Under Armour Kevin Plank History

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,

Nike was founded on January 25, 1964, as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight (Citation) and was officially named Nike Inc. on May 30, 1971. The company initially operated as a distributer for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (Citation). Nike first started making shoes by the help of Bowerman. He made track shoes for Phil Knight, a track and field athlete, at the time, attending the University of Oregon. In Blue Ribbon Sports first year of business, they sold 1,300 pairs of running shoes. In 1966, Blue Ribbon Sports opened their first retail store located in Santa Monica, California next to a beauty salon (Citation). Then the infamous Nike swoosh was created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson (Citation). The company has been flourishing ever since opening and is showing nothing, but upside for its consumers.

Under Armour (UA) was founded by a then 23-year old football player from the University of Maryland in 1996 named Kevin Plank. Kevin started the company from his grandmother’s basement in Washington, D.C. As a player he became tired of having to change his undershirts which became quickly soaked with perspiration. A revelation he made was that his compression shorts worn during practice remained dry even with heavy sweating. This inspired him to make a t-shirt using moisture-wicking synthetic fabric. After graduating, Plank developed his first prototype of the shirt, which he gave to his Maryland teammates and friends who had gone on to play in the NFL. He soon perfected the design of the shirt which utilized microfibers that quickly wicked

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

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.

1. Under Armour was founded in 1995 by Kevin Plank. Kevin played football at the University of Maryland and noticed how often he and he’s teammates had to change their undershirts because of all of the sweat they absorbed. The sweat the shirts absorbed made the shirts much heavier and more uncomfortable. He then noticed that the compressions shorts he was wearing were not nearing as heavy and didn’t absorb the sweat the shirt did. This one simple observation kick-started his experimentation to develop a t-shirt for athletes. He experimented with different fabrics in his grandmothers basements until he thought he created the perfect shirt. He sent the shirts to friends that played in the NFL. After receiving feedback, he perfected the design and made his first deal with Georgia Tech, from there the company took off.

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, a publicly traded company, was founded in 1996 by its CEO, Kevin Plank. Plank attended the University of Maryland where he played football. He was tired of having to change his cotton shirts over and over again when the football team had multiple practices a day, so he came up with a solution for the cotton shirts. This solution would re-design athletic apparel for the market. Plank designed a t-shirt that was, according to Under Armour (Under Armour), “…engineered with moisture-wicking performance fibers.” This design would help keep athletes cool, dry, and light while training and competing in the heat. Plank started selling his design from the trunk of his car as he drove up and down the East Coast, and his sales sky-rocketed

Under Armour was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank , a then 23-year old former special team’s captain of the University of Maryland football team. Plank initially began the business from his grandmother 's basement in Washington, D.C. As a fullback at the University of Maryland , Plank got tired of having to change out of the sweat-soaked T-shirts worn under his jersey; however, he noticed that his compression shorts worn during practice stayed dry. This inspired him to make a T-shirt using moisture-wicking synthetic fabric. After graduating from the University of Maryland , Plank developed his first prototype of the shirt, which he gave to his Maryland

“On January 25, 1964 Nike, formerly known as Blue Ribbon Sports was founded by Bill Bowerman and Phillip Knight. It officially became Nike Incorporated on May 30, 1978”(Nike Business). During the late 70s to early 80s Nike’s initial focus was Track and Field but later expanded into various sports such as : soccer, golf, hockey and basketball just to name a few.” In 1980, Nike entered the decade on the success of its Nike Air technology, and at the end of that year Nike completed its initial public offering (IPO) and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. The reason for going public was typically viewed as a means of raising addition capital without having to borrow, and also increase the company’s profile by

An analysis of Nike’s stock from when it went public in 1980 to now shows a clear upward trend overall. It should be noted, however, that in 2015 Nike issued a 2-1 stock split which in effect increases its number of outstanding shares while at the same time, lowers the price. This makes the stock more favorable to smaller investors looking to own Nike.

Under Armour is in the Textile- Apparel Clothing industry, in the consumer goods sector. The market has been driven by economic recovery, new product offerings and a

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.

Nike was founded under the name Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964. In 1972 the first pair of sports shoes was sold and experienced enormous growth and achieved a 50% market share within the sports shoe market in the US only eight years later.

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