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“Hey, excuse me. Yeah, how are you doing?”
“Hey, can you tell me where the Under Armour coal black golf gear is?”
“Are you?”
“Tom Brady.” “From Boston?”
“Your accent!
Hey, where’s the Under Armour!?”
Under Armour is one of the top three sportswear brands in
the world — worth $12 billion.
The company is widely known for creating t-shirts that could wick away sweat faster
than anything else on the market, while keeping athletes cool, dry and light.
The idea came to mind after a college football player realized his biggest
opponent was his own buckets of sweat.
The cotton t-shirts he had to wear on the field would constantly get
soaked and even drag him down.
Eager to perform at his best, he used all of his savings and maxed out his credit
cards to create an alternative from his grandmother’s basement — hitting rock
bottom for many years before outfitting leagues like the NFL, MLB, and NHL.
Kevin Plank was born in 1972 in Kensington, Maryland, as the youngest of
five brothers to a middle class family.
His mother was the mayor of Kensington before directing the Office of
Intergovernmental Affairs, and his father worked as a land developer.
As the youngest in his family, Kevin was forced to become athletic to escape
his brothers’ “babysitting.” While his parents were away, his brothers
often looked after him by giving him a wedgie, putting him on a coat hanger,
and then shoving him in a closet.
Overtime, the athletic skills Kevin built up led to a passion
for sports, specifically football, which he pursued at Georgetown Prep.
There, Kevin played football on the varsity squad — up until he was kicked out.
After failing not one but two classes, Kevin got into a drunken brawl with some
Georgetown University football players.
At that point, Georgetown Prep had enough of Kevin not living up to their
standards and decided to expel him.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Kevin to find a new school.
St. John’s College High School took notice of his football skills and invited him to attend.
Kevin gladly accepted their offer.
Having been given a second chance, Kevin started to take
school and sports more seriously.
He wanted to play more than just varsity football and hoped to get recruited
for Division I college football.
Sadly, he never received a single recruitment offer.
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Hellbent on not giving up on his dream, Kevin graduated from St.
John’s early and enrolled in Fork Union Military Academy — a school with
a reputation for sending NFL hopefuls to top college football programs.
But once again, history repeated itself, and Kevin never received an offer.
Eventually, Kevin decided to enroll in the University of Maryland’s
business administration program.
There, he played for their football team, the Terrapins, as a walk-on — a player who is
recruited without an athletics scholarship.
Overtime, Kevin managed to work his way up to becoming the
Terrapins’ special teams captain.
And somehow, when he wasn’t in class or on the field, he worked
various odd jobs like selling roses on campus and t-shirts at concerts.
Kevin seemingly had it all together — balancing school, sports, and work.
But during his sophomore year, he received devastating news that threw him off.
His father had passed away from blood cancer.
Following the tragic loss of his father, Kevin threw himself into
sports but found himself constantly struggling to perform at his best.
The cotton shirts he had to wear under his uniform would alway soak up his
sweat, drag him down on the field, and then leave him feeling cold, wet,
and heavy; a feeling that he hated.
Kevin became eager to find an alternative but discovered none existed on the
market — leading to a realization that could possibly change that.
One day, Kevin noticed that his Lycra compression shorts — form-fitting garments
made from a variety of synthetic fabrics — always seemed to stay dry during workouts.
He wondered why he had never seen shirts made with the same material and
started looking for something similar.
The only products he could find were high-priced clothes for cold
weather climbing — meant to keep people dry and safe from hypothermia.
Kevin then wondered if it was possible to create something more affordable
and quickly decided to try on his own.
Kevin first began by visiting a tailor shop to learn about the different synthetic
fabrics and make note of his favorites.
He then spent hundreds of dollars making prototypes and passed them
out to fellow Terrapin athletes, like lacrosse player, Kip Fulks.
Many of them gave Kevin suggestions on what to improve on — leading to his 37th
and most favorable design, the Shorty.
The Shorty was a soft, skintight, and stretchy microfiber shirt that
could wipe away sweat, while keeping athletes feeling cool, dry, and light.
Kevin was so confident that he had created an alternative to cotton that while his
UMD classmates looked for stable jobs after graduating, he used all of his
savings and maxed out his credit cards to turn his product into a business.
It was a stressful decision.
Kevin was betting everything he had, but fortunately, he wasn’t alone.
He had managed to win over Terrapin lacrosse player, Kip Fulks, to join him
as the co-founder of his new business.
Together, the two headed to New York City’s famous garment district to learn more about
the industry’s supply chain and find a company that could manufacture more Shorty’s.
Around this time, Kevin realized it was time to finally come up with a business name.
At first, Kevin wanted to call it Heart, since you wear your Heart on your sleeve, but
his trademark application didn’t go through.
His next choice was Body Armour, but that was already taken by body shops
and ballistic vest manufacturers.
The perfect name later came in the least likely of places.
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The morning that Kevin learned Body Armour wasn’t available, he made lunch
plans with his oldest brother, Bill.
When Kevin showed up at his door, Bill looked out at him and asked,
“How’s that company you’re working on?
Under Armor?”
While many would have been upset by his cluelessness, Kevin was
happy to have found a new name.
After making the name Under Armour official, Kevin and Kip set out
to spread the word about the Shorty’s — later renamed the HeatGear.
The two began by sending freebies to anyone who would take them, and pleaded with
some to pass them out to sports players.
Some players, like Jim Druckenmiller, tried them out and quickly became early advocates.
While buzz about Under Armour was growing, the company had yet to make any
profit — forcing Kevin to become so broke that he had to turn to his mom for food.
Desperate to get back on his feet, Kevin headed out to a blackjack tournament
in Atlantic City, hoping to win enough money to pay off $6,000 in unpaid bills.
Fortunately, Kevin got lucky and managed to win that amount.
But then he pushed his luck too far by continuing to play and lost it all.
Without a penny to his name, Kevin couldn’t afford the $2 toll on the bridge to get home.
At that moment, he felt like he had finally hit rock bottom — unaware
that orders would soon come to him.
One day, Kevin got a call from Georgia Tech.
The university’s football team, Yellow Jackets, wanted to know if his Under
Armour shirts came in a long sleeved cut.
Kevin immediately told them yes — even though they didn’t actually exist.
Then, he rushed to his manufacturer to ask if they could be made.
Fortunately, it was possible and Under Armour was able to sign
its first deal for 350 shirts.
After the shirts were sent off, Georgia Tech invited Kevin to watch the Yellow Jackets
take to the field in Under Armour’s gear.
By then, Kevin still struggled with money issues and couldn’t afford a hotel room.
So he had no choice but to sleep in the stadium’s visiting locker room.
Under Armour’s deal with Georgia Tech opened up more opportunities for the company.
Athletes were talking up its quality, and people were listening.
Positive reviews spread through word of mouth and led to deals with N.C.
State University, the Atlanta Falcons, and the New York Giants.
Still, Kevin and Kip faced problems with getting Under Armour’s gear to their
former university team, the Terrapins.
The Terrapins were impressed with Under Armour but had a contract with Nike
that made them unable to buy from them.
Not one to just take “no” as an answer, Kevin stepped in when the Terrapins
were looking for a turtleneck in red since Nike couldn’t offer anything.
Under Armour not only manufactured the turtlenecks, but even hid their
logo so that the Terrapins could avoid any repercussions from Nike.
By the end of the year, Under Armour’s sales had gone up from
500 products sold, to over 7,500.
The company also launched a new line of t-shirts called ColdGear,
which kept athletes feeling warm, dry, and light in cold conditions.
One year later, Under Armour caught the attention of the NFL and managed to close
a deal to supply their Europe League.
When NFL reps were in town, they called Kevin and asked to stop by his office.
Not wanting them to see him working from his grandmother’s basement,
he offered to buy them lunch at a fine dining steakhouse instead.
However, Kevin wasn’t sure if he could actually afford it, and headed to the
bank to withdraw every last dollar.
In spite of the continued money issues, everything that Kevin poured into Under
Armour began to pay off that year.
After hearing about an Oliver Stone film in production, Any Given Sunday, Kevin
sent Under Armour samples to the set.
Sports Robe, the company supplying the film’s sporting equipment,
loved them and asked for more.
When Kevin sent them an invoice, they were shocked but eventually agreed to pay.
Finally, Kevin had enough money to get back on his feet and move
operations out of his grandmother’s basement and into a proper office.
When Any Given Sunday was released, athletes took notice of the Under
Armour gear worn by the actors.
Soon after, Under Armour saw an immediate boost in sales and became
the fastest-selling soft goods producer for sportswear store, Eastbay.
By the end of the year, Under Armour went from having to send out small batches of
gear out of his grandmother’s basement, to selling over 200,000 from a proper office.
Under Armour also began outfitting the MLB, NFL, NHL, NCAA, XFL, and even the U.S.
archery team for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
From then on, Under Armour continued to grow at a breakneck pace — hiring 100
employees and hitting $55 million in sales.
Competitors then took notice and took advantage of the fact that Kevin
didn’t patent Under Armour’s designs.
Reebok and Nike soon came out with similar designs and snatched
contracts away from Under Armour.
Fortunately, Under Armour still managed to score a long-awaited goal around this
time: becoming the official outfitter for the University of Maryland’s Terrapins.
In the following years, Under Armour would achieve even bigger wins — but only
after accepting one loss after another.
After nearly a decade in business, Kevin and Kip decided it was
time to take Under Armour public.
Shares were expected to sell at $13 per share but instead reached a high
of $31 — making it the first U.S.
company in five years to double its share price on the first day of trading.
From then on, Under Armour continued to grow and impress investors.
First, the company expanded into football cleats and quickly snatched
up almost a quarter of the market — helping them to become the official
footwear supplier for the NFL.
Afterward, Under Armour’s products expanded from the big screen to the
silver screen, with its gear being seen in the NBC TV show, Friday Night Lights.
One year later, the company opened its first retail store and revealed a new
shoe design in their first Super Bowl ad.
By the end of the year, Under Armour’s apparel revenue increased
by 20% and footwear by 40%.
In the following years, Under Armour became more focused on innovating
new sportswear performance products.
The company introduced a faster drying cotton shirt, expanded into sports
bras, and moved into the digital space by acquiring MapMyFitness.
Under Armour appeared to be seemingly unstoppable, and once
again, competitors took notice.
Threatened by Under Armour’s success, Nike and Adidas ramped up their efforts
to take a larger share of the athletic apparel and footwear market from them.
Soon after, Under Armour began to lose sales for reasons beyond increased competition.
While the industry shifted towards athleisure and fashion trends, Under Armour
remained focused on sportswear performance.
And while they later partnered up with designer Tim Coppens to hop on the trend,
the collection was considered a failure.
Eventually, Kevin stepped down as Under Armour’s CEO and transferred
leadership to former COO, Patrik Frisk.
Meanwhile, Kip remained at the company as its CMO and was later appointed
president of footwear and innovation.
Under Patrik and Kip’s leadership, Under Armour continued to innovate new sportswear
performance products, particularly for women.
It also focused on selling directly to consumers through its stores and websites
as opposed to wholesalers, and better marketing its brand which included less
off-price retailing — a practice where high-quality goods are sold at cheap prices.
Only one year later, Under Armour experienced their strongest top and
bottom results in the company’s history — thanks to many of the new changes.
From the beginning, Under Armour had called its operations unconventional.
The company had been created by an athlete who was dissatisfied with the
workout clothes that were the norm, and had to make people want an alternative.
As it grew, all of its campaigns and creative designs were worked on in-house, instead
of being contracted to other firms, and instead of grand testing facilities, its
products were tested in real life conditions.
But when it came to following the industry, being unconventional is ultimately
what led to Under Armour’s stumbles.
When the rest of the market pivoted to follow the athleisure and fashion trends,
Under Armour remained set in their mission to improve performance sportswear.
While there were bumps along the road, in the end, Kevin did manage
to convince athletes that they needed something better than cotton, and
built an industry around just that.
Today, Kevin’s legacy lives on.
Under Armour is now among the top three sportswear brands in
the world — worth $12 billion.
This is the story of how a college football player invented a revolutionary product
from his grandmother’s basement and hit rock bottom for many years, before outfitting
leagues like the NFL, MLB, and NHL — turning the business into a billion-dollar empire.
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