Proteas' New Kit Suppliers, Castore

The story of the meteoric, near-fairytale, rise of the Proteas' new kit suppliers

The story of how Thomas and Philip Beahon started Castore has been told a few times before, but because it is so incredible, it is a story that will be told a few more times by many different people.

This is the kind of story that anyone who has watched Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank expects to hear about the companies that get investment. But, the founders of Castore did not get their shot through those shows.

The Proteas' new kit suppliers, Castore, have come a long way in a very short space of time. The company, whose name was inspired by the twins of Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux, went from an online store in 2016 to supplying kits to more than 10 professional sports entities that include Saracens, Rangers, Wolves, Newcastle United, McLaren F1 team, West Indies cricket team, England cricket teams and Andy Murray, and now the Proteas, in 2021.

Not just that, but the company, which was founded by siblings Thomas (32) and Philip (29) Beahon, who own a combined controlling stake of 37.18% of Castore, boasts names like the Monte Group, Arnaud Massenet, Robert Senior and Andy Murray as shareholders. But, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising given that Andy Murray was their first high-profile name on their books.

Failed athletes, Tom and Phil, are blazing a trail.

The tag failed athlete might be a bit harsh on the younger sibling, Philip. He did play sport as a youngster, a bit of football for Liverpool and Man City’s schoolboy sides, and a bit of age-group cricket for Lancashire, though nothing notable came off it. He had no lofty sporting ambitions like his brother, Thomas, and gave it all up at around 17 or 18 to pursue university studies.

Thomas on the other hand, did have serious dreams, and he had the talent to back them. At 17, Tom abandoned his academic career after signing a professional contract with Tranmere Rovers. It's a decision that I doubt would have gone down very well with his mother, who is a teacher.

After a 3-year stint with Rovers, Tom moved to the Glenn Hoddle Academy in Spain. The academy has a very interesting relationship with the side that Tom later joined, Jerez Industrial CF, which is in the Spanish Segunda Division. It was here that he realized that maybe he was never going to cut it as a big time athlete.

Playing against youngsters from Barca, Real and Atletico’s reserve sides, Tom got a bit of a rude awakening. The level of talent that he was up against was probably a shade too good for him to compete. He realized that maybe his talent ceiling was probably a little low for him to earn a comfortable living from sport.

So, when he snapped his groin at 24, he took that as an opportunity to retire, and he moved back home and try something new.

Around 2013, the brothers decided to try and have another go at the world of sports, this time with a sportswear brand. So, they split their days between work during the day, Tom at Lloyds and Phil at Deloitte, and market research in the evenings. The market research was spending hours outside premium London gyms and asking customers about what they liked and did not like about the sportswear from current heavy hitters, Nike, Under Armour, New Balance, Puma and others. They did this rain or shine.

The idea, for them, was to identify customers’ pain points and try to address them with their new product. That is what was going to be their unique selling point.

Armed with their newfound knowledge, the brothers had a new problem to deal with, they knew nothing about making clothes or how the industry worked. They didn’t know anyone in the industry who could give them pointers, and so they did the next best thing, they visited mills in Switzerland and Italy and factories in Portugal. They needed to learn from textile experts.

It was a brave call, given that they had no contacts at every place they visited. Their plan was very simple: knock on as many doors as possible and hope that someone would open their door, listen to their ideas and teach them something. The people who greeted them probably thought that the two young men were either passionate, crazy, or maybe too naïve to understand what was ahead of them.

Whatever the reason, some doors were opened and some people listened to them and were willing to share their knowledge with them. The result was a number of prototypes that addressed the issues that had been raised by people during their market research, and were tried out by friends and family.

And a year after their short trip around Europe, they were launching their line, with an online store. Their parents provided the initial money for the company, courtesy of a £25 000 loan from their parents, who both remortgaged their homes, a loan from the Virgin StartUp scheme and some personal loans.

The boys’ first backers, outside of family, were Tom Singh and Arnaud Massenet, who poured in £750 000. From what I have read, Singh and Massenet are businesspeople whom anyone who knows anything about the industry should know.

It was the beginning of a journey that would land them their biggest client, Andy Murray, three years later. In an industry where young and small brands are known to approach and beg stars and celebrities to wear and endorse their clothes and label, for Castore, it was Andy Murray who approached them.

It just so happened that Matt Little, Murray’s personal trainer, was a fan and an ambassador of the brand. Something about it caught his eye - it might be the fact that Andy Murray and Matt Little have been together from the beginning and he admired his fashion sense, whatever it was, it led Murray to calling the boys.

The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect, Andy Murray’s contract with Under Armour was coming to an end, and he was in a sort of transitional period where he was considering his options - to extend with Under Armour or go with one of the big brands courting him.

Andy Murray has also since invested in the company, and will sit on the board once he retires. And by then, Castore will probably have expanded their global footprint.

This is the family that the Proteas have joined.

My opinion? The kit looks decent enough. I quite liked the new ODI kit that the Proteas wore in Sri Lanka, so I am a little sad that it’s gone. But, the new strip doesn’t look so bad. The new T20 kit is a bit of an upgrade to the previous one, I reckon.

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