Case Study Of Under Armor

Competitors in the industry can wreak havoc on the bottom line for a company. With rivals, a price competition usually ensues, which benefits the customers but hurts the competing businesses that share a common strategy. In reviewing rival sellers, many competitors exist within the sports apparel and footwear industry, but most of them are unable to compete with the industry giants, Nike and Adidas. They are well seated in the industry and their sales reveal this ultimate strength, however, Under Armour is putting pressure on these mammoths. In 2015, global sales of sports clothing and footwear equated to $250 billion, of which Nike grabbed $30.6 billion, Adidas held in its grasp $18.8 billion and Under Armour had a much smaller piece of the pie, at $3.9 billion globally. In reviewing these numbers, it looks like Under Armour is really subpar to the industry giants, but this is not exactly the case. Under Armour in the past couple of

Kevin Plank, the founder of Under Armour sports apparel line is a brilliant businessman. This former college football player started making work-out T-shirts from his grandmother’s basement; seventeen years later, the company is generating billions of dollars in revenue. Kevin Plank has created a brand that is more than just a fancy success story. The Under Armour’s mission in the sporting goods industry is to “make all athletes better through passion, design, and the relentless pursuit of innovation (Thompson, 2014, C-53).” This company is more than just a fancy success story. VIRO Analysis reported, Under Armour has been growing its revenue at a rate of +20% for 5 consecutive years, which is extremely impressive. The company’s financial

Under Armour is a very famous sportswear company in the world. It sold products in three categories: apparel, footwear, and accessories. It had a wide variety of innerwear and outerwear in the apparel segment, a broad line of footwear, and a line of accessories for both men and women. Kevin A. Plank, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Under Armour (UA), was a walk-on special team’s player for University of Maryland football team. As an athlete, he knew what kind of sportswear material would be popular for athletes. Under Armour created a new category of sports apparel: “performance apparel” which focused on the athlete’s performance. In this segment, it had a 78% market in 2009. Because, it paid more attentions on quality, performance

Under Armour’s continuous focus on innovation to develop products based on the growing needs and preferences of consumers has helped it to become a fully integrated athletic brand servicing all the needs of athletes. For instance, in 2011, the company introduced Charged Cotton products, which are made from natural cotton but perform like synthetic products and dry faster. Strom Fleece product line with a water-resistant that repels water, without stifling airflow was one of the innovation of Under Armour. In 2012, the company launched coldblack

In the meantime Under Armour has been the pioneer in the latest technology in athletics gear; the second step would be how to transfer the technology into fashionable designs that could satisfy female’s needs and taste. By centering on direct market segment, UA can be the leader and innovator of the female’s market with most fashionable and technologically athletics gear products.

Under Armour Inc. is a relatively new competitor in providing high quality and functional sporting goods. Under Armour Inc. encompasses footwear, apparel, and accessories for all types of sport enthusiasts. The company currently provides jobs to about 10,700 employees. However, they are still up and coming and are expected to create new opportunities and work for many others. Their main headquarter is located in Maryland, Baltimore. Though they operate all over North America, Asia, and certain countries of Europe. Throughout all their operations they mostly sell through retailers and whole sale. In addition, they do have factory outlets and their own “direct to consumer” channels located in North America. Under Armour has really been on the

Under Armour is a widely known and financially successful corporation in today’s athletic apparel and performance industry; however nineteen years ago it all began with one man’s vivid idea. Kevin Plank, a young aspiring athlete and special team’s captain for the University of Maryland football team, was the first in 1996 to formulize an idea with purpose to provide athletes with a shirt to fit their workout and game needs. As any athlete knows cotton is not the best choice for vigorous activity since this fabric does not dry quickly. This notion is what catapulted Plank’s idea. He put his ideas into motion by creating a blend of fabrics that worked best for the comfort of athletes as this was his main goal. Plank named his company Under Armour and based it upon one shirt that he advertised as “a tight fitting, moisture wicking t-shirt that supports your muscles and regulates your body temperature” (Under Armour, Inc.). He worked determinedly out of his car and his

Despite multiple potential points of contention within the plan itself, Under Armor should attempt to build the new complex at Port Covington. With steady growth and revenue generation, now is the perfect chance to rise up and truly compete with Nike for the number one sports apparel brand. The creation of this facility is the personification of that effort. This is a huge investment on the part of Under Armor, and should not be taken lightly, but it will pay dividends for Under Armor and Baltimore at large.

The article entitled Under Armour Overtakes Adidas in U.S. Sportswear market, written by Germano, claims that Nike is number one seller of sportswear & footwear in the US market followed by Under Armor. Adidas was directly behind Nike in the US market yet it lost its No. 2 position in the acutely focused U.S. sportswear advertise a year ago to Under Armor Inc., which expanded both clothing and footwear deals at its German adversary's cost. Nike has long held the top roost in U.S. offers of sweats and tennis shoes, with its Nike and Jordan brands representing more than 90% of the American business sector for basketball shoes. Be that as it may, both the footwear and attire divisions of Nike and Under Armor expanded their piece of the overall

income they may buy more clothing, increasing sales for clothing manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. However, recessions have the opposite effect. Sales for clothing may be significantly lower due to many clothes being luxury items. If this happen retailers are stuck with large amounts of inventory which they might have to sell at reduced prices. The demand for more clothes, changing materials and demand for price there outside factors playing a role. One consequence of the rapidly expanding worldwide system of trade flows in clothing is that individual companies are not only competing more and more intensely with one another but are also becoming more functionally integrated with one another across the globe. (Scott, 2006). The sports

Under Armour has severely limited its product offerings due to its primary target market, which is geared mainly towards male athletes, aged 12-24. Their lack of diversity is a notable competitive disadvantage to industry rivals Nike and Adidas. However, we have recently witnessed the growth in demand for athletic-wear apparel - 6% (Marc Bain), as well as the growth in female sports engagement across the United States (Statista). A potential strategic alternative could be to significantly expand on their athletic apparel line. This expansion would primarily target female athletes within the same male target range. In order to enhance the success in this field, they should continue to add to the eight women (Under Armour Roster) who are currently apart of the Under Armour endorsement roster.

At first I thought that Under Armor would be an exception to this but then I realized that they don’t have exclusive deals with the manufacturers that they acquire their fabrics from to make their products. Therefore if one of its rivals ever wanted to they could possible acquire some of the innovative fabric that Under Armour uses and then use the fabric you produce similar products.

The rapid success of Under Armour is not a mistake. The company dominates the performance apparel category. According to Founder Kevin Plank, “The mission of Under Armour is to make technically advanced products that are engineered with superior fabric construction, to provide proven innovation available to the masses-aimed at making athletes perform better” (UnderArmour.com). Under Armour uses many marketing initiatives including athlete endorsement, product placement, and popular culture which illustrates the success of Under Armour.

This Business Week article is essentially a consumer product test in regards to Under Armour 's first foray into cross-training footwear. The article describes the three different versions UA will release and goes on to describe both aesthetic and comfort features having tried the shoes on and participated in athletic activity. The writer gives all three shoes high marks, ending by saying "anyone who thinks Adidas, Nike, New Balance, or Reebok don 't have anything to worry about from UA isn 't paying attention".

It all started in 1995 when Kevin Plank, a special team’s captain on the University of Maryland football team, noticed that the cotton the T-shirts he and his teammates wore underneath their pads were always soaked and heavy with sweat. Plank said “There has to be something better”. He didn’t realize but that one, simple remark would soon launch the performance apparel Under Armour. After he graduated, he set out to make a superior T–shirt—one that stayed light and dry even in the nastiest conditions and Mr. Plank has grew is organization form that.