Written by Rakelle Maurici in Interviews on the 30th April 2014

The James Anderson Collection is an exclusive collaboration with bespoke athletic menswear producer Chess London and only available from chesslondon.com. 

This unique collection features high quality smart casual menswear designed by James himself and created by Chess London's tailors. 

Ahead of the collection release I headed to the famous Holborn Studios to have a sneak peek at what the team and James were getting up to, and to have a chat with the King of Swing himself.

How did your collaboration with Chess London come about? 

"Two years ago, James from Chess London contacted me for a photo shoot with them and a few months ago I had a chat about designing my own clothes with them and here we are!" 

Do you have a favourite part of the range? 

"Yes. We've got a 3 piece suit that I love, in a checked material. Chess London is something I wear myself, the fit is different to a lot of different brands as it’s an athletic cut and I think it suits me." 

Who is the clothing range aimed at? 

"Good question! Young athletic guys; trying to be cool and trendy I guess! There are some casual pieces, smart casual and some just smart so we tried to create a wide range. There is something for everyone regardless of your age, it’s not particularly targeted at just young people. I hope it will be well liked."  

Is there anyone in particular you’d like to see wearing it? 

"Everybody!"

Being a sportsman was it just cricket that you wanted to do, or was it something you fell into? 

"I guess so. I played all sports as a kid, I wasn’t particularly good at just one when I was young. I just started to get better at cricket from about 14/15 and it seemed to shoot off from there."  

If you weren’t a sportsman is there anything else you can see yourself doing? 

"I don’t know really. I’ve always loved sport; watching it, playing it. Any sport. So I’d like to always be involved in it. It’s difficult to imagine my life in a different career."  

How do you feel about being one of the most recognisable sports personalities and up against the likes of David Beckham? 

"I don’t really see myself as a recognisable personality. It’s very different in cricket than football, there’s less pressure in that sense as it’s not followed as much in England. I try and use it to my advantage with things like this and target people who look up to me. I love that I can walk down the street and no-one knows who I am!" 

Sportsmen are usually quite competitive people and to say you are the ‘King of Swing’, does this make you proud or make you want to better yourself further? 

"Yeah, I always want to improve. Even at 31 I’ve been playing for over 10 years I’ve come a long way but there is always room for improvement. I’m quite a perfectionist and I always strive for the perfect game. With Chess London, if there was something I didn’t like I would always say."

Did you have a lot of say in your range? 

"Yeah I was asked which colours and styles I wanted, picked about 12-14 items and it was really hard to narrow down from about 40 samples, I’ve really enjoyed the process of changing a few things and working with Chess London on this."  

I read you once modelled naked for Attitude magazine – how did you feel, were you nervous when it released? 

"Yes! I was unsure about doing it at first, I got talked into it by my wife; she said it would be a good thing to do. But, I was very apprehensive for the release!" 

Lastly, I have been asked to ask you; where do you believe English cricket is heading with all the current changes? 

"Well we are in a transition phase at the minute with getting beaten and we've not done as well as we have in the past. This summer we have new a coach coming in, Peter Moores, but we’re unsure if the team will be the same. So there is going to be changes but everyone wants to keep their place on the team and we all have own goals to better ourselves individually."

An Interview with James Anderson on His New Clothing Line with Chess London and his professional cricket career to date.