In a first for Castore, the fast-growing contemporary British sportswear brand has completed a “highly innovative” deal with domestic heritage brand rival Umbro. It will see Castore expand its already strong links with professional football while also expanding its presence across Europe.

Financial terms of the expansive “groundbreaking” agreement have not been released.

Marking Castore’s emergence as a multi-brand business, it will see it market the Umbro brand in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark via an agreement with Umbro licensee GL Dameck (GLD) to create of an exclusive Umbro Professional Team Sports sub-license.

From the start of the 2024/25 season, Castore “will have the exclusive rights to seek to work with Umbro’s existing English Premier League team partnership”s, including AFC Bournemouth, Brentford, Luton Town and West Ham, as well as English Football League clubs Ipswich Town, Huddersfield Town and Forest Green Rovers. It adds to Castore’s current list of English Premiership teams including Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wonderers. It also supples kits for Preston North End, Charlton Athletic, Mansfield Town and Milton Keynes Dons. In Europe it has deals with Athletic Bilbao, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Feyenoord Rotterdam.

Castore will also supply to Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premiership, where Castore is already the global kit partner for Glasgow Rangers FC.

The wider deal will also see it greatly expand its professional rugby visibility, taking on board the England Rugby men’s and women’s teams, adding to the Premiership Rugby teams Bath, Saracens and Harlequins it already supplies with kit. It becomes Castore’s second national team deal as it is also kit supplier to England Cricket. It has also build strong relationships with Formula 1 motor racing and international tennis.

The overall agreement signifies Castore’s first step towards a “brand segmentation strategy”, enabling it to “ultimately take a significant position in the UK & European elite sports markets, while respecting the tribal nature of fandom, as it continues its journey to becoming a leader global sportswear market”.

The company added: “Castore’s digital expertise and highly agile global supply chain provides a model that has allowed it to disrupt the traditional dominance of Nike and adidas. The ability to now market and supply the Umbro brand for team sports will elevate both Umbro and Castore to new levels”.

Castore added that the deal “continues to build its presence in the sports market, which benefits from a number of strong secular growth drivers – the continued globalisation of sport, the digitisation of the sector, and the ability to engage better with fans”. 

In a few short years, Castore has grown to partner with over 50 leading sports teams worldwide through its digital first business model. It said it will now apply this digital expertise to the marketing of Umbro’s “exceptional brand heritage and authenticity and further expand the Umbro partnership portfolio, with fans remaining at the core of its strategy”. 
 
The business said it continues to record strong growth and is on track to achieve record revenues and profits in 2024.
 
Tom and Phil Beahon, founders of Castore, said the Umbro deal will enable it “to reach a new generation of fans. Umbro is a global brand which is woven into the heart and soul of football culture, and this deal represents the first step in the next chapter of Castore’s continued progress.”
 
Ewan Scott, CEO & joint founder of GLD, called the agreement a “groundbreaking elite sports relationship”.