In 2013 two brothers from Merseyside did something most young athletes never do. They walked away from the one thing they had trained for since childhood. Tom Beahon had spent four years in Tranmere Rovers' youth system, then played in Spain, then drifted through the Glenn Hoddle Academy. Phil, three years younger, had played semi-professional cricket for clubs in Cheshire and Lancashire. Neither was going to be a star.
So they quit, and took the dullest jobs they could find. Tom went to Lloyds Bank in London. Phil went to Deloitte. This is the detail that rarely makes the headlines: the brothers who would one day sell kit to Rangers and England cricket began as two junior finance staff, whose real job was to collect money and contacts for an idea.
Sportswear is a brutal trade, where Nike and Adidas own the shelf space and the stadium tunnels.
The idea was simple, and a little stubborn. Sportswear they wore, they felt, was either cheap-looking or built for pros and priced like a fashion label. Before launching, they interviewed people in gyms and went looking for investors from both fashion and sport. In July 2015, aged 25 and 22, they set up Castore in Bebington, on the Wirral, and launched online in 2016.
What nobody on the outside saw were the small years. Sportswear is a brutal trade, where Nike and Adidas own the shelf space and the stadium tunnels. Castore had to make clothes people believed in before it could afford sponsorships.
The turn came through athletes. Andy Murray became a shareholder in March 2019 and the first major face of the brand. Forbes put the brothers on its 30 Under 30 list that year. In May 2020 came Rangers, a five-year deal reported at around £25m, and Castore stopped being a gym label and became a kit maker. Rich backers followed, among them the Issa brothers' Monte Group, Ineos and the founders of Redrice. Each brother held 18.59 per cent in 2021.
The price of growth was public. Fans complained about Rangers kit confusion. Aston Villa players said their shirts grew heavy when wet, and Villa left early for Adidas in January 2024. A company that sells on credibility lives or dies by the feel of a fabric.
By the 18 months to August 2025 Castore reported revenue of about £334.6m and a loss of £40.3m, and in autumn 2026 it was reported to be weighing a sale with JPMorgan advising. Tom has framed the losses as the cost of investing for scale.
The lesson is in the opening move. The Beahons did not romanticise the dream of playing. They treated finishing it as the first piece of fundraising, and borrowed two years of bank and accountancy discipline before they spent a pound of anyone else's money.