The man in the middle who has come out on top

Chances are that if you've bought an item of clothing from a high street retailer or a supermarket chain in the last few months then you'll have come into contact with Pan World Brands. You wouldn't know it, though. Because Pan World Brands' job is to ensure that some of the best-known sports and leisurewear bands arrive in the stores.

Many of the contracts the company has are confidential, so Pan World Brands' chief, Michael Basso, won't reveal the names of most of the brands he works for. But his Pan World effectively acts as the middleman between the retailers, clothing manufacturers and the brand owners.

This business has made Pan World Brands one of the UK's fastest-growing companies. It has supply agreements with retailers such as Arcadia, Matalan, Primark, Woolworths and Littlewoods. It also has close relationships with the supermarkets, such as Asda, Tesco and WM Morrison, which have rapidly expanded their non-food ranges, especially clothing. "Why have we grown? Because we are offering major retailers access to the big brands," says Mr Basso. "Previously, they would have had to buy them on the grey market. Half of the time the goods would turn up, half the time they wouldn't. Many retailers just didn't have access to a reliable supply channel for these brands."

Once Pan World Brands has signed a licence agreement with a brand owner, it turns to its manufacturing network. This is mainly focused in the Far East. But Pan World Brands is also expanding its manufacturing base in Europe, to service its growing portfolio of brands.

Mr Basso, who spent his early career as a market trader in Liverpool, set up his first company, Hillingdon Shirt Company, in the early 1970s.

Business really took off with Used Clothing Company, where Mr Basso established links with Far Eastern manufacturers. In 1988, Mr Basso sold his company to Honorbilt, the fashion distributor headed by controversial businessman, Harold Tillman. But when Honorbilt collapsed two years later, Mr Basso bought his old business back from the receiver. "That wasn't a pleasant experience," he says.

Mr Basso then set about focusing the company on leisure and sportswear and changed its name first to UCCI International and then earlier this year to Pan World Brands.

While most of Pan World Brands' brand licensing agreements are confidential, Mr Basso can talk about one of the largest – Caterpillar, which was signed last year. The US industrial giant has already capitalised on its brand by selling Caterpillar footwear, which has developed into a worldwide $400m-a-year turnover business. Pan World Brands has secured the exclusive rights to Caterpillar textiles and headwear, "which we think we can grow to a similar level [as footwear]," says Mr Basso.

Mr Basso says that for Caterpillar, manufacturing will be sourced from Portugal and Turkey and adds that the sale of the clothing will be carefully targeted. "You won't see Caterpillar in the supermarkets. That is not right for the brand," says Mr Basso. Instead, he says that Debenhams, River Island, House of Fraser, and some sports shops will be targeted.

The next step for Pan World Brands, says Mr Basso, will be to buy brands outright. He says: "We are already in on-going discussions with several brands." So, as the company grows the more chance shoppers will have of buying a Pan World Brand item – without ever knowing about it.