The brand of sportswear Under Armour is booming, With the brand in the process of generating about $4 billion in sales this year. Have a look at these amazing Facts About Under Armour below!
The market share of the company has exploded in the U.S. due to its memorable marketing campaigns as well as the ability of the company to select spokesmodels at the time they’re close to reaching the highest level of their profession: Misty Copeland, Stephen Curry as well as Tom Brady to name a few.
However, Under Armour had humble beginnings and has had to overcome many unexpected obstacles and highs in achieving its multibillion-dollar growth. Explore the most interesting information concerning Under Armour.
Facts About Under Armour
1. Founded in 1996
Under Armour being smaller than Nike isn’t a surprise when you consider that it was established in 1996. Also, it’s a relative newcomer compared to the majority of corporations it competes with. Furthermore, it is competing against established companies in the particular market that it is in, and its development could have been more difficult due to the difficulties.
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2. Founded By Kevin Plank
The person who founded Under Armour is Kevin Plank, who is the company’s CEO. Back in the day, Plank was a special teams captain of the team that played for the University of Maryland, which helped him acquire some of the abilities that helped him be successful. In the beginning, Plank based his operations in the basement of his grandmother’s house and nowhere else; however it wasn’t long before his previous success had allowed Plank to move to a different location.
3. First Team Sale in 1996
To give a sense of his success, think about how he could get his first-team sale at the close of 1996. This is quite impressive because, during that time, Plank had spent a significant amount of time traveling across and across the East Coast with his stock in his car, working as a traveling salesman for his product. This is why it is no surprise that he could get $17,000 in sales in 1996 ought to make it evident how much progress he made in a short time.
4. Inspired By His Own Experiences
His memories strongly influenced the ideas for his product as an athlete. For instance, He developed a hatred for the reality that his shirts would get wet when worn underneath his team’s jersey. But, he observed that the compression pants were worn for similar events and managed to stay dry for the duration. This is why Plank decided to design T-shirts made of wicking fabric, which would pull moisture off the skin rather than being soaked by it as their counterparts made from cotton.
5. One of the First to Start Selling Moisture-Wicking Apparel
In the end, Plank was one of the first people to begin selling sportswear that wicked away moisture. This was possible because he decided to use microfibers, which resulted in athletes who wore them being pleasant, dry, and cool, even when they were working hard. The concept was an enormous success, so several major brands like Nike and Adidas will soon follow in the footsteps of Plank.
6. Got Some Help from Old Connections
However, Plank had some help through old friendships he developed throughout his university football player. The short version was that several players from his team had progressed to professional NFL players. When Plank developed his idea of wicking moisture, the right people were to be the first customers to the product would be presented. They were his acquaintances or were otherwise familiar with them. In addition, they were well-known, which is especially important when selling products based on reputation.
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7. Chose British Spelling Because of Circumstances
Under Armour uses the British instead of American spelling. This may seem odd because Plank was an American citizen, and Under Armour is an American company. But Plank ended up choosing the British spelling due to circumstances. This was because the vanity toll-free number used for “Under Armor” wasn’t available at the time, while the vanity number that was toll-free used for “Under Armour” still was. In conjunction with the product’s characteristics, which enabled Plank’s company to gain entry into the market, it was the obvious option.
8. Needed to Found a Factory in 1997
It was no surprise that Plank’s product gained popularity with those contacted by him. The result was that people began to talk about the wicking clothing’s moisture to other athletes and their friends and family, an example of marketing via word of mouth. Due to this word-of-mouth marketing, growing numbers of people were interested in their products of Plank and, in the end, in 1997, he was forced to establish manufacturing facilities in Ohio. Ohio to produce the right amount of his clothing to meet the orders for his products placed with his company.
9. A Booster from Movies
The placement of products in films is an established method of attracting attention from consumers. For Under Armour, the brand received an enormous boost due to a couple of films produced by Warner Brothers, with one being Any Given Sunday and the other being The Replacements. Plank used its release Any Given Sunday to place an advertisement inside ESPN The Magazine, which could have been costly but was surprisingly worth it when it went on to make around $750,000 of sales to his company.
10. Became Official Outfitter for the XFL
In addition, Under Armour received another boost when it was named the official outfitter of the XFL, which many might recall as an official football league that was praised for its rules being less strict and thus promoting more rough play than its counterpart. The main force in the XFL is Vince McMahon. It is likely to be no surprise to learn that the entire thing incorporated many elements from what was known as the World Wrestling Federation. But the XFL was not able to last beyond its first season, even though it is believed that McMahon is working to revive it so it can have an attempt to revive it.
11. Had IPO in November of 2005
In November 2005, Under Armour had its IPO, which is the time when an organization offers its stock to buyers for the first time. It’s enough to say That Under Armour’s IPO allowed it to raise $153 million, which is extremely important capital. Since businesses cannot expand without the resources to support this growth. Hence, the $153 million raised helped expand its operations, especially when paired with the money of $12 million a private equity company gave it in 2003.
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12. Has Gone Outside of Athletes for Celebrity Endorsements
Under Armour has been known to be a bit more neo-traditional in the case of endorsements by celebrities. For instance, it’s the largest supporter of the Duck Dynasty, which has made it into a successful reality show despite or possibly because of its controversial aspects. Particularly, it’s important to note the fact that Under Armour has supported its cast member Phil Robertson, who has been a bit controversial due to comments that referred to homosexuality as an offense and a lengthy and extremely graphic rant in which he detailed how he killed an atheist family, before ending by having the murderers claim that since they believed they did not believe in God and that they were “having fun” because there was no right or right or wrong.
13. Famous for their Contract with Stephen Curry
In general, Under Armour is very popular for its partnership with Stephen Curry, who has become the brand’s face significantly. This is especially true since Curry has proven to be among the most talented players on the planet, which results in the significance of his line of products growing and increasing. His footwear influences the overall performance of the company.
14. Tried to Get Kevin Durant
And speaking of that, Under Armour has made an effort to acquire Kevin Durant. Under Armour offered Durant a contract valued at $250 million over ten years to take the lead over Nike. The problem was that Nike did not disappoint and was fully prepared to challenge the offer. This is why Durant was awarded the $300 million contract instead.
15. Has Been the Subject of a Minor Kerfuffle Between Curry and Durant
It’s funny to consider it amusing to note that Under Armour has been the victim of a minor fight with Curry as well as Durant. What transpired was that Durant was able to take a few shots on Under Armour while playing up Nike products and got a reaction from his teammate Curry, who, of course, was representing Under Armour. However, the possibility of significant drama on other teams more or less ended up being a stalemate if Curry and Durant engaged in a short discussion within the locker rooms. On the other hand, it wasn’t very thrilling to observe outside. On the other side, it could be seen as a positive indication of the team’s unity.
16. Took a Hit During 2014 Winter Olympics
The funny thing is that Under Armour was hit in 2014’s Winter Olympics because it had provided suits to U.S. speed-skating athletes. Initially, the athletes showed an unsatisfactory performance in the suits. This seemed to convince them that their suits were at fault. In the end, they decided to take off the suits to replace their older ones. This was followed by them losing regardless. Overall, there was no real evidence that Under Armour’s product caused poor performance of the speed skaters. Still, the company’s stock price declined by over 2 percent due to stock investors being notoriously volatile.
17. Has Bought Apps
In recent years, Under Armour has bought several apps and app-makers that are not directly tied to its operations but have connections to it somehow. An excellent example is app maker MapMyFitness, which was bought by the company for $115 million back in November 2013. Another great example is MyFitnessPal, with a far greater sum of $475 million. It is an app designed to track calories and other nutrition applications.
18. It has teamed up with IBM.
And speaking of which, Under Armour has a collaboration with IBM. It’s not a shoe or apparel deal. It’s more of a partnership. Under Armour has teamed with IBM to use IBM’s Watson system to gain a better understanding of the information it has gathered by using the U.A. Record app and other sources. In simple terms, the advancements in technology enable modern businesses to obtain a large amount of valuable information about their clients. But, there’s such a large amount of data that it is difficult to convert it into something useful to humans. That’s where IBM’s Watson system comes into the picture.
19. Relatively Balanced Between Men and Women
According to the company’s demographic data, its client base is fairly balanced between women and men, although not always. The data shows that 53 % of its customers are male; however, only 47 percent are women. This means that there are some gaps between the two. In addition, interesting information and instances range from the way Under Armour does best with younger customers to the extent to which almost half of its customer base falls within the $75,000-$149,000 household income price range.
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20. The YouTube ad was removed.
It’s interesting to see it is interesting to note that Under Armour has pulled its advertisements off YouTube. What happened was that a sloppy operation on the part of YouTube led to the advertisements of several major advertisers being displayed on extremist content on extremist websites. It’s no surprise that these advertisers were not thrilled about seeing their brand names linked to such content, which led to some backlash. In the case of Under Armour, the backlash came from the basic and easy but very noteworthy decision to not continue to advertise on YouTube.
