Update: Castore founder Tom Beahon has confirmed that Castore "will be in the English Premier League" next season. Castore has reportedly signed a deal with Newcastle worth £5million a year to take over the kits from next season.
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Newcastle 'Agree Kit Deal' With Castore
Castore will have a presence across all of the major European football leagues in the coming months and years
Speaking to City A.M. (London's Business Newspaper), he also talked about other opportunities for Castore while also saying that Castore "will have a presence across all of the major European football leagues".
"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," he told City AM.
"We want to partner with clubs that have a desire to digitise and premium-ise, and are knocking on the door of success," he said.
“We knew we needed to have world class athletes wearing Castore products on the global stage to get the brand visibility and authority.”
New British sports brand Castore is set to land in the English Premier League next season as they are reported to have agreed deals with Newcastle and Wolves. The Co founder of Castore, Tom Beahon, explained in an interview with Forbes what they can offer mid-sized clubs that the big brand can't. With pictures from Soccerbible.
Castore is a Premium Sportswear brand founded by Liverpudlian brothers Phil and Tom Beaton in 2016. In 2019, Castore signed their first kit maker deal with Rangers, replacing Hummel. Castore is also rumored to have prepared / made an offer to AS Roma.
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Castore Co Founder Explains What They Can Offer Mid-Sized Teams Big Brand Can't
Castore is not trying and able to land in the Premier League with the help of a large suitcase of money but with other benefits they can offer clubs, including custom designs, less lead time and more royalties of sales.
A big step down at first glance
In example, Wolves' current deal is worth £3 million-a-season (expires in 2022 but is set to be terminated early). The Castore deal is rumored to be worth around £1 million per-season – a big step down at first glance... Tom Beahon, explained in an interview with Forbes how they want to convince clubs.
“We developed and delivered [the] product in less than six months. "Starting with the supply chain, the big brands tend to work on 18 months lead times on partnerships of the size and scale of Rangers, because they're huge oil tankers,” he continued.
“We've got a different mindset, we've got a different supply chain, which is European-centric rather than Far East-centric. [So] we could do something in a far more agile and responsive way that the big brands aren’t capable of.”
It all goes into the big sausage machine, that's how the sector has always worked
The usual commercial deals that clubs make with the brands features a guaranteed yearly fee and a standard royalty on shirt sales, with some incentives built into the arrangement. It is a low-risk in general.
Castore’s agreement with Rangers and possible other deals use an incentivised growth model that benefits both parties should more shirts be sold. It would see both parties sharing the benefits of the growth through an ascending royalty rate, so as agreed revenue targets are hit the club receives a higher royalty percentage.
We developed and delivered Rangers' kit in less than six months
“[The big brands are] very standardised in how they do things. So unless it's Real Madrid, Barcelona [or] Liverpool, they don't really like having to do individual designs for different clubs. We thought there's a really interesting opportunity for a challenger brand like Castore to come in and do things differently.”
“It all goes in into the big sausage machine, that's how the sector has always worked.”
Interestingly, Castore's Rangers kits were not designed not by the brand directly but by freelance designer Emre Gultekin, who already created jerseys for a few other teams before.
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“Rangers over the last 15 or 20 years have been with all of the major brands. I can't speak for them, but I suspect that they've received very similar service product offering from those guys. The opportunity to try something different, I think, really appealed to them.”
Concept by Footy Headlines
Castore Partnership - Advantages & Disadvantages For Medium Teams In Contrast To Contracts With Big Brands
Advantages
- Custom designs and more input allowed
- Less lead time (6 months instead 18 months for big brand's big club kits)
- More agile in providing extra amount of kits
- Incentivised growth model that benefits both parties should more shirts be sold
Disadvantages
- More risk than to sign with big brand
- Customers have no experience with the brand and its products
- Less fixed amount of money from deal
- Less experience in general
- Smaller brands do not have big reserves - there is always a risk of bankruptcy
Stay tuned for more about the possible Castore x Premier League deals in the coming weeks.
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Do you look forward to seeing Castore in the Premier League? Would you sign with Castore as a medium-sized club? Share your thoughts in the comments below.