Under ArmourEdit

Under Armour is an American sports clothing and accessories company. The company is a supplier of a wide range of sportswear and casual appearel mainly focussing on high-tech sportswear for professional athletes. It has now broadened its horizons and Under Armour began offering footwear in 2006, it continues to expand its offerings. In Fall of 2010, Under Armour began offering its first line-up of basketball shoes.

HistoryEdit

The company was founded on January 26, 1996, by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland special teams captain for the university football team. Plank and co-founder Jordan Lindgren, also a former University of Maryland Football player, began their business from Plank's grandmother's basement in Washington, DC.

Plank, who got tired of having to change out of the sweat-soaked T-shirts he wore under his jersey, noticed that his compression shorts stayed dry. This was the inspiration to make a T-shirt using moisture-wicking fabric for athletic performance.

By 1996, Under Armour had generated $17,000 in revenue purely by word of mouth. In 1997 Plank had $100,000 in order to fill in and found a factory in Ohio to make the shirts. People began to take notice of the brand when a front page photo of USA Today featured Oakland Raiders quarterback Jeff George wearing an Under Armour mock turtleneck. Following that front page, Under Armour's first major sale came when an equipment manager from Georgia Tech asked Plank for 350 shirts. The deal with Georgia Tech opened the door to a contract with N.C State. With positive reviews from players, word began to spread and orders began to increase. Under Armour first made a profit in 1998 and recieved its first big break in the 1999 Oliver Stone movie Any Given Sunday, in which Willie Beamen, played by Jamie Foxx, wore an Under Armour jockstrap. Plank sent samples of his products to the costume designer. Leveraging the release of Any Given Sunday, Plank purchased an ad in ESPN The Magazine. The ad generated close to $750,000 in sales, and three years after starting the company, Plank finally put himself on the payroll.

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