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The business of clothing James Bond

Mark C O’Flaherty

Clothing ‘007’ is a highly lucrative licence. Mark C O’Flaherty unpacks the business of Bond’s wardrobe

Léa Seydoux and Daniel Craig star in the 24th Bond film, ‘Spectre’. Craig wears an ivory Windsor peak lapel tuxedo jacket (£2,530) by Tom Ford

The clandestine nature of Ian Fleming’s fantastical MI6 is nothing compared to the secrecy surrounding the business of James Bond the brand. Daniel Craig and the high-end menswear labels that clothe him on screen are filling fashion magazines and blogs now, as the Spectre publicity machine accelerates to turbo-speed. But no one wants to talk about what lubricates the machinery.

Producer Sony pointedly never discusses its business arrangements between Bond and onscreen fashion brands. An initial offer to the Financial Times of an interview with costume designer Jany Temime was withdrawn when it was clear there would be questions relating to brand partnerships. Tom Ford — who has been responsible for Bond’s suits since Quantum of Solace in 2008, and has designed six styles of suit for the new movie, including the ivory Windsor peak lapel tuxedo jacket (£2,530) and black O’Connor evening trousers (£850) — was “unavailable for interview”. Burberry, which runs a military-like communications operation from its headquarters in a former government building in Westminster, and has reportedly dressed Andrew Scott (who plays Denbigh) in Spectre, said their involvement is “not something they are flagging”.

Some of the shyness may be attributed to a confidential production email that went viral via WikiLeaks back in April. The missive revealed details of $5m budgeted by Sony Electronics for Daniel Craig to be shot with its new Xperia phone, along with another $5m contribution towards film production, and a commitment of $18m to an advertising campaign. If nothing else, it shows that Bond is, more than ever, a solid gold sell in the realm of product placement. Just as we want to know who is recording the theme tune to each new film, we want to know who is tailoring the suits.

From the Omega watch billboards featuring Daniel Craig and 007 branding to the Sunspel boxer briefs that the actor wore on-set, Bond is the ultimate product-placement vehicle as well as macho style icon. When it comes to clothing, there are grades of involvement in a Bond movie which may or may not involve a financial contribution to the production coffers. “There’s no denying the power of a well-placed product,” says designer John Varvatos, “but our involvement in Spectre wasn’t a marketing opportunity that we pitched. The costume design team visited our London store and picked out a classic suede racer jacket [£495]. It happened organically.”

Similarly, Sunspel has been a part of the Bond visual lexicon since Casino Royale in 2006. “The costume designer Lindy Hemming picked out a polo shirt [£80] from the archive that dated to the 1950s,” says chief executive Nicholas Brooke. “We updated it into a contemporary fit. We are quite proud to say our involvement in Bond is not paid for. And while we don’t know yet what is visible in Spectre, we know that Daniel Craig wore Sunspel trunks [£30] every day.”

Spectre — Bond film review: tailoring, tie-pins and a wobbly tone

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Tom Ford, following in the footsteps of tailors Cyril Castle, Anthony Sinclair, Douglas Hayward and Brioni, has become closely aligned with the Bond brand. The cost to Ford and his backers of being involved is high, not least in terms of product: the two-piece O’Connor suit retails for £2,240, while the three-piece is £3,390. “His factories can make the 40 copies of each suit needed for the action sequences,” says Matt Spaiser of “The Suits of James Bond”, a blog beloved by 007 obsessives (most recent post: an analysis of Sean Connery’s blue bathrobe in Dr No). “Ford has acquired new customers in wealthy diehard Bond fans,” says Spaiser, “but he sells most of the Bond clothes in limited amounts.”

Few movie-goers are going to spend £3,390 on a suit after seeing Spectre. And fewer still are likely to be moved to buy underwear that isn’t even visible on screen. So why do brands want to furnish the production? One answer is the currency of the “X” generation. This is the age of the designer collaboration, from Vivienne Westwood working with Opening Ceremony to Balmain with H&M, and each scene of Spectre is essentially a catalogue for Tom Ford and James Bond. It creates a story that can be seeded everywhere, from Twitter to glossy magazines.

But some sales are quantifiable from a Bond movie. “We expect to see an increase in traffic to our website,” says Jonathan Jones, managing director of Crockett & Jones. “One style of boot in particular, the Camberley [£460], is very recognisable on screen. And we are confident that it will help consolidate its position as an English style icon.”

Likewise, N Peal is expecting to see healthy sales of its cashmere mock-turtleneck sweater (£269) that appeared in early Spectre campaign images, as well as its charcoal-coloured turtleneck (£199). “When our blue round-neck was used in Skyfall, it created a surge in interest we were unable to satisfy,” says N Peal’s managing director Adam Holdsworth. “That interest has been enduring.”

Daniel Craig as James Bond with Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra in ‘Spectre’
The Omega Seamaster 300 Bond watch (£4,785) worn by Craig in ‘Spectre’
‘Camberley’ black calf monkstrap boots by Crockett & Jones (£460)
Daniel Craig as Bond in ‘Spectre’
John Varvatos suede racer jacket (£495)
N Peal cashmere cable roll-neck sweater (£269)
Craig in ‘Spectre’
‘Snowdon’ sunglasses by Tom Ford (£230)
Sunspel stretch-cotton low-waist trunks (£30)

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There is nothing meretricious about the Bond aesthetic. What’s in James’ martini may be available to the highest bidder (for Spectre, Belvedere vodka had the deepest pockets), but what he wears is always on-brand. The business links with fashion brands are less likely to be seven-figure advertorial because most of the labels are niche. And they have to send the right message, too. “The current trend is to focus on items made in Britain,” says Remmert van Braam, founder of the website James Bond Lifestyle. “It was evident in Skyfall with Crockett & Jones, N Peal, Sunspel and Barbour. For Spectre, Timothy Everest has dressed Ralph Fiennes as M, and created a green velvet jacket to match a Rolls-Royce for the film’s villain Mr Hinx. Ironically the biggest official partners don’t have that heritage: Heineken, Sony and Omega. But they bring marketing budgets to buy a major presence.”

The myth surrounding Fleming’s 007 has strengthened as budgets and profits have grown (Skyfall broke box office records by grossing more than $1bn) and the ever-higher price tag of product placement. No one will confirm what Heineken paid to be aligned with Bond, but a standalone ad featuring Craig rolled out to the tune of $100m earlier this year, according to Campaign magazine. And while the law of diminishing returns has been turned on its head with the movie franchise, there has also, remarkably, been zero loss of credibility. When Yohji Yamamoto, customarily aligned with the avant-garde, showed his spring 2016 menswear collection in Paris in June, he riffed on sleek spy tailoring and opened the show with the Bond theme tune from the early 1960s. The connotation is rich: Bond is the man nearly every man would love to be, and so many women want to be with. It’s a priceless, and indeed lucrative, association.

The 007 Effect: James Bond, the Spy Who Loved Brands

The world's favorite special agent is back – and so are the brands behind his drinks, cars and watches.

Nicholas Tufnell

October 26, 2015 — 4:07 PM EET

Bond films are some of the most heavily branded in movie history, with companies paying millions to get their products on screen alongside the world's most famous spy. The latest instalment, Spectre, has its world premiere in the U.K. on Monday.

With Bond-themed ad campaigns and pre-release hype in full-swing, Seesaw Media's Daryl Collis explains that the link between brands and Bond is deep and long-standing, but not a relationship that the viewer will always accept without question.

Pierce Brosnan's Bond swansong Die Another Day saw producers link up with 21 "brand partners." By the time of Daniel Craig's debut in Casino Royale that number had been pared back to seven.

Bond now promotes "brand partners who are more real, and more authentic to his [Craig's] interpretation of James Bond," says Collis.

For more on Bond and brands, watch the video above.

Meanwhile, here are some of the numbers behind what is set to be one of the biggest films of the year:

300 Million

Estimated cost (USD) of Spectre production

Spectre cost over $300 million to make, according to leaked Sony emails from 2014. That makes it nearly twice as expensive as Skyfall – the previous Bond film in the long-running franchise, which cost between $150 million to $200 million. However, Sony Pictures need not be too worried about Spectre’s budget if the box office revenue is anything like Skyfall’s, which brought in $1.1 billion.

1.7 Million

Estimated cost (USD) of Bond’s latest cars

Bond’s vehicles of choice this time around are the Aston Martin DB10 and the Jaguar C-X75 are. Only a small number of DB10s have been made and the car is not available to the public. If it was, estimates suggest it would set you back $500,000. The Jag would cost you another $1.2 million.

148

Duration of Spectre, in minutes

With a runtime of 148 minutes, Spectre is the longest Bond film of all time. The second longest was Casino Royale, coming in at 144 minutes. Skyfall was just shy of this at 143 minutes. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was 142 minutes with Licence to Kill and Die Another Day joint fifth. If for some reason you were to watch the five longest Bond films in one sitting, it would take you 719 minutes.

719

Cost of Bond’s rumored new weapon

Although it can’t be confirmed, it appears that Bond may have done away with his trusty Walther PKK in favour of Heckler & Koch’s 15-shot VP9, a similar gun produced by a rival firm. Promotional images show Bond brandishing the new weapon, which costs $719, making it more expensive than the $429 Walther PPK.

Bloomberg reporters Richard Weiss and Luca Casiraghi note that 007’s apparent switch of loyalties in Spectre comes as the German government, Heckler & Koch’s best customer, is dropping it as chief supplier of army rifles. Whether a potentially fleeting role in Spectre can make up for Heckler & Koch’s lost revenue and the blow to its reputation remains to be seen.

6,000+

Cost (in USD) of James Bond’s latest watch

James Bond has worn an Omega Seamaster for over 20 years and Spectre’s 007 is no exception to the tradition. The Spectre Seamaster 300 is the first time that a watch worn by Bond has also been officially released to the general public as a limited edition purchase. The black-dialed timepiece sports a rare “lollipop” second hand in addition to a black ceramic “bi-directional bezel ring,” which looks suitably dark and spy-like. If you opt for the NATO strap, you can have “007” engraved on the bracelet strap holder (not a particularly James Bond thing to do). The watch costs more than $6,000.

Възстановяването на цените на руските активи възражда интереса към стратегията на търговците, осъществяващи сделки carry trades. А валутни експерти на "Ситигруп" и на "Комерцбанк" очакват нови печалби. Русия беше водеща дестинация за операциите, при които дилърите теглят заеми в щатски долари, за да купуват дългови инструменти с висока доходност, от които през миналия месец са имали 8.2% възвръщаемост, по данни на агенция "Блумбърг". А 7.1-процентният ръст на рублата е най-висок сред валутите на развиващите се пазари през този период след като падна двойно повече през третото тримесечие.

Колебанията на руската парична единица се успокоиха след

The ruble may also be vulnerable to rising volatility around Oct. 30, when the Bank of Russia next decides on rates. After paring last year’s emergency increase with six percentage points of cuts since January – bringing the benchmark to 11 percent – policy makers will lower borrowing costs by another 50 basis points in the fourth quarter, according to the median forecast of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Citigroup analysts said the central bank’s approach to easing will be gradual, keeping the Russian carry trade alive. It earned investors 18 percent in the first half, compared with 4 percent for the next-best currency, the Argentine peso.

"Ruble risk may trade well over the next couple of months," Luis Costa, chief fixed-income strategist for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Citigroup in London, said in e-mailed comments. "The Bank of Russia will cut, but it will do so in a very cautious way, not damaging the perception of good carry cushion in the ruble.”

Ruble volatility has eased as a truce between pro-Russian insurgents and government troops in neighboring Ukraine holds and oil prices stabilize. The appeal of the trade has also been bolstered by speculation the Federal Reserve will hold off raising interest rates until next year, which has helped spur gains across emerging markets this month.

“It’s the combination of external appetite toward emerging-market risk and small, but still noticeable, improvements in the geopolitical backdrop," said Evgeny Koshelev, an analyst at Rosbank, Societe Generale SA’s Moscow-based subsidiary. “The lower currency volatility has increased the appeal of a carry strategy,” though the “short-term appeal of the trade looks weak,” he said.

A measure of three-month implied volatility in the ruble fell to the lowest since August, at 21.3 percent.

Citigroup started recommending an overweight position on ruble bonds Sept. 22 and advises international clients to consider them as part of a carry-trade strategy. At an average 10 percent, local Russian government debt offers the highest yields after Brazil among emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg. OFZs, as they are called, gained 5.9 percent in the past month, trailing only Nigerian government bonds in a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index. Commerzbank raised the securities to overweight from underweight Oct. 9, citing the reduced tension in Ukraine.

“Short-term calming in eastern Ukraine could lead to some positive impulses out of the EU on the sanctions front,” said Simon Quijano-Evans, chief emerging-market strategist at Commerzbank in London.

The bullish statements contrast with the third quarter, when a renewed selloff in oil and a slowdown in China, Russia’s biggest trading partner, sent the ruble tumbling 15 percent and triggered a loss of 13 percent for carry traders in the ruble.

Tiptoeing Back

A cease-fire in Ukraine has held since February, helping to mend sentiment among investors who had fled Russia after it annexed Crimea in March last year and was subsequently slapped with sanctions. Pablo Goldberg, a money manager at BlackRock Inc., said on Bloomberg TV last week that he’s resumed buying Russian assets because politics is having less of an influence on investments.

Although Ukraine is quieter, traders are keeping an eye on Russia’s involvement in Syria. The ruble dropped as much as 1.2 percent on Friday after Turkey shot down an unidentified aircraft on the Syrian border, prompting concern it may have been a Russian plane. Until then, investors in Russia had looked past President Vladimir Putin’s decision to join the fighting last month to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.