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A fashion brand founded by two former footballers is the fastest-growing company in the North West, this year’s have revealed.

CAPO, based in Accrington in Lancashire, topped the North West rankings in the title’s annual list of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s fastest-growing private firms.

Some 18 of the companies on the list are based in the North West. Other high-ranking firms include Liverpool sportswear brand Montirex, Manchester fashion brand Adanola and Warrington-based dental care provider 21D Clinical.

CAPO was founded in 2017 by Dan Wilkins, 32, and Adam Morning, 38, who came up with the idea while they were both semi-professional football players for Ashton United.

They started off selling hats and their range has now grown to encompass everything from overshirts to trainers.

In November last year, CAPO became the official footwear partner at Blackburb Rovers, where Mr Wilkins had spent eight years as an academy player.

Announcing the deal, he said: “It was special to take my mum back all of these years later to see CAPO’s name up in the lights rather than mine like I had once dreamed! We are local lads and a business, supported by our friends and family who work with us.

“Football is a core part of both mine and the co-founder Adam’s background and lives, it’s actually how we both met while playing non-league football.