Under Armour : Design And Relentless Pursuit Of Innovation

Under Armour, Nike and Adidas are the top three brands known worldwide. These three companies were able to gain a strong brand to make a name for themselves in the sports apparel market today. On the other hand, Under Armour has become one of the top leading distributing companies to offer athletic apparel, footwear amongst many other things. “In 2013, Under Armour had a 14.7 percent share of the U.S market, compared quite favorably with Nike’s 27 percent market share and Adidas’s 7.4 percent market share.” (C-50) However, the company’s path of success can come crashing down as you take a look

Under Armour’s rapid rise in the sports apparel industry under its founder and CEO Kevin Plank has surprised many. Plank has turned a company that he started in his grandmother’s basement into a powerful opposing force to Nike. The company’s competitive advantage comes through its focus on performance, and its products have been well received by athletes. The company currently enjoys a strong position as professional athletes and movie and video game creators clamor for its products.

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

Under Armour’s business strategy towards market segmentation is broken down into three different basis; Age, Gender, Uses. The first major market segmentation is by age, different age groups demand different products and Under Armour has produced certain merchandise to appeal to each generation. The second is Gender, both male and female respectively make up roughly 50% of the market equally.To appeal to females UA produces apparel in brighter colo, as a fashion forward athletic wear. While for males they they cater toward masculine vibe of tight fitting and resistant to wear and tear. Lastly, UA segments by the range of uses for their products.

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

Kevin Plank, a former University football player, had a vision to create apparel products for athletes that would be made of a supreme moisture-wicking synthetic fabric. In 1996 after leaving the University of Maryland, he set forth to put his vision to action and in 1996 he founded KP Sports and began to work the phone lines, selling to his teammates straight out of his trunk. KP Sports was ran and operated from Plank’s grandmother’s basement where he ran business on a tight budget. Revenue grew exponentially fast for KP Sports and soon became Under Armour, a multibillion-dollar corporation with sales that came from 6,000 North American retail stores and 2,000 retail stores overseas in 2006. Under Armour strategic growth and management decisions lead them to compete with brands like Nike and Adidas.

Under Armour’s (UA) current CEO Kevin Kant founded the company in 1996, which has witnessed the company grow in recent years to become a key player in the sporting gear and apparel industry. UA focuses its products and marketing efforts towards the youth, men, and women. The amount of resources that are allocated to each group of customers differs in that initially, UA primary source of revenue was from men even if youth and women products were also produced and sold. The specificity of UA’s products and their sporting activities selectivity can be attributed to UA’s limited global market share in the sporting gear and apparel industry. The company’s mission statement is inspiring, but in order to gain competitive advantages against larger

In 1996, Under Armour,Inc. (UA) was founded by Kevin Plank as a former University of Maryland football player. Kevin Plank started his business with the idea of alteration athlete’s T-shirt. The shirt uses moisture-wicking fabrics to keep athletes cool and dry, and worked in a body to regulate temperature for enhancing athlete performance (Under Aumour, “About Under Armour” n.d.). Under Armour’s mission statement is to make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation (Under Aumour, “Brand Mission”n.d.). Under Armour has developed different product for athletes to use in different seasons for men, women, and youth such as HeatGear that is designed to be worn in high temperatures,

In today’s athletic market world, being the number one is what many athletes strive for—that is what sets the standards for many sport clothing companies, to deliver products that allow athletes increase their performance while striving to take the number “one” spot. Under Armour works to deliver products that do that and more. Under Armour is currently one of the leading companies in the sports apparel industry whose mission is to “Make all athletes better through passion, design, and the relentless pursuit of innovation” (Under Armour, Inc). Baltimore, Maryland-based Under Armour, founded in 1996 by ex-football player Kevin Plank, who transformed the sports apparel industry by creating apparel that used synthetic materials as an alternative to natural fibers, such as cotton, or other materials, such as polyester. Plank’s mission was to develop a shirt using synthetic materials that handled perspiration most efficiently than was previously expected. Under Armour’s ability to target their products to a wide range of potential clients has enhanced their ability to continue to grow within the athletic marketplace. Under Armour, it is classified as a high-end fitness clothing supplier that appeals to a diverse income audience. This audience has been reached by the outstanding advertising strategies and that include men, women and children. Under Armour currently uses a mixture of pull marketing and different campaigns for its diverse product lines. The overall goal for Under

Under Armour, Inc. is ranked among the established sports Kit producers across the globe. It thus enjoys massive sales in several markets. Under Armour has its headquarters Baltimore, Maryland with Kevin Plank as the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Robin Thurston as the Chief Finance Office. The company is committed to developing its brand continuously through advertisement. It is presently listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market with a share price of $46.99. The company through its CEO believes that for the company to remain viable in the market, it has to ensure that that its products satisfy the taste of the consumers (Thompson, 2015). Clearly, this has bored fruits, basing the argument on the high consumer

The major weakness that has been identified is the lack of Under Armour’s lack of establishment and footprint of the brand around the world. Over 90% of the company's revenue comes from the North American market, which is a major source of concern. They are starting to become a larger brand in the golfing world which will help them gain market share in the western world but still doesn’t help with eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. They can change this by sponsoring and equipping more soccer and cricket athletes and teams. These are some of the two largest sports in the world and if they are able to get their brand associated with these sports Under Armor will easily become a household

Under Armour was founded in 1996 by a former collegiate football player named Kevin Plank. Plank first developed the idea for this brand through his own personal need and desire, as a collegiate athlete at the University of Maryland, for a product that didn’t exist in the market at the time. Since its inception, Under Armour has continued to grow immensely and expand upon its continued success. However, Under Armour still has a lot more room to grow and a lot of potential within their industry. Perhaps their biggest strategic issue right now is that they rely too heavily on North America for their business. They have done very well from themselves in North America so far. Now is the time for them to leave their comfort zone within North America

Founded in 1996 by University of Maryland graduate Kevin Plank, Under Armour has become the leading supplier of the athletic performance apparel industry. Under Armour began with simple idea to create a t-shirt that would enhance athletic performance by regulating body temperature and removing perspiration

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.

Under Armour is currently one of the leading companies in the sports apparel industry whose mission is to “Make all athletes better through passion, science, and the relentless pursuit of innovation”.1 When Under Armour first broke into the sports apparel industry it was a disruptive pioneer that initially made the two giants, Nike and Adidas, a little weary. Under Armour revolutionized the sports apparel industry by creating apparel that used synthetic materials as an alternative to natural fibers, such as cotton, or other materials, such as polyester. This all-important switch to these materials resulted in a 2“shirt that provided compression and wicked perspiration off your skin rather than absorb it. A