TENDER

Tender has its roots in antique workwear and machinery, especially from the Great British Steam Age. On a steam train, the tender was the truck which carried the coal and water to power the locomotive, and was coupled in between the engine and the carriages. They were built incredibly solidly, mostly from riveted cast iron, and had to hold enough fuel to take a train weighing many tons all over Britain.

Another important face of Tender’s clothing is the nurture which is put into the clothes: in their research, design, manufacture, and wear. Just as a gardener tends to a vegetable patch, or a shepherd is the tender to a flock of sheep, so we hope that Tender’s owners will live with their products, wearing them hard, but respecting their provenance and the stories they have to tell.

Their clothes and accessories are manufactured in small factories, ateliers, and homes around the UK and USA, exploring new approaches to traditional weaving, making, tanning, and dyeing.