Sports brand Castore has been named as the fastest-growing UK retailer having seen a two-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 159.92%, for a turnover of £115 million.

That’s according to annual the Interpath Retail Index, supported by Oresa executive search, and comes after it was last year named the UK’s second-fastest-growing company overall by The Sunday Times.

And while the Interpath Retail Index figures only cover Castore’s year to the end of January 2023, the company has continued to grow fast with its latest set of accounts having shown that revenue increased to £190.3 million in the 12 months to early February this year. That said, exceptional costs and investment pushed it to a pre-tax loss in the most recent year.

Nonetheless, there’s no denying that its growth trajectory has been impressive and recent years have seen barely a month go by without the announcement of a new store opening, a new collaboration, a new senior hire, or the signing of a new sports team deal.

So which other companies are on the list? Sustainable outdoor-wear brand Passenger Clothing is close behind Castore in second place with CAGR of 111.14% and turnover of £34.3 million.

And womenswear specialist Nobody’s Child — in which M&S has a sizeable stake — is third on 102.87% CAGR and £26 million turnover.

Moss Bros and ME+EM also make the top five with impressive growth rates.

Moss Bros’s fourth place comes from its two-year CAGR of 99.94% and turnover of £151.6 million and is interesting given that this is no disruptive newcomer but a business that’s been around since 1851. It’s also interesting that fashion seems to be coming round to Moss Bros’s (or Moss as it’s now known) business model. The company was originally known as a secondhand formalwear business, before moving to its core offer of formalwear rental. But that became less important over the decades, yet now the rest of the fashion is embracing rental too.

As for ME+EM, it saw CAGR of 93.67% in the period and turnover of £82 million. Again, the company has since published its results for the latest year (to January 2024) and its total group revenue rose 46% to £119.5 million.

The report also highlighted other fast-growing business including Sosandar, Apricot, SJ Philips, and Arne Clothing.