The whole kit and caboodle: Castore perfect fit for Ibrox Beahon brothers hope to help Rangers to success after sealing £25m kit contract
THERE’S something poetic about Rangers’ new kit manufacturer mirroring the club’s manager. A premium product in their respective fields making a transition, of sorts, from Liverpool to Glasgow.
Steven Gerrard, following a trophy-laden career as a player, made the trip from Anfield to Ibrox for his first role in management – a huge job – with virtually no experience. Fitting, then, that Castore chose the Govan side as their first venture within football having produced tennis, golf and cricket apparel since their inception in 2015.
Neither have been particularly fazed by the step. Co-founders Tom and brother Phil Beahon have been eyeing up football for a while, all they needed was to find the perfect fit and Rangers ticked every box. And Tom, while admitting he’s been taken aback already at the volume of interest around the country, is certain the £25million partnership can take both Castore and Rangers to the next level.
“Obviously some news leaked some weeks ago so we’ve had an early insight into the level of scrutiny and interest,” said Tom. “Given the size of
Rangers as a club and the depth of passion within the fan base it’s not hugely surprising. To experience it first-hand, it really hits you and we’re immensely proud, but the hard work starts now.
“My brother and I are born and bred on Merseyside and we co-founded Castore together, we’re based in Liverpool and are proud to be based there. There are an awful lot of similarities between Liverpool and Glasgow from a philosophical perspective, if you like. That appealed to us when we first explored this opportunity.
“Growing up in Liverpool, the whole city is passionate so we have some experience of that already. Hopefully that will stand us in good stead. I’m a Tranmere Rovers fan myself, but Steven Gerrard is the most successful footballer to come out of Liverpool. I don’t know if you’d call it a coincidence but the fact that he is manager, we’re a Liverpool brand and the similarities between the two cities, it’s a really nice addition to what is an exciting deal.
“We made the decision as a business to enter football and, as we did so, we decided we didn’t want to work our way up, partner with some lower level and gradually build up. We wanted to partner with a very small number of marquee-level clubs and it needed to be a club with a huge history of success. Rangers are the most successful club in the history of the sport, so we’ve hit that level and they have a huge fan base internationally.
“It is a privilege to be working with a club that has that global recognition. We want to work with football clubs that have the ambition and capability to win trophies both domestically and at European level which, every conversation I’ve had with anyone with Rangers, it is crystal clear that everyone shares that desire to bring trophies back to Ibrox. We very much want to make a contribution to the next chapter of the club to make that happen.”
Scrolling through the Castore website – where all their sales are made and business done – it is glaringly obvious through pricetags that the brand is not like others. A T-shirt can set you back as much as £70, a hoodie costs more than £100. That’s because, Tom says, customers are paying for a higher-quality product.
Football, though, is a working-class sport. Fans, some with Rangerssupporting youngsters, may not be able to splash the cash for replica kits. Which is another aspect of the business model Castore have taken into consideration. And Tom insists the quality of the kit won’t suffer even though prices will remain in keeping with the current base. “It would be fair to say pricing is the key consideration,” he said. “When we made the decision to enter football, we didn’t want to increase the prices of those core items like the replica jerseys that fans love buying to support their club.
“Although Castore is a premium brand and we create higher quality products than the bigger guys, we have a very different business model from them. We don’t have thousands of physical stores that we pay rent on and we don’t have a huge wholesale business where we sell through third-party retailers. This means we have a far lower fixed cost base than those guys and that means we can afford to invest more into the quality of the product without increasing the end price to the fans. That was very important to us.”
Rangers’ £25m deal with Castore represents a new era for the club and is a substantial financial success. And Tom revealed it is also the biggest contract the company has done since he and brother Phil founded it. “Our business has grown very quickly and as we’ve got some strong investors. The largest shareholders in Castore, other than myself and Phil, are one of Britain’s wealthiest families. Despite what I read a couple of weeks ago, it’s not Mike Ashley!
“They’re very private guys but it’s those guys, multibillionaires who have really given us their backing. This partnership is the biggest one Castore has done in our history.”