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.

The other important face of Tender is the nurture which is put into the clothes: in their research, design, manufacture, and wear. Just as a gardener tends to a rose bed, or a shepherd is the tender to a flock of sheep, so it is important that Tender's owners will live with their clothes, wearing them hard, but respecting their provenance and the stories they have to tell.