Sportswear brand Castore has enjoyed a “record Christmas” hailing its “strongest ever trading performance” over the period.
In December, Castore grew revenues 16% year-on-year. The retailer said sportswear remained “more resilient” than other apparel categories over Christmas as customers looked to ”prioritise their health, wellbeing and fitness”.
The retailer also said customers “pulled forward” their Christmas spending last year, with the weekend of December 7 and 8 being the busiest footfall period over the festive period for the brand.
Boxing Day was the largest revenue day over the festive period with “the majority” of sales happening online and through the Castore app “as shoppers chose to stay at home and spend time with their families”.
The British company said its store in the Dubai Mall was “Castore’s highest revenue generating store” for the second consecutive year.
Bestselling products included football shirts, with over 150,000 being sold in the run-up to Christmas, although Formula 1 product sales grew more than 20% year on year.
Sales of “female products” grew over 30% year on year “demonstrating the continued growth in women’s sport”.
In terms of outlook, Castore said “despite the continued cost rises to businesses, and the national insurance tax increases”, it remains “bullish on the high street” and plans to open between five and 10 new stores in 2025.
Speaking to Retail Week, co-founder Tom Beahon said he was “very happy” with the retailer’s most recent set of results and that Castore has seen “solid momentum” continuing into January.
He said that despite the brand’s success and ramped up demand for “premium” sportswear, the retail industry more broadly needs the support of the government this year.
He added: “I think that the government demonstrating not just an understanding of what small and medium sized businesses are going through, but a desire to help support them is going to be really important this year.”
Beahon also said that the increase in demand for womenswear was the element of Castore’s figures that he is “most proud of”.
“We plan to invest more [in womenswear] and we will hopefully see further growth this year and beyond,” he added.
“Women’s rugby is seeing significant growth both in attendances and also broadcast so we want to be a leader in that. I always say we are a speed boat in a market of oil tankers, we are not as big as Nike or Adidas but we have ot be more agile and more innovative than them and a big part of that culture and those values is spotting opportunities before they do.
“There is zero doubt that the growth of professional women’s sport and how that trickles down to grassroots is a massive opportunity for us.”
Beahon also voiced the importance of out of town shopping centres, destinations he said can sometimes be “unloved” by shoppers.
“I want Castore to be split between our prestigious sites like in Knightsbridge and Dubai Mall but I also want Castore to be a brand that appeals to anyone who is interested in sport and that’s true all over the country.”
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