A Quick Look at Under Armour

Kevin Plank, a former college football player at the University of Maryland, set out to capitalize on the perspiration that goes hand-in-hand with sports by creating a clothing that wouldn’t become saturated with sweat.

For those that are unfamiliar with the product, you can find it at any sporting goods store. Under Armour is thinly layered, tight fitting clothing that doesn’t hold moisture. For athletes, not only does it not weigh you down with sweat, but it also helps cool them. The science behind it is similar to that of perspiration. The clothing doesn’t hold moisture so it forces it to the top layer. It sits on the top of the top layer and when you catch a breeze, your body can cool by up to 35%.

From this simple concept a multi-million dollar a year business was born. It was all started with a twenty thousand dollar budget, and a lot of legwork. The company never spent a dime on print or media advertising until much later on. Instead, the success of the company relied on word of mouth. They passed out samples of their clothing to football players, who fell in love with the product almost instantly. Under Armour then received it’s first order for $15000.00 for Georgia Tech’s football team.

The equipment manager for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons was a close friend with the Georgia Tech head coach. Kevin Plank received a phone call asking if he could make the shirts in long-sleeved as well. Without a advertising budget, nor a well-recognized brand, Kevin made his first sale to a professional sports team. Before he knew it, Plank was receiving orders of hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise from professional sports teams and apparel shops all over the world.

It didn’t take long for bigger companies such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok to start developing entire product lines that they called ‘Dry Fit’ clothing. However, by the time those companies released their products, Under Armour already had established a firm grasp on the industry by signing contracts to provide athletic apparel to all major pro sports and most college sporting programs as well.