This Is Ibrox - The Interviews: Castore - Tom Beahon

No problem, it's all in front of me.

That is a very good question. The name Castore originally came from the story of Greek mythology - Castor and Pollux, who were two brothers that took on the Greek god Zeus. It was quite a nice analogy for us starting a British sportswear brand trying to take on the big guys that dominate the sector.

There were a number of inspirations. Neither Phil nor I came from any background of creative design or product development when we started Castore. It was very much a case of resilience and refusing to take no for an answer, rather than any particular skillset we had. With the logo, when we started the business it was with the intention of creating a challenger brand to compete on the global stage with the big guys that dominated the market. We wanted something that looked competitive. We took the horns from the Chicago Bulls logo, and then we wanted to combine that with our key point of difference versus the big guys, which is superior product quality. We knew the only way to compete was through creating indisputably superior products using high quality fabrics and more advanced manufacturing. So we were looking for something that connoted premium. The wings were taken from the Bentley car logo. So it's almost putting together the horns of the Chicago Bulls logo and the wings of the Bentley logo. Thankfully it's been pretty well received by our customers over the last four years.

A combination. For us the most important thing in everything we do with Rangers Football Club is premium quality. Our brand ethos that has driven our mindset and been key to our success is 'better never stops', and that will underpin everything we do with Rangers. We'll look at different options in terms of print versus embroidery. The honest answer is we'll probably do a combination - a limited edition strip with prints on, and some core products embroidered. One point worth mentioning is that when we benchmarked Rangers compared to other leading European football clubs, the breadth of product offering has been, in my opinion, severely lacking in previous seasons. There are well-documented issues behind that. But this partnership presents a new start, a new era, an opportunity to be creative with bespoke kits, particularly with the anniversary season coming up, to have fans directly involved in the design. This Football Club is defined by its fans - the passion, the loyalty. It would be remiss of us not to tap into that passion as we design kits in coming seasons.

It's completely true to say that unless you're Real Madrid or Barcelona, the big brands are not going to invest a huge amount in you. Because the truth is you will not move the dial for them. These are companies that measure their revenue in multi-billions, so they simply don't put the care, attention, detail, focus, and creativity into these partnerships. When Castore made the decision to enter the football market twelve months ago, it was because we knew there was an opportunity to partner with clubs that have huge global brand recognition, huge fan bases, and the desire and capability to win trophies both domestically and in Europe, and invest in them in a far better way than the big brands have done historically. Everything needs to be bespoke, everything at the highest quality. That's a high standard we set for ourselves, but we believe we can achieve it and we relish the challenge.

It's a key question and it's something I've been asked a lot in the last 40 hours since the partnership was announced. The truth is, as I alluded to earlier, we as a business made the decision to enter the football market twelve months ago. When we made that decision we also decided we weren't going to partner with lower-tier teams and work our way up - we wanted to go right in at the very top level with a globally recognized club. So we knew that with a globally recognized marquee football club would come huge demand. Over the last twelve months we've been preparing internally to ensure the infrastructure is in place. We've expanded the factories we work with, the fabric suppliers, brought in additional people with expertise in working on football deals of this size and stature. There's an awful lot going on in the world at the moment, but I see that as a challenge of a rapidly growing business. From a purely commercial perspective we see it as an opportunity because we have the ability to be more agile, flexible, and move more quickly than the bigger competitors. We're well placed to meet that demand, and we can't wait to launch the kit and see what the fans think.

I hope so, is the honest answer. This is a seminal partnership on our journey as a company - a big step up. We've been working on this very hard for twelve months, and prior to that we worked hard to get Castore to the position where we could partner with somebody of the size of Rangers. We're probably the first British brand trying to challenge the big international brands on the global stage. Part of our Liverpool roots - if you look at Liverpool and Glasgow, the cities themselves and the people have a lot of similarities. Football in Liverpool is a religion, so we're very aware of the level of passion and scrutiny that's going to come with this partnership. We're relishing it. We want to be held to a high standard, we want to be challenged by the fans, we're not going to shy away from that. We are here as a partner to help make a contribution to Rangers Football Club winning trophies. We can do that through the quality of the kit - we create products that are indisputably superior - and also by investing in the retail operations. We're making a £250,000 commitment to the refurbishment of the Ibrox store. That's something very important for this club, one of Europe's leading football clubs. We also want to invest in the ecommerce capabilities, because Rangers is one of the very small number of genuinely globally recognized football clubs - fans span all four corners of the world, North America, Australia, Scandinavia. The deal we've structured ensures Castore and Rangers' interests are 100% aligned - Rangers will directly benefit from every single product we sell. I as the Castore co-founder will only be successful if Rangers Football Club is successful, and that is exactly the right way for these partnerships to be structured.

I think there are some big opportunities there, split into two areas. Firstly with physical stores - if I look back at the 90s, Rangers would sell more jerseys than Manchester United, than any other football club in the UK. Clearly this club from a commercial perspective is right up there with the very biggest clubs in Europe, and historically that demand hasn't been serviced the way it could have been. Back in the 90s there were ten Rangers stores in Northern Ireland, across Glasgow, but internationally as well. I can see no reason whatsoever - these plans are fairly early stage - why there shouldn't be a Rangers Football Club store in Glasgow Airport. Internationally, Castore as a brand is digitally native - we already sell into over 60 countries around the world. Rangers has phenomenal international brand recognition. Combining an increase in physical Rangers stores with a significant improvement in digital and ecommerce capabilities, we're very confident there's an awful lot we can do in the coming years.

There's some information that's publicly available. We've got a pretty broad investor base despite what I've read in some of the media recently. Mike Ashley is definitively not in that investor base - it does amaze me when those things come about. We've never been exposed to those kind of lies, people just making things up. But something I can confirm - we've got a big broad investor base. Tom Singh, who was the founder of New Look Retail, about twenty-odd years ago. Almost entirely entrepreneurs - people who have set up successful businesses and are now investing in Castore because they believe in our vision to build a brand that competes on the global stage. Our biggest shareholders after Phil and myself - Phil and I still own a controlling stake - but we've got one of Britain's wealthiest families as our largest shareholders, with a net worth measured in the multi-billions. They've invested significant amounts because they believe in our business becoming a genuinely global brand. They're very private individuals, how much they want to be made public I don't know, but they're committed to our vision and this partnership is absolutely imperative to achieving that goal.

No, no, no, that was never discussed. This is a pure partnership. A big part of the discussion as we went through negotiations was that we wanted to do things differently to how they've been done in the past. It's been well documented, but for me it was just so important that the interests of Rangers Football Club and Castore are 100% aligned. That means Rangers will benefit directly from every single product we sell in the coming seasons. That is only right and fair - I cannot for the life of me understand how things would have ever been done differently in the past. This is a chance for a new slate, a chance to do things differently. Castore is a disruptive brand, a challenger brand. We have to be more creative, more innovative, harder working. That means we need partners who share our ambition and desire to try different things. The fact that the club and Castore's interests are completely aligned means we can work together in a true collaboration to improve the product offering and the retail offering, and we both benefit from that.

In the first instance we'll be refurbishing the current building. To have that stadium store itself is incredibly important - the club deserves it, the fans deserve it. There's no reason whatsoever why that should not be the case. If I look at any of the leading football clubs across Europe, they all have that top-tier, marquee, flagship retail presence at their stadium, and that's what Rangers need. We've made a £250,000 commitment to that, and we're looking forward to getting going on that as soon as opportunity allows given the current situation. Thereafter there's opportunity to look at additional retail sites - whether that's in airports, whether that's in Belfast. But for me, I like to focus on things we can deliver in the short term, and the Ibrox store story in the short term is priority number one.

I hope very soon. Every single fan of Rangers will be saying we want football back as soon as possible. As part of the football club, we're working towards next season starting on time. None of us know as we sit here today if that'll be the case, but that's the timeframe we're working towards. We're hoping to open and launch the store with a relaunch event hopefully as close to that time as possible. We will work in a slightly strange place with social distancing and various other constraints, but that is our goal and objective - to have the store reopened as close to the start of next season as we can possibly get.

It wasn't part of our key priority lists when we were discussing with the club how we wanted to launch this partnership successfully. Priority number one was the kits themselves - making sure the players have the highest possible quality kit, every time they step on the pitch wearing something better than the opposition. Priority number two was expanding the product range because I don't think the fans have been served with the best product offering in the past. Priority number three was the Ibrox store. Once we've nailed those three elements and built up momentum, there's probably a conversation to be had around the training ground, but that isn't within our initial deliverable list.

If you look at what the club have charged for replica jerseys in previous seasons, that's the level we'll be looking at to begin with. When we made the decision to enter football, we recognized right from the start that increasing prices of the core replica jersey is not something we have any desire to do. We understand it's really important to fans to be able to support the football club at a sensible price point. So the price of the core replica jersey will be in line with previous seasons. Where we do think there's an interesting option - and I mentioned earlier about expanding the product range - is the release of a Pro Team collection, the very top tier of kit with the highest level of product quality, manufacturing expertise, and technical capabilities. The stuff the players are going to be wearing. That will be at a price point around the £80-85 level. Final decisions haven't been made but it'll be around there - slightly above the replica. That will be the kit that the players wear, the very highest possible quality. Our view is there will be some fans that want to wear that higher quality kit and are happy to pay slightly more knowing they're wearing exactly what the players wear. But the core replica jersey will be in line with previous seasons.

That's a very interesting question. Our intention is to partner with probably three to five leading European clubs in the coming seasons. The reason we haven't defined it is because we've got no intention to partner with a club unless it's exactly right for us - unless they share our 'better never stops' mindset, unless they want to structure a partnership with 100% alignment of interest like we've got with Rangers, unless it's a club with genuine ambition and capability to win trophies. That's quite a strict criteria. But our intention is probably one, maybe two Premier League teams in the coming season, one La Liga team, one Bundesliga team, and potentially a Serie A team. It's very important for us as a business that we don't bite off more than we can chew too soon. Where some of the mega brands have got it wrong is by doing too much - the product becomes standardized, the service becomes standardized. Our view is we will only partner with marquee clubs and each deserves top-tier service and support. So three to five feels like the right number, and once we've locked those partnerships in, there could be some very exciting opportunities.

Thank you very much, we really appreciate your interest. For me this is an incredibly exciting opportunity - genuinely privileged and honored to have the opportunity to work with this fantastic Football Club. We now want exactly the same things. We're all here to see trophies come back to Ibrox, and hopefully there's some very exciting times ahead for all of us.