Under Armour Failure

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

Maryland football player. The company was born out of an idea to make a T-shirt that provided

a. Under Armour’s approach towards innovation is very unique, they think and plan out their projects thoroughly in order to create a one of a kind product that could be appealing to their consumers. The company has been extremely progressive throughout the years in order to stay ahead of the other competitive companies in their targeted industry. By constantly updating and coming up with different product lines, such as compression shirts and cleats, Under Armour is able to compete with other top athletic wear company’s in their market. If

​Under Armour is a great American success story by a young man with the determination to succeed in life. Mr. Plank grew his company by being different and becoming flexible in working in small

This paper commences by defining the problems that were faced by Lululemon Athletica Inc in 2013. After, the author explores the causes of the issues that the company was experiencing and the effects that they had on Lululemon Athletica Inc. The next step is to look at ways in which the issues could have been addressed both for the short-term and long-term. When all is said and done, the audience will fully appreciate why “Lululemon Athletica Inc should revert to its fundamentals – that is, to concentrate on the needs of the consumer”.

In 1995 the then captain of the University of Maryland football team, Kevin Plank came up with a brilliant idea that will revolutionize the athletic apparel industry forever: microfiber T-shirts designed to wick moisture away from the skin. Almost two decades later, Under Armour is a multi billion-dollar athletic apparel market competing directly with industry giants Nike and Adidas.

Under Armour was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank (Current CEO and Chairman of the company) and became publicly traded on NYSE in 2006. Under Armour’s core products were performance sport apparel, footwear, and accessories. Its main market is North America (95% of its revenue). Now, it is the second largest sports apparel companies in the U.S.

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

1. We chose to study Under Armour because of their explosive growth over the last five years in a very competitive industry. From a marketing standpoint, it is quite apparent that the company is doing well and one could assume that because the firm appears to have had great success in aggressively expanding their market share, they are by extension creating value for investors. By studying the financial information, we aimed to confirm or deny whether Under Armour is indeed creating value.

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.

Since the evolution of the company, Under Armour rapidly expands their business while some internal problems still exist. For example, unprotected intellectual property right issue and supplier relationship management. Also, the current business strategy was focusing on marketing, international expansion, product differentiation, and other expenses while they have weak financial management. These will certainly pose future problems to the company.

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.

The corporate tax rate has just decreased from 35% to 21% which is good news for UA but not as much as companies that do more business in the US and also for a company that has significantly less debt than the highly leveraged Under Armour has (The Economist, 2018). Social factors are quite important for the retail industry and in 2017 a large demographic for clothing sales, teens, spent less overall and claimed Under Armour a brand they did not wear and athleisure in general to not be preferred attire anymore (Reagan, 2017). Thus, Under Armour’s demographics changed just in the last year with teenagers claiming to not be wearers of the brand, and also the trend of athleisure coming to an end. Technology is an external environmental factor that affects Under Armour, but not as much its competitors in the industry. When fitness bands were introduced the company also came out with their own line of bands that proved unsuccessful and were discontinued (Booton, 2017). Under Armour maintained their fitness apps however and they are able to have an edge over their competitors by having all of this information

Cheng, Andria. "Underdog Under Armour Still Has a Long Way to Go to Catch up with Nike." Behind the Storefront RSS. N.p., 24 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. .

Under Armour is a very popular and well-known brand throughout the world, there are many reasons why this is the case and why they are very successful as a company. Under Armour creates value for their customers in many ways, one of these ways is with their basketball shoes. Customers wouldn't want to buy shoes if they didn't think it would be durable and a good shoe. Customers can trust Under Armour’s basketball shoe because it is a shoe that somebody in the NBA wears. This shows that someone is willing to trust their million-dollar contract with their shoes to help them get their well-earned money, and that shows to confidence in Under Armour. Under Armour also gives many different options that the customer can choose from. They offer different technologies, materials, and articles of clothing. There are many different technologies they have, but I will only list a few. One of these technologies is cool switch, this helps athletes perform longer because the clothing will keep them cool and save them from sweating as much which helps save energy. Also, they offer many different materials in case a customer is allergic to a certain type of material there is always another so that they don't lose a customer. They also offer all different types of clothing so that whatever you need they'll have. Based on this research it proves that Under Armour has done so much to get where they are and be as successful as they are.