With the growing appeal of Formula 1, fans want a piece of their favorite teams. Naturally, merchandising has become a big part of the sport, and all 10 teams have official team wear partners that also supply fan merchandise and apparel.
At the start of the 2021 season, McLaren had partnered with British sportswear company Castore to supply the official team apparel and fan merchandise for their F1 operations. Founded by former athletes Tom and Phil Beahon, Castore has established itself as a new-age apparel brand in the market.
The company’s partnership with the Woking-based squad was extended at the start of 2023 with Castore now licensed to produce and supply team wear across all the racing disciplines of McLaren. In addition to this, they were also supplying the official merchandise for McLaren across various shopping forums. These included hoodies, official t-shirts and polos, caps, jackets limited-edition merchandise, etc.
However, in a sudden move by the Zak Brown-led outfit, they have decided to put an end to their partnership with Castore.
As reported by SportBusiness Sponsorship, the 2024 Constructors’ champions have opted to terminate their contract with Castore and signed a multi-year deal with $3.79 billion worth Puma instead.
Puma’s legacy in the world of motorsport is unparalleled with them also being the official merchandise supplier for the brand ‘Formula 1’. In addition to this, they are apparel partners with Ferrari and Williams.
In the past, they have also partnered with eight-time Constructors’ champions, Mercedes and Red Bull Racing as well.
As soon as the news of McLaren jumping on the Puma bandwagon went viral, fans swarmed to Reddit to share their reactions. The general consensus within the F1 community is one of positivity.
Castore had in fact garnered a reputation for supplying merchandise that wasn’t really up to the mark in terms of quality. Moreover, the company also faced stocking issues regularly meaning that fans couldn’t always get their hands on team merchandise when they wanted.
One fan commented on Reddit, “Good news for the merchandise quality.”
This kickstarted an entire discussion with another Redditor revealing their own experience with Castore products. “Happy for this, I had a polo shirt that I wore once, washed and now doesn’t fit.. really wasn’t cheap either. And yes, it is / was official and no not a knockoff.”
Fans also had issues with the lack of correlation between the quality of the products and the high prices. “I haven’t bought a single Castore-made McLaren item. Besides the logo looking stupid, I’m not paying premium prices for a low quality brand,” one fan’s rant-filled reaction read.
However, quality may not exactly be the primary reason for such a change by McLaren. With the team’s worth growing day by day, amid the current success they are enjoying, bringing in a popular brand like Puma will elevate the Woking team’s image in the sport.
While this may seem like a big loss in reputation for Castore, they still continue to be the apparel partner for Red Bull.
With Puma, however, McLaren fans might not have gripes about quality. The German apparel goliaths are renowned globally for their high-quality products, and their extensive supply network would mean that fans will always have the chance to get the Papaya team’s merchandise at a moment’s notice.
