In recent days, speculation has been rife that Rangers is poised to name Castore as its new kit supplier for the 2020/21 season, although nothing has been confirmed on this front at this stage.
Castore, unlike many of the global mass-market brands it aims to challenge, may not be a household name.
However, the Liverpool-based business has achieved some high-profile successes since being launched by brothers Tom and Phil Beahon, who both come from professional sporting backgrounds, in 2015. These successes include a partnership with one Scot who is certainly a household name.
Castore is the official kit supplier to Scottish tennis star Andy Murray, who is also a shareholder in the business.
In February this year, Castore raised £7.5 million of funding as part of its expansion drive, with moves into the top-flight football market in various countries flagged as among potential opportunities.
When Andy Murray announced a long-term partnership with Castore last year, the tennis star said: “Castore is a young, exciting brand that offers something different, with products that are really well cut and designed. For me, it was a natural progression from previous kit partners. They’re the best I have tried and trained in.”
Giving an insight into the philosophy of Castore and its roots, Tom Beahon has said: “Phil and I are both former athletes; he was a cricketer and I was a footballer. Pursuing our passion for sport meant intensive training, and living in sports clothes, day-in and day-out.”
Phil Beahon is a Newcastle University law graduate. He was awarded his law degree in 2014.
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In late 2017, Newcastle University highlighted the fact that the brothers had set up Castore with the help of a START UP foundership offered by its careers service.
The university said: “Part of the 2016/2017 cohort, Phil and Tom were two of ten founders and co-founders selected by a special panel of university alumni and friends to receive a START UP foundership and the associated support and funding as a fledgeling business.”
On its website, Castore highlights the Beahon brothers’ view that the sportswear market “remains dominated by a small number of global mass-market brands”.
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The website says: “This led to a deeply infused passion about creating the highest-performing technical sportswear available anywhere in the world and redefining the market for athletes who simply cannot settle for second-best.”
Castore notes that all of its garments are tested by elite athletes, and are worn for 100 consecutive days before being approved for full production.
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