Castore Kit Thread

[JMac_88 310]

Castore seems to be All-in with the Champions Range - Black and Gold Range now!

https://shop.Rangers.co.uk/collections/champions-collection

[JMac_88 310]

Castore founder Tom Beahon on swapping life in the City and as a footballer to start fast-growing British premium sportswear brand

 

Steven Gerrard wasn’t the only Liverpudlian celebrating when his Rangers team returned to the summit of Scottish football last weekend.

Watching at home on Merseyside were Tom Beahon, 31, and brother Phil, 28, the founders of British sportswear brand Castore.

Last year, Castore signed Rangers as their first football client. On Sunday, they toasted the perfect start to their five-season, £25m deal.

 

“This is Rangers back where they belong and for Castore to be a part of that is just special,” Tom Beahon tells City A.M. 

The Beahon brothers launched Castore in 2016 after short stints in the Square Mile – Tom at Lloyds Bank, Phil at Deloitte – to raise startup capital.

Before that, both played professional sport – football for Tranmere Rovers and cricket at Lancashire, respectively – but grew disillusioned.

Their shareholders include Andy Murray and retail heavyweights Arnaud Massenet, who built Net-a-Porter, and Tom Singh, founder of New Look.  

 

After five years of selling high-end training T-shirts, hoodies and shorts almost solely online, revenue is forecast to hit £100m in 2021. 

“Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Puma are very much mass market brands purely by virtue of their size and scale,” says Beahon.

“We want to be the No1 premium brand. That’s the opportunity that we see.”

 

Castore ‘will be in the Premier League’

Football, as the world’s most widely popular sport, was naturally always on the roadmap.

“We knew we needed to have world class athletes wearing Castore products on the global stage to get the brand visibility and authority.” 

But they waited until 2020 to partner with Rangers in a deal that, unusually for the industry, involves not only making the club’s kit but also running retail operations.

Castore wanted a club with a fervent fanbase and worldwide visibility whose story also aligned with their “Better Never Stops” slogan. 

Enter Rangers, who, under former Liverpool and England captain Gerrard have returned from rock bottom in both football and financial senses to finally unseat rivals celtic again.

“We were waiting for the right opportunity,” says Beahon. “Rangers, given everything they’ve been through, is the perfect embodiment of that.” 

Since then, Castore have been linked with kit deals for Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, AS Roma and, in rugby union, Saracens.

Beahon won’t be drawn on specific teams but says: “We will be in the Premier League and we also will have a presence across all of the major European football leagues in the coming months and years.”

Castore also has contracts with the West Indies cricket team, the Lawn Tennis Association, McLaren Automotive and Australian rugby league sides Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm.

Beahon hopes to replicate the manufacturer-retailer model of their Rangers agreement with other teams. 

“We want to partner with clubs that have a desire to digitise and premiumise, and are knocking on the door of success.”

 

Women’s range and footwear coming soon

As well as becoming a shareholder, Murray was also the first notable ambassador for Castore.

He is now one of a handful of big name British athletes aligned with the brand, including England rugby captain Owen Farrell and England cricketer Jos Buttler.

Former England and Manchester United footballer turned outspoken pundit Gary Neville is a more recent – and leftfield – client. 

The Neville tie-up came about because he was already a fan of Castore’s range, Beahon says. 

Choosing ambassadors is “not a science”, he adds, and social media following is not as important as alignment with the brand – the tireless Murray being a prime example.

For a company seeking to rival Nike and Adidas, there are two conspicuous elements absent from the Castore offering: footwear and a women’s range.

Both are in the pipeline, Beahon says, without committing to a timeline. 

“Neither of those are anything that we can talk about at this moment in time unfortunately, but it is fair to say given the ambitions we have, both of those categories we would expect to be announcing something fairly soon.” 

 

Castore expect £100m milestone in 2021

Castore has progressed quicker than expected on all fronts – from product development and signing up partner teams and ambassadors – as business has boomed in the last 12 months.

“The rule of thumb that we’re working to internally is that every month of lockdown will accelerate the digitisation of the retail sector by a year,” says Beahon.

“So, by the time we come out of this period, a decade if not longer of digitisation has happened. That has benefited a brand like Castore.”

As people have become more health conscious, demand for the company’s products – particularly running gear – has increased.

Castore has updated its sales forecasts to reflect this year’s boom, given an extra nudge by a spike in replica kit sales to mark Rangers’ triumph.

“Of course it’s been really challenging for so many people from a health perspective. From a commercial perspective, we’ve had a very good pandemic,” he says. 

“We’ve doubled the size of the business every year since inception and this will be a milestone year. It’s a very exciting time for us, that’s for sure.”

Source - CITY A.M.

[Pure_Quality 3,295]

Some new merch, looks good. The logo and Castore badge is embroidered so hopefully the way they'll go with more stuff next year.

End Of Season Collection

 

[JMac_88 310]

1 hour ago, Pure_Quality said:

Some new merch, looks good. The logo and Castore badge is embroidered so hopefully the way they'll go with more stuff next year.

End Of Season Collection

 

Castore have changed it from the End of Season Training Range to the Champions Training Range. 

[VanVeenRangers 2,538]

Just now, JMac_88 said:

Castore have changed it from the End of Season Training Range to the Champions Training Range. 

This is the stuff they need to get better at.

[JMac_88 310]

1 minute ago, MorelosRangers said:

This is the stuff they need to get better at.

Although it currently still states End of Season Training Range on the website, via email they are calling it the Champions Training Range.

Marketing team not speaking to the website team. 

[.Williamson. 82,516]

33 minutes ago, JMac_88 said:

Castore have changed it from the End of Season Training Range to the Champions Training Range. 

Actually quite like that stuff. Would be tempted to buy 

[SPWF 8,256]

2 hours ago, Pure_Quality said:

Some new merch, looks good. The logo and Castore badge is embroidered so hopefully the way they'll go with more stuff next year.

End Of Season Collection

 

Pretty sure they’ve confirmed it will be. The champions edition home shirt definitely is. This years were printed due to time constraints IIRC. 

[Cedrick 8,048]

That’s Wolves got castore anaw for next season 

[Nameless Ghoul 6,103]

6 minutes ago, Cedrick said:

That’s Wolves got castore anaw for next season 

Saracens rugby team too

[Colonel H VC 299]

Theres a story on  Castore on Ian King who does business news on  Sky news in 5 mins 

[Assegai 8,016]

I'd like this partnership to go on and on to be honest, such that we become synonymous.

[JMac_88 310]

The Wolves Castore deal seems slightly odd to me 

Castore doing the Pro ranges they know how ro do well, obviously the pricing of these products will be high!

Whilst Wolves will do the replica range in-house it seems under licence from Castore

[Nameless Ghoul 6,103]

28 minutes ago, JMac_88 said:

The Wolves Castore deal seems slightly odd to me 

Castore doing the Pro ranges they know how ro do well, obviously the pricing of these products will be high!

Whilst Wolves will do the replica range in-house it seems under licence from Castore

That's a very odd set up. It sounds like they are buying back their own kit rights in order to use Castore brand instead of the other way round

[plymouthranger 3,887]

57 minutes ago, Nameless Ghoul said:

That's a very odd set up. It sounds like they are buying back their own kit rights in order to use Castore brand instead of the other way round

Shades of us and Diadora in the early 00s.

Why partner with a premium brand if you’re then going to make the kits via a cheaper source? Also shit idea from Castore, watering down their brand massively and it’ll catch up with them when the quality goes to shit 

[JMac_88 310]

4 minutes ago, tm91 said:

Might be a temporary thing. Castore seriously underestimated the demand from us and have spent the past year trying to cope. They might not have the capacity just yet to take on other football teams properly.

Christ taking manufacturing advice from Castore,for your own in-house manufacturing!, Does not soundlike it will be temporary. 

[McEwan's Lager 30,571]

4 hours ago, JMac_88 said:

The Wolves Castore deal seems slightly odd to me 

Castore doing the Pro ranges they know how ro do well, obviously the pricing of these products will be high!

Whilst Wolves will do the replica range in-house it seems under licence from Castore

I wouldn’t be a fan of Rangers doing this - it’s a massive distraction, but one thing that is severely lacking with us is normal non Castore branded merch like t shirts, hoodies etc.

Also, non technical stuff is where Castore have really struggled with organising manufacturing too as per the school jumpers debacle.

[LegendofCoop 17,372]

Anyone know where I can get a legit home top? (Not one of the Ashley outlets). The online shop only have 3x XL & 4x XL.....I'm M. 

[Carling1873 1,404]

5 minutes ago, LegendofCoop said:

Anyone know where I can get a legit home top? (Not one of the Ashley outlets). The online shop only have 3x XL & 4x XL.....I'm M. 

Ah code, message understood Q... 

[LegendofCoop 17,372]

14 minutes ago, Carling1873 said:

Ah code, message understood Q... 

What you did there........I saw!

[LegendofCoop 17,372]

On 11/03/2021 at 09:49, graeme_4 said:

Feel like Castore / Rangers really miss out with having some much stock sold out. Drives me nuts trying to get anything. Unless you’re XXL or XS there’s barely anything left. 

Snap. I bought the away strip at full price but couldn't afford the home top until now. Cannae see it anywhere. 

[B1872 20,789]

38 minutes ago, LegendofCoop said:

Anyone know where I can get a legit home top? (Not one of the Ashley outlets). The online shop only have 3x XL & 4x XL.....I'm M. 

Have you tried in store? Either Ibrox or Buchanan street might have one. 👍🏻

[LegendofCoop 17,372]

3 minutes ago, B1872 said:

Have you tried in store? Either Ibrox or Buchanan street might have one. 👍🏻

Haven't yet mate....been trying online first with lock down & all that! Cheers for the suggestion though....wasn't sure if they had stock left!  

[B1872 20,789]

1 minute ago, LegendofCoop said:

Haven't yet mate....been trying online first with lock down & all that! Cheers for the suggestion though....wasn't sure if they had stock left!  

I was in a couple of weeks ago and they had plenty stock that wasn’t available online. 👍🏻

[LegendofCoop 17,372]

2 minutes ago, B1872 said:

I was in a couple of weeks ago and they had plenty stock that wasn’t available online. 👍🏻

Nice one bud, will see if I can get through this weekend!