Castore co-founder Tom Beahon has revealed their partnership with Rangers has already taken their sports brand to the next level after the launch of the new home and away kits for this season.

The brand received a staggering 50,000 pre-orders after the home shirt was revealed and it is understood they sold 30,000 kits last weekend to add to their early success. Herald and Times Sport exclusively reported recently that foot traffic and website purchases for Castore outside of football merchandise had grown. And Beahon reiterated the impact of Gers fans and their support of the sportswear brand 'cannot be overstated'.

Beahon also claimed that the success has not gone unnoticed with other clubs around the world, and that chief executives from other, 'leading football clubs' have been in contact over potential partnerships. "It's hard to overstate the impact this partnership has had on the Castore business already," he said. "Of course, when we entered into the partnership with Glasgow Rangers Football Club you know already you're entering into a partnership with one of the most famous football clubs in the world.

"But to really see that come to life in reality it's been on another level to anything we anticipated. In a very tangible way, completely aside from the kit sales, we've seen Castore product orders coming from all four corners of the globe, so we've seen huge spikes in volume in US, Canada, Australia and Dubai. A lot of the Nordic regions. Really showing the global fan base the football club has but also how passionate that community is in that they've bought Castore products which is absolutely fantastic.

"To have 50,000 jerseys pre-ordered within 36 hours is something that really gets noticed across the football industry. In truth there's not many football clubs that could deliver those sorts of numbers. A lot of people have taken notice of this partnership, my phone has been ringing with commercial directors and CEOs of many leading football clubs who have seen what we've done with Rangers and been very impressed. To be completely candid it would be true to say, already, this partnership has taken Castore to a new level in terms of both brand awareness but also authority as a real challenger brand to the big brands that have dominated the sportswear market for so long.

"This partnership is probably the biggest milestone we've had to date in our brand's life in achieving that goal which is absolutely fantastic."

Beahon has been delighted with the early signs with Gers and his company but admits Covid-19 has had an impact on distribution. He revealed that staff have been working constantly in a bid to ensure fans get their kits as early as possible - even chartering planes specifically for that reason.

Though he admitted he hopes things on that front improve going forward. "The impact of Covid-19 has hit every sports brand who are delivering kit this season," he said in an interview with Rangers TV. "We've seen that with Premier League clubs and across all clubs in Europe, with launches being delayed. We've really gone to extreme lengths to get this kit into fans' hands as quickly as we possibly can. We've had chartered planes flying directly from our factories in Europe into our warehouses rather than waiting for commercial air travel or doing it via ships which is what most brands do.

"We've had staff working every weekend since we've signed the deal to do that as quickly as we can. We've pulled out all the stops and, as of today August 3, fans have started receiving the kits which is fantastic. I know there's been a bit of frustration from fans they weren't able to have their shirts delivered for the first game of the season, but we've worked as hard as we possibly can and hopefully we've broke through the back of that now and fans will start receiving all the kits."