Billionaire Issa brothers back sports brand to challenge giants Nike and Adidas
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThe billionaire Issa brothers are backing a new sports brand which aims to challenge the UK's sporting giants. Brothers Tom and Phil Beahon launched their brand Castore in 2016 and five years on their business is set to create 150 jobs and is backed by Mohsin and Zuber Issa who own Asda and EG Group.
The Issas, who recently took ownership of restaurant chain Leon, first got their start with a petrol station in Bury. READ MORE:Public warned not to approach this Oldham man Now, they are backing Castore, the firm responsible for kitting out investor and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, along with Premier League teams, McLaren F1 and England Cricket, the ECHO reports.
The Beahon brothers set about planning how to fill a gap they saw in the market for a high-quality, premium and aspirational brand as an alternative to mass-market companies like Adidas, Nike and Puma.
Tom said: "There's not really that history in our family or anything like that, but we just have this desire that, whatever we do in life, if we're going to be successful, or in fact fail, we want to have that responsibility on ourselves. "And there's no better opportunity for that than if you run your own business." The pair would wake at 5am every morning to work on their idea for a few hours before starting their day jobs, returning in the evening to continue planning from 7pm to midnight. "We had to go and meet factories in Portugal who don't normally, or don't ever, like working with new brands because they represent a risk," Tom said. "We had to talk them into working with us." The brothers spent £50,000 of money they'd saved, along with a further £30,000 from their parents re-mortgaging their house, to get the business off the ground.
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