Max Verstappen. Ben Stokes. Andy Murray. Adam Peaty. The all-conquering 2023/24 Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen. Just some of the top names who adorn sportswear produced by Castore – a company born on Merseyside in 2015.
The brothers behind the label, Tom and Phil Beahon took jobs in finance to fund their project, learning as they went by conducting market research while planning to take on the established order of athletic clothing manufacturers.
Earlier this year, Castore struck the largest apparel partnership in Formula 1 history as it extended its agreement with reigning champions Red Bull for a deal reported to be worth more than $200million, while also holding a similar position with rivals McLaren.
“I love the saying: ‘You don’t have to be a Harvard student. You’ve just got to have the balls to do it’ and it is so true. That audacity, that big vision,” Tom tells Autosport.
“People, in my experience, whether you’re meeting Christian Horner, whether you’re meeting the CEO of England Cricket, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet Prime Ministers.
“People respect ambition. If you’re passionate and you’re ambitious, people buy into that.
“It was my dream to see elite athletes wearing Castore in competition. But it’s all built around performance and our story about hard work and taking a risk and trying to compete with the big boys is undoubtedly part of Castore’s DNA of ‘better never stops’.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Tom, who previously played football in the youth set-up at Tranmere Rovers, likens Castore’s arrival on the scene to that of Red Bull itself. The upstarts entered the F1 paddock looking to shake things up and to do things differently – and in that it certainly succeeded.
“You’re looking for partners that share your values and that means different things to different people,” he added.
“So of course, with someone like Red Bull Racing, the fact that they’ve had the success that they’ve had – that is unbelievable. We didn’t do the partnership with the guys expecting that to happen, the fact that it has, is an amazing bonus.
“But what you’re looking at is the ambition, the commitment to innovation, the commitment to disruption, that is what makes the partnership a success. How that plays out on track or on the pitch, you’re never going to predict perfectly.
“Logically, what Red Bull did right at the beginning shouldn’t have…
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