TENDER Co. Autumn/Winter 2010

Named after the truck which carried the coal and water to power the locomotive, newly established workwear/denim brand TENDER Co. is looking back to the days of the Great British Steam Age for inspiration. With its roots in antique workwear and machinery, Tender aims to build a solid and authentic product, modern yet constructed using tried and true methods, one that its new owners will enjoy wearing and respect its provenance.

Following this guideline, Tender’s jeans are cut and sewn in England from unsanforized 16oz Japanese selvage denim, but rather than leaving it at that, the finished jeans are then washed and individually dip dyed, by hand, several times, in natural vegetable indigo. Garment –dying indigo is a painstaking process, taking up to a day to dye each piece, however the reward is a richness, depth, and variety of color which simply cannot be achieved in any other way.

Tender’s commitment to detail and research doesn’t stop at their denim. For A/W 2010 Tender is collaborating with Czech artist and designer Dorrit Dekk to produce their illustrated T-shirts. The series of five illustrations to Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings (1967) were drawn particularly for Tender, in bamboo pen and ink, colored with brush and ink, and watercolor, enhancing the brand’s vintage, artisanal character.

Tender’s launch line consists of a pair of jeans, a blanket-lined rail workers jacket, printed T-shirts and beautifully constructed belts of 1/4″ thick leather. To find out more visit their website.

More images after the jump