Under Armour

Under Armour Inc. is the US athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under UAA and UA (Class A and Class C share classes). Founder Kevin Plank holds a controlling stake through the dual-class share structure that retains voting control in his hands, with Plank returning as CEO in April 2024 after stepping down in 2019 to assume the Executive Chairman role.

Plank founded the company in 1996 in his grandmother’s basement in Washington, DC after concluding as a University of Maryland football player that performance compression apparel would address the practical problem of sweat-soaked cotton T-shirts under football pads. The HeatGear, ColdGear, and AllSeasonGear technical-fabric platforms anchored the brand’s performance-athletic-apparel positioning through the 2000s and 2010s, before the company expanded into footwear in 2006 and basketball footwear in 2010 anchored by the Curry signature line with Stephen Curry. Under Armour reported total revenue of approximately $5.2 billion in fiscal year 2024 (ended March 31, 2024), down significantly from peak revenues approaching $5.7 billion in earlier years amid sustained competitive pressure from Nike, Adidas, Lululemon, and the broader athletic-and-athleisure category expansion. Plank’s return as CEO in April 2024 launched a restructuring program targeting brand repositioning, distribution rationalization, and operational efficiency improvements. The brand suspended Russian operations in 2022. The Curry Brand sub-banner (launched 2020) operates as a quasi-independent positioning within the broader Under Armour structure.

Under Armour operates approximately 350 directly operated retail stores globally, supplemented by an extensive wholesale presence in athletic specialty retail, department stores, multi-brand sportswear chains, and the brand’s substantial e-commerce business. The strongest markets include the United States, China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The typical Under Armour store occupies 3,000 to 6,000 square feet in mall and lifestyle-center positioning, with the brand’s Brand House flagship format operating at 8,000-to-15,000 square feet in major urban markets. For mall operators, Under Armour is a Class A and Class B+ specialty athletic tenant for regional and super-regional centers and outlet centers, typically positioned in the athletic-performance cluster alongside Nike, Adidas, and brand-shop competitors. The brand has stronger positioning in outlet center environments than in premium regional mall environments, with the outlet network representing a meaningful share of the directly operated retail footprint.