approach to product design, and how important it is for me that the things become something new by the act of being worn and used by their respective owners.

After lunch the students presented their early stage research into tracing the components of a second hand garment or accessory (mainly making the point that you usually can't, as illustrated by this deconstructed Dr Martens sneaker:

)

At the end of the day the groups went back to sketch books to think about how what the guest (me!) had talked about could influence a new product based on teh deconstruction. They have several seminar days from people in very different parts of the fashion industry, and this project has only just started, with several weeks to go, so it'll be really interesting to see what they come up with!

As before, sorry if this is a tangent from showing new Tender stuff, but I really enjoy teaching and working with students, and it's nice to share what they do here :-)

[rodeo bill]

On a completely different note, just in is this lost wax cast brass keyring. The first casting was taken directly from a real crab apple fruit, with the stem adapted to hold a keyring and an Plautus face engraved on the bottom before being re-cast as a keyring. Here it is back on the branch that the fruit came from (in a friend's garden). There's something a bit Roland Bartheish about destroying a perfect living fruit in order to immortalise it in brass...

Edited November 9, 2018 by rodeo bill

[: )]

Does anyone know any online stockist outside of Japan, carrying 130s in size 3 (overdyed or rinsed). 

Japanese websites tends to sell at 2x the price.

Edited November 13, 2018 by : )

[discop]

10 hours ago, : ) said:

Does anyone know any online stockist outside of Japan, carrying 130s in size 3 (overdyed or rinsed). 

Japanese websites tends to sell at 2x the price.

There is a used pair with a TON of life left on Grailed for a song.

https://www.grailed.com/listings/5827194-Tender-Co--130-model--Size-3

[rodeo bill]

^good find! There were very few of these made in purple logwood, and this pair is looking lovely. To be honest at that price I'm tempted myself.... if anyone here gets them please post photos 

[bartlebyyphonics]

^^ they look pretty amazing tbh... I'd jump if I wasn't more sz5 these days...

[JDelage]

Ain’t those super cool? Buttons from my lot 900 jacket, which is in the wash right now...

 

 

[propellerbeanie]

Hey @rodeo bill, I noticed on your Instagram that you put links to your products in the comments of your posts. I think if you make it a business account, you should be able to tag products (i.e. like tagging a profile in a picture). Should be easier for your followers to get linked directly to your products as I don't believe users can copy/paste comment text!

[rodeo bill]

ha! thank you. Very new to Instagram, and I'm treading cautiously... I'll certainly bear this in mind.

By the way, I'm very much still around here- if it works out for everyone my plan is to continue to put more in-depth new product and making pictures and explanations up here, but more frequent general product pictures and worn-in things up on Instagram. 

[rodeo bill]

Today I received the first batch of new GS/TP Goliath watches! These have been a long time coming, and it's really exciting to finally get to hold the finished watches (I'd previously only had a rough case and loose dials). The case is 35mm diameter, but wears larger I'd say, as there's no bezel and the case is cylindrical, with no slope to the sides, and only a very small bevel to hold the crystal in place. 

The idea of this case comes from dashboard instruments, which had cylindrical canister-type cases so that they could be dropped in from the front. Making the same reference, the crystal is completely flat. The lugs are straight, and angled down quite steeply. Here are some photos:

The dials are various riffs on mid-century military and tool watches, with elements of the 'Journey' dial harking back to earlier station clocks and 'Goliath' oversized pocket watches. Full stories up now on Tender Stores

Edited December 4, 2018 by rodeo bill