Read the article about two brothers who set up a sportswear company called Castore, and then complete the notes. Tom and Phil Beahon, two brothers from Liverpool who founded the sportswear brand Castore, originally knew nothing at all about making clothes and they didn't know anyone in the fashion industry. They did have a dream, however - to create their very own luxury sportswear company. In 2013, they both moved to London, found good office jobs and spent their weekdays working at their desks. However, at weekends they interviewed people in top gyms about their sportswear requirements. Tom and Phil both agree that this played a key role in making Castore such a popular brand. Another factor that helped the brand to take off was that, at that time, although there was high-quality sportswear available for women, no-one was making luxury sportswear for men. In 2016, the brothers' company Castore was born, taking its name from Castor and Pollux, who were famous twin brothers in ancient Greek myths. The business started to grow, helped by significant investment from famous business people. Today, the company has a multi-million-pound income and the brothers have an ambition to expand overseas, but they haven't always known such a high level of success. When they were younger, they both played sport: Tom was a professional football player for a while and Phil played cricket semi-professionally. However, each of them knew they would never get to the top of their sport, so they decided to give up their sports careers. It was a hard decision for both of them, but not one that they regret. Usually, it's the big sportswear brands that have to ask famous sportspeople to wear their clothes. But in the case of Castore, it's the other way round - a number of well-known sports professionals are keen to promote the brand. Tom and Phil aren't satisfied with supplying individuals, however, and are aiming to supply professional teams with official sports kits. They're also looking to launch new clothes collections for specific sports. Phil emphasises that Castore's success is due to the unique products it develops. One of these is the Fusion jacket. This high-tech item is silver in the daytime to absorb sunlight; it becomes bright green at night to make the wearer visible enough to continue training after dark. Like many companies, they operate online. When it comes to real shops, they made the business decision early on to sell their clothes only in the best stores. Tom and Phil believe that this decision has really paid off. They've also tried other methods of selling, like opening a series of temporary shops for a few weeks each, to see if these might be popular or not. In fact, they're intending to open more 'pop-up' stores overseas in the coming months. The Head Office is in Liverpool, where they grew up, and the brothers want to increase the number of staff they employ. 'It's important for us to do this,' says Tom. So far, Castore has been a real success story. Who knows where they'll go in the future? You are going to give a talk about the sportswear company Castore to your class at school. Prepare some notes to use as the basis for your talk. Make short notes under each heading. 9 Reasons for the success of the brothers' sportswear company: $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ . 10 The brothers' future plans for the sportswear company: $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$ . $$\(\bullet\)$$

Answer:

Award 1 mark for each acceptable response, up to a maximum of 4 marks.
Acceptable responses are:
Reasons for the success of the brothers' sportswear company
1 interviewed people in gyms (about sportswear requirements)
2 no-one was making luxury sportswear for men / they made luxury sportswear for men
3 investment from famous business people
4 sports professionals keen to promote brand
5 unique products / Fusion jacket
6 sell (only) in the best stores

Award 1 mark for each acceptable response, up to a maximum of 3 marks. Acceptable responses are:
The brothers' future plans for the sportswear company
1 expand overseas
2 supply professional teams with kits
3 (launch new) clothes for specific sports / (launch new) collections for specific sports
4 (more) 'pop-up' stores overseas / (more) temporary shops overseas
5 increase staff

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Solution: