The Rise & Fall of Under Armour

I remember seeing Under Armour everywhere and it's only this video that made me realise how long it's been that I haven't seen them anywhere.

"You didn’t need a billion data points, hundreds of software engineers, and fitness tracking apps to tell you that Under Armor’s biggest problem was that its products were ugly." That's brutal lol

Last year Steph curry had a monster game in game 4 of the nba finals and partially attributed his performance to his shoes in a unique purple color way. Consumer demand for those specific shoes was incredibly high, yet it took UA months to release it to the public and the hype died down in the meantime

As a senior data analyst myself, I have to say your point about the limitations of data is 100% correct! If you collect data without a strategy for interpretation or use then you're collecting noise, and costing your company in server space and analyst salaries without giving any value. Data's power is in answering ambiguous questions where clear data points can make a difference, not in collecting a hodgepodge of loosely related points and hoping that you find something everyone else missed.

Under Armor’s biggest weakness is it’s complete inability to be fashionable. Only athletes wear under armor only and when training or competing in their sport. Nothing will ever change this if signing Steph Curry couldn’t make a difference. It’s not even that the brand isn’t cool, it’s just that it somehow always looks out of place with casual attire. It’s like their entire inventory gives off the same vibe as baseball cleats

To me the difference between what made UA flop and Nike/Adidas success is not just shoes, it’s because they transformed their active wear into fashion wear. Even people who don’t ever exercise will wear Nike or Adidas but people only wear UA for functionality. They didn’t change with the times and the times left them behind.

Weirdly specific Under Armor fact. They actually produce some Hilton Uniforms. I worked front desk at a Florida Hilton until last week, and all our uniforms were produced by Under Armor. Their shirts were actually amazing quality. 2 years, pin name tags, and constant movement; with the laundry skills of a barely 21 year old, later, and they still look brand new.

"When you come from millions, you seek billions, and when you achieve your billions, you seek purpose" I love this quote

Under Armour seems to do really well in two places... 1. Under Armour polos are the IT guy office casual uniform. 2. At the gym and in high school/college athletics they seem to be doing pretty well relative to the other big brands. I didn't know they were going through any financial turmoil until this video.

Under armours problem is they put their logo on their shoes. They haven’t developed a design language to communicate “hey this is an under armour shoe” without a logo yet. (Like adidas 3 stripes) The logo always looks out of place because it doesn’t go well with the style lines and direction of sneakers. Under armour logo has style lines that point in a vertical direction and shoes have horizontal styles lines. + the logo is just ugly (In my opinion)

Perfect example of a company not understanding and adapting with the changing market, at a certain point all these other companies had moisture wicking fabric that looked better, they never had a fashionable shoe, and they wasted a billion dollars on health/fitness data while Nike, adidas, puma and even new balance pump out iconic street fashion all while also providing performance wear

25:15 "You didn't need a billion data points, hundreds of software engineers, and fitness tracking to apps to tell you that Under Armour's biggest problem was that its products were ugly." WOW!

Under Armor desperately needed/needs a successful overhaul of their shoe design language. There have always been aspects of their shoes that I liked, but I could never pull the trigger due to the overall look.

damn I remember when I was in college there were kids doing business reports on how successful Under Armor was, now a decade later I can't remember the last time I saw anything from the brand.

I wore under armour tank tops working as a package handler at UPS. They were great in the hot and humid summers

I've never seen an Under Armor shoe that I've liked, and their clothes that aren't specifically for training just come across as something a dad would wear to his kid's Saturday morning soccer game with his Yeti tumbler full of coffee. Aside from Nike and Adidias, I think that's where a company specifically like Puma has really thrived, being more fashion-forward outside the actual realm of athletics, to get the casual person interested in their products. To me, an Under Armor quarter-zip is as quintessential to the peak dad-core aesthetic as the pair of pristine white New Balances.

Almost every kid on our field wears UA everything because it’s $5 cheaper & have more options in little sizes. If they chose to specialize in kids athletic wear, they’d thrive.

This is crazy too see considering I’m from Baltimore (UA Headquarters) and literally everyone wears Under Armour… I would have never guessed this

Please do a video on the stagnation of Asics and how they became lumbered as a dad brand, and seen as behind the times with their long running gel technology. Their shoe sales had slipped considerably, and they lost a lot of market share in running. As well as their stock price cratered. ASICS was definitely seen as not cool. Three years ago ASICS was largely in the same boat as Under Armour in many respects. To how they have now completely turned around their business in 2023. They are now one of the fastest growing street fashion brands (their Y2K sneakers have become really trendy these days). They have established Onitsuka Tiger as a very profitable sub brand and premium fashion brand (many celebrities are wearing their iconic Mexico 66s). And their sales are booming in China, India, and South East Asia. They have also clawed back a good chunk of market share in running with innovative and modern looking shoes (with new foams and modernized gel). They have even become the number one brand in Tennis shoes. Beating Nike in this area. They have been posting record profits for the last three financial quarters. They have even gotten their stock price up from 15 dollars a share to about 50 dollars a share based on their record profits. I think Asics would make a fantastic case study in how to turn a sports brand around, and actually start to become cool/trendy. Basically what UA has so far failed to do.

Underarmour is still my go to for gym wear.