A leather manufacturing company near Saffron Walden hit the big screen last week after supplying all the motorcycle suits for the Hollywood blockbuster Misson Impossible 5: Rogue Nation.
Hideout Leather, who are based at Ashdon, were initially asked to produce between 15-17 outfits, but ended up supplying 35 that appeared in the film, which was released in the UK last Thursday (July 30).
Sisters Kate and Rachael Jennings, who co-own the all-female business, said they were not told what film they would be working on until they agreed to design and make the suits last summer.
Kate, 41, who is a former fashion design student, said: “It was all very hush-hush in the beginning, they wouldn’t tell us anymore other than it was a high profile action film.
“It was very exciting when we eventually found out and to be involved was an honour.”
Kate worked closely alongside the film’s costume designer, Johanna Johnston, who has previously worked with directors Stephen Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, and was on call for weekly visits to the Warner Brothers studio in Watford for fittings with cast and stunt doubles.
She said: “What Johanna said she loved is how she could come directly to us and not have to deal with any middle men, and it helped that we were a British business.
“The whole experience was amazing, another world. It was so interesting to see the working studios and how much detail goes into the production.”
Hideout began trading in 1978 and supply bespoke suits, which retail at around £1100, to motorcycle racing teams and police forces around the country.
“They wanted a working suit and with our experience, that was no problem. The trickiest part was working out how and where to put their guns.” added Kate.
The film, which stars Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg, was made on a budget of $150 million and is expected to gross around $700m at the box office worldwide.
Having only received two tickets for the Leicester Square premiere of the film on July 28, the firm took around 30 family and friends to Haverhill Cineworld on July 30 to admire their handiwork.
Kate said: “I think the cinema wondered what had hit it with all of us there. It was so thrilling to see the leathers on the big screen, I shall definitely be buying the DVD and pausing the bits with our designs.”
The sisters said they hoped to do more movie work in the future.
Rachael said: “I suppose you never quite know who is on the end of the phone. Who knows where it could lead for us. We’ve definitely got busier even though the film’s only just come out.”
Misson Impossible 5: Rogue Nation will appear at Saffron Screen in September.
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