Tender Co x For Holding Up The Trousers

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Morten Kristensen and his For Holding Up The Trousers specialising in high quality handmade belts and suspenders brand has stepped it up lately. Earlier this year Morten moved his workshop from the two-room flat he shared with a friend into the Wrenchmonkees’ garage. As you may have seen, he has now teamed up with the Monkees to supply the leather goods for the WM.A.C brand, and most recently a collab with William Kroll’s experimental jeans manufacturer, Tender Co, was launched.

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The two passionistas first met in 2010 when Morten attended the London College of Fashion and they soon became friends. Morten didn’t want to conform to the standard norm of fashion and he soon dropped out and became an intern with Tender Co. William visited Morten and his workshop in Copenhagen during August this year.

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Hand sewn by Morten with waxed linen thread, the belt has two hand cut sections of Swedish Tärnsjö vegetable-tanned leather, separated with a length of cotton bound elastic, woven in England. The buckle is forged steel, as the ones usually found on For Holding Up The Trousers’ suspenders, where it is used to adjust their length. The buckle is attached with hand-hammered copper rivets, the sections of the belt are connected with solid cast brass separators, and the elastic allows the belt to stretch slightly for comfort, while still being firm enough to support heavy jeans.

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The end of the belt, cut in Tender’s signature ‘bull nose’, is double branded with the Plautus face and For Holding Up The Trousers’ 3715 signature. To keep the leather supple and in top condition William recommends using their pure mutton tallow Boot Grease.

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Below is an example of how the belt will look with a little wear.

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Another very interesting collab of the two indigo curious experimentalists is the “suspender faded” woad dyed shirt.

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Unlike finer garments, which tended to be carefully preserved and seldom worn, surviving early work clothes are usually in pretty bad shape, and show evidence of the working life of their owners. One particularly nice example of this is indigo dyed shirts which were worn out in the sun underneath overalls. Indigo fades in bright sun, and a shadow is sometimes left where a shirt was partially covered by overall straps, or suspenders worn with jeans.

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This type 420 shirt, which is made in England of English-woven cotton calico by Tender and hand dyed with woad, has been laid out on the roof of Morten’s workshop in Copenhagen, under his For Holding Up The Trousers suspenders. Over several weeks in the sun, the exposed fabric has faded, leaving darker sections under the suspenders and buttons. The shirts are identified with patches split off during the production of from Tender & For Holding Up The Trousers’ elasticated belts, that like the belts are branded the Plautus face as well as the For Holding Up The Trousers 3715 signature.

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As each shirt has been weathered and faded outside, there are a few stains and marks on the fabric which should be considered part of the character of the garment. Each shirt has been washed before being packed up for Tender Co’s Trestle shop where you can buy it.

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Thomas Bojer

Founder and editor-in-chief at Denimhunters
Thomas got into denim through a keen interest in manufacturing and a love for the well-faded jean. He's based in Copenhagen, Denmark, but he travels as much as his job allows. Through Denimhunters he has found a way to share his passion with likeminded enthusiasts while learning more about the blue fabric. Thomas' favourite jean is the 1947 501XX and he has a soft spot for Red Wing Shoes.
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Published on 17 October 2012 3 Comments
  • Mikkel

    I might set of an debate with this post, so just for the fun of it:

    I never understood why buy clothes that is made to look pre worn?
    For me it is the pinnacle of fashion stupidity. The clothes are likely to be closer to expiration date, and the idea of buying premade conveyor belt personality even with randomization is just an oxymoron.

    There are also personal tweaks in that category. E.g. cutting wholes in your jeans or burying them in the mud (http://denimhunters.com/blog/news/edwined55buried). Seems to me it is merely about looks and not functionality or fit.

    Then at least send it to some poor people in Africa who can wear it in for you, enjoy some new clothes and return them to you if you can’t be bothered yourself – and bigger denim brands reading this post – please feel free to use this CSR/fashion concept ;)

    But I guess everyone is free to do what he/she wants – but this I simply don’t understand.

  • steve68

    In a society of instant gratification we have no problems with pre-stressed jeans.
    For truly organic worn in look, there is no beating the ultimate authentic personal service of someone in N. America or Europe who actually wear it in for you.
    It may even solve the youth unemployment problem.
    If you want the London worn look drop me a line, all medium size clothing commission considered.

  • Mikkel

    Yeah, and contact me if you want the ‘copenhagen office worn’ look.
    Little to none sun fade guaranteed.