Under Armour was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a student at the University of Maryland. Plank was on the University of Maryland's football team and he and his teammates often complained about their soggy T-shirts during practices. He couldn't find a solution to their problem on the market, so he decided to create one himself. Plank searched high and low for a material that would fit his sweat wicking and form fitting needs. He eventually came upon a stretchy, slinking fabric that he brought to a tailor and used to create prototypes for $400.
Plank took his new product back to his football team and used them to conduct trial runs. After realizing how functional and comfortable the shirts were, the football team fell in love and Plank realized that he had the potential for a huge market within the sports industry. He maximized the resources available to him and went all in to pursue his passion, maxing out his credit cards at $40,000 and taking out a small business loan for $250,000. In Under Armour's early stages, Plank also worked entirely from his grandmother's basement.
Without a sales team, Plank was forced to take on the duties of designer, marketer and salesman all on his own. He visited multiple universities and professional teams, where some of his former teammates were now playing, and capitalized on this opportunity by conducting demonstrations with his product. Plank was able to spread the gospel truth about his impressive new product. He saw a vision where he had the potential to monopolize the compression-wear market and he turned it into a reality.
Today, Under Armour dominates the compression-wear market with more than $200 million in annual sales. Under Armour has become the official supplier of compression apparel to Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer. Under Armour also sponsors the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, which serves as a showcase for some of the most talented high school football players in the nation, and they frequently engage in regular charitable contributions.
Under Armour's HQ is located in Maryland, which allows the company to always stay close to its roots, both literally and figuratively. Plank was forced to become an innovator as he and his teammates became uncomfortable due to their shapeless cotton tees. Plank’s creativity pushed him to search high and low for a material that would serve his needs. He employed critical thinking by understanding that he would need a revolutionary material in order to create a revolutionary product.
As a huge sports fan, I found it very interesting because of the performance-related aspect. As an aspiring entrepreneur, I found Plank’s story truly inspirational and motivational. If you want to be successful in this day and age, you have to be more of an innovator, as opposed to an inventor. Kevin Plank embodied this idea by identifying an issue and solving it. It’s also important to maximize whatever resources are available to you and maybe, just maybe, you too will have the opportunity to build one of the biggest and most popular companies in the world. Admittedly, Under Armour has had its missteps, the most recent of which involved Steph Curry's new shoes which look fit for a nursing home more so than a basketball court. However, make no mistake that Plank's company has had its fair share of success. Call them what you want, but you can't call them broke.
