Made with Tender loving care

A few days ago William from new denim brand Tender popped by to meet up and talk me through his soon to be launched Autumn/Winter 2010 range.

It was great to meet him and have him show me his jeans, jackets, T-shirts and belts. I’d considered myself as knowing a bit about denim but after a chat with William I consider myself well and truly schooled – the man’s an encyclopedia on the subject! This knowledge comes from working for Evisu on both the heritage and deluxe lines for a number of years before going to Japan to learn the age old art of indigo dying (and a bit of Japanese along the way). Add in the fact he also teaches menswear and you’ve got a recipe for someone that knows what they’re doing.

All of this knowledge has combined to produce Tender – a fully hand made denim line. The denim itself is Japanese blue selvedge, 17oz, un-sanforised, un-singed, un-bleached and dyed 25 times. This is just the ‘raw’ denim though. After it’s been turned into garments (by hand in a small factory in Leicester) it’s then over-dyed using natural indigo between one and four times, before being washed in vinegar at 40c for the final finish. The dye from this process is absorbed into the cotton stitching (made in Manchester) and also the linings and tapes used on the inside, giving everything a lovely light indigo tint and creating jeans that are different to pretty much everything else out there.

Then there are the details. There’s loads of them but all are functional, nothing’s superfluous and everything has a purpose. Starting at the top the signature button is made from solid brass and held at the back with a sturdy pin, meaning that your top button’s never going to go on you (like mine did recently). Then the pockets are straight as opposed to curved, because they’re more comfortable and easier to get your hands in. They’re then strengthened using selvedge tape and over time will start to blow out creating a nice natural curve that will match the way in which you use them.

The actual pocket is made from denim too, to make sure they never go through like thinner fabrics can. There’s no match pocket as it was deemed unnecessary but there is a nifty pencil pocket on the right hand side by the hip. The back pockets are calico lined and that too takes on the indigo dye, with the very edges by the seams keeping their original white. It’s hard to explain but looks wicked. Each of these pockets is stitched on from the back yolk in a single go creating a signature ’66’ stitch, which is another nice detail (told you there were loads of them). Then to finish off there’s the copper rivets from Universal in Japan (every one of them added for a specific purpose) and the workwear influenced two button fly.

Here are some shots of the jeans:

Next there’s the jacket. It uses the same process as the jeans but takes its style from different influences, many of them being inspired by old rail jackets (William explained that a Tender is the truck that carried the coal and water on old steam trains and this is where the name came from). The jacket has a small collar that can be worn either up or down and also benefits from not having shoulder seams – which means if you regularly carry a bag you’re not going to wear through the seam over time. A box pleat at the back also gives the wearer a bit more room when going about their daily work.

On the front of the jacket to the left there’s a large, side open map pocket that’s double stitched and riveted, on the opposite you’ll see the washing/sizing/made by tag (which is removable if you so desire) and the backs of two rivets – look inside and you’ll find these hold a swing pocket, designed this way so when you bend over the pocket moves and your stuff doesn’t fall out. It’s a lovely bit of functional design and something I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else do (this again is taken from rail uniforms).

The jacket buttons up using the same cast brass buttons as the jeans also benefits from having a removable blanket lining (which buttons into a herringbone tape using buttons from Saville Row ), so it’ll keep you warm in Autumn and you can take the lining out in Spring when it starts to get hot again and continue wearing it making it a great, versatile piece.

Jacket pictures:

There’s more to Tender than just denim though – there’s also a range of T-shirts. These are produced from un-bleached 100% cotton with ribbed sleeves and hem (a bit like a sweatshirt), again it’s something that makes them fairly unique and different to most other T-shirts out there. As everything is cotton, the hems keep their elasticity and won’t give at some point, and as the t-shirts are washed they soften beautifully. As with the jacket, the T-shirts also benefit from a lack of shoulder seam which makes them more time consuming to produce but also more comfortable.

The plain blue T-shirt is dyed with Woad, a plant which produces a blue dye, similar to indigo. When initially dyed the garments come out green and it’s the process of oxidation that then creates the soft blue colour. The artwork on the five other T-shirts is produced in collaboration with Dorrit Dekk, the 93 year old, Czechoslovakian born artist and designer. The inspiration for the actual images comes from Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings, which was released in 1957 and they are drawn in Bamboo pen and ink, coloured with watercolour and then transposed into screen print.

Here are the T-shirts:

And then last but not least there’s the belts. It’ll probably now come as no surprise if I say that the attention to detail and uniqueness that’s in the jeans is also applied to the leather goods Tender produce.

At the moment this is confined to two belts, one brown and the other black. They’re made from Oak bark tanned leather, which is tanned over a period of 18 months in the last tannery of its kind anywhere in the world. The leather is heavy duty, being about 5mm thick and about 30mm in width. The example I saw was William’s own that he’s been wearing for around a year and it’s aged brilliantly – taking on the denim of his jeans and softening up with constant use. The buckle is made from hand cast brass like the buttons on the denim and is a really simple, almost agricultural design – sturdy and effective, it’s not going to break on you ever by the look of things.

The thing that struck me when talking to William was how much the aging of the garments has been taken into account – the way that certain seams meet each other in different ways on the denim to create different fade patterns over time, and the way in which the garment will be used and the wear this will cause has been fully thought of – almost as if the end product has been thought about and then reverse engineered back to the start.

It’s great to see every single little detail taken into consideration (I know for a fact that I’ll have missed loads of things) and the love for the product is so apparent when you get this stuff in your hands – the more you look at the garments the more details you find. When you talk to William about the range it’s not only apparent how much he knows, but also the hard work, care and attention that he’s put into everything.

Initial stockists are: Superdenim/Rugged Standard (York), Douglas Fir (Los Angeles), Few & Far (London), Hickorees (Brooklyn), Tenue de Nimes (Amserdam) and Unionmade (San Francisco). For more information on the brand go to their site here: Tender.