Sports apparel retailer Castore, whose partners include Premier League teams, McLaren F1 and England Cricket, is set to achieve record-breaking revenue and profits and create up to 150 jobs in 2022.
In an exclusive interview with BusinessLive, co-founder Tom Beahon also outlined the company's plans to become the number one premium sportswear brand in the world by 2025.
Mr Beahon founded the business in Liverpool with his brother Phil before relocating its headquarters to Manchester in 2021.
The brothers grew up on Merseyside and Mr Beahon said that while Castore is no longer headquartered in Liverpool, the city will always be its "spiritual home".
Mr Beahon said: "My brother and I founded Castore in Liverpool so it will always be the spiritual home of the brand and we love the city. Liverpool is central to Castore’s DNA.
"Given the number of new people we have hired (more than 100 in the last year) and expect to hire in the coming year, Manchester was the right city for us to base the business for the next stage of Castore’s growth due to the proximity to other fast growth digital companies and therefore access to talent.
"Bringing the best people into the business will be key to us achieving our ambitions for Castore and we have already seen the impact of this since we moved over."
The vast majority of Castore's sales are via its website but the brand does have two stores in Liverpool and London.
On whether the company would consider opening more in other areas of the country, Mr Beahon added: "Whilst Castore will always be a digitally led brand and direct-to-consumer ecommerce remains the engine of our continued growth, we do believe in physical stores and creating exceptional spaces for our customers to experience the brand in real life.
"Castore’s success is built upon our commitment to product excellence and we want customers to be able to see the quality for themselves which they can only do in our stores.
"We will continue to selectively open new retail spaces in the coming year both in the UK and internationally."
Among Castore's investors is two-time Wimbledon champion Sir Andy Murray who wears Castore-branded kit when on court.
The brand is also backed by the Lancashire-based billionaire Issa brothers.
The businessmen founded Euro Garages and acquired supermarket chain Asda in 2020.
On the impact these investors have had on Castore, Mr Beahon said: "Andy has been a fantastic ambassador for Castore, as an athlete he is an unbelievable competitor and the ultimate embodiment of Castore’s Better Never Stops DNA.
"Mohsin and Zuber have been fantastic investors for Castore – they are incredibly entrepreneurial and always challenge us to think bigger.
"They’ve had phenomenal success in their own business and it is a great privilege for us to have the opportunity to benefit from their experience."
Castore has announced a flurry of major kit deals over the last few years, signing up the likes of Premier League, F1 and national cricket teams.
Most recently, the company partnered with the home of the British Grand Prix, Silverstone, but the firm also has deals with teams such as USA Rugby, GB Taekwondo, England Cricket, Saracens and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Asked whether Castore is considering adding to its portfolio, Mr Beahon said: "Absolutely – we believe Castore offers something unique to leading clubs through our blend of bespoke product designs, premium brand positioning and digital expertise.
"We’ve had some great successes so far and will continue to strategically expand our portfolio across the leading European football leagues, as well as in Formula 1, rugby and cricket in the months ahead.
"Our ambition is for Castore to be the number one premium sportswear brand in the world by 2025 and partnerships with leading clubs will be key to us achieving this goal."
Reports circulated in 2021 that Castore was considering floating on the London Stock Exchange.
While that has not been confirmed, Mr Beahon has revealed that the business does "often speak to people who are interested in investing in the brand" in order to "understand if they can help us on our continued growth journey and never rule anything out".
He added that "Castore is profitable and cash generative so we are fortunate to be in the position of not needing to take on outside investment".
