‘Rangers’ deep desire to bring trophies to Ibrox drew Castore’
THE co-founder of the company that has secured the £25 million Rangers Football Club kit contract has told how the Ibrox ethos and fanbase is central to his firm’s global growth ambitions.
Tom Beahon, 30, and his brother
Phil, 27, took their sporting drive and turned it to business in 2015 when they set up Castore, a web-based sports clothing company aiming to challenge companies like Nike and Adidas which now sells in 70 countries.
The Liverpool-based company has tennis champion Sir Andy Murray as a shareholder, partnered with Formula 1 firm Mclaren, the West Indies cricket team, and most recently, signed the multi-year kit supply deal at Ibrox after earlier this year raising £7.5 million of funding as part of its expansion drive.
The brothers created the slogan “Better Never Stops” to pitch their products, and give a nod to Greek mythological siblings Castor and Pollux who took on the mite of Zeus in their title.
In an exclusive interview with The Herald, Tom, who played football for Tranmere Rovers, said he and former semi-professional cricketer Phil set their sights on the premier league in whatever they choose to do.
He said: “Like many aspiring footballers, I was maybe good enough to make a living out of the sport, but not quite good enough to get right to the very top level, and for me, personally, the idea of accepting mediocrity as a footballer didn’t wholly appeal.
“So we together decided that we’d rather go off and try, at least, and be very, very good at something, rather than accept mediocrity as athletes.
“Beyond that, we looked at the global sportswear market with a bit more of an analytical eye, we both agreed that, there is a big gap here for a premium British alternative to the mass market brands that dominate the market, most noticeably, Nike and Under Armour over in America, and then Adidas and Puma over in Germany.
“We weren’t really too surprised to hear that there wasn’t many people that agreed with us that this was a worthy objective that we should be dedicating our lives to.”
He said “pure blood, sweat and tears type thing” got them through the door.
“Then once we kind of had that ability and convinced the factories and fabric suppliers to work with us, we had the ability to make products.”
The firm has shunned the Far East for Italian fabric suppliers. “For us, it is all about finding what we call the marginal gains, the tiny details that serious athletes really appreciate because they’re going to provide them with that extra one per cent.”
The partnership with Scottish tennis hero Sir Andy was “a big moment for us as a company”. “Andy, I think, as an individual and as an athlete, you couldn’t find a better embodiment of the Better Never Stops mindset in terms of what he’s been through with injury, how he’s absolutely maximised every iota of talent that he’s got to obviously becoming a multiple Grand Slam winner and actually, in my opinion, the most successful British athlete of all time. But that’s just my opinion.”
The brothers see long-term growth in team sports because “essentially unless you’re Real Madrid or Manchester United, Adidas and Nike really aren’t that interested”.
“Our view is, there’s a really interesting sweet spot of football clubs that have a genuinely global brand recognition, a huge, and in many cases, global fanbase, I think probably most importantly, a history of success.
“We made the decision to enter the football market about 12 months ago and met a number of leading clubs across Europe but again, in all honesty, there was nobody that I met that even came close to Rangers in terms of the history of success of the football club.”
He said: “For me, what was most interesting as I started meeting people at all levels of the football club, was that deep desire to bring trophies back to Ibrox and really have that next chapter of success for the club. That, for me, was the opportunity for Castore to contribute to that next chapter and be involved.
“It’s a huge, huge privilege. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously, but we’re absolutely relishing the challenge and the opportunity.”
Nobody even came close to Rangers in terms of the history of success at the club.