How Kevin Plank Built Under Armour Into An Empire Then Tanked Them With Strippers And Ugly Shoes

The sneaker business has always been a tough industry to break into. Over the years a select few have been able to make enough waves to rock the boats of the big companies, and Under Armour for a brief period, was one of those brands.
Back in the early 2010s, Under Armour emerged as a disruption in the athletic apparel world. They exploded onto the scene with year over year profits, and making a legit effort seed one of the covid top 3 spots.
Under Armor surprised everyone with the speed that they were able to make moves. Having learned from brands of the past, Under Armor was poised to make a serious play at it. Until, they hit a wall.
What wall you may ask, well, let's find out. I'm Nate the Great from Takeflight214.com and this is the rise and fall of Under Armor.
www.takeflight214.com
/ / takeflight214
/ takeflight214
If you liked this video then you should check out the others in our Rise and Fall Of A Streetwear Brand Series:
What Happened To Crooks and Castles:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD-ia...
Happened To Alife:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PCDS...
What Happened To Diamond Supply Co. :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSwr6...
What Happened To Billionaire Boys Club/Icecream :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUlyW...

[@kingdave855]

Tbh under armours always one of those brands that I recognise but is just Kind of there for me like I wouldn't go out of my way to buy the brand unless I find it in a shop

[@takeflight2142]

Me too, if I need workout stuff and find it super cheap then maybe. But otherwise no. In fact, I have never owned an Under Armour piece.

[@kingdave855]

@@takeflight2142 I currently own a pair of track pants from them and it's decent quality but still nothing too special in my opinion

[@valentinelister8730]

Love your channel!

[@takeflight2142]

Thanks so much glad you enjoy 😁

[@abreuxiii]

Im shocked. I spent this week researching what was happening with under armour here in Brazil. They launched the operation back in 2018 iirc, supporting football kits for some big clubs and pricing themselves more expensive than adidas and nike. Found out they are struggling, dropped all clubs they made kits for, and their price here is still above competition. I'm not sure about how the brand is perceived internationally, but do they have this premium quality they were trying to portrait here?

[@truthreignsforever9286]

I think they never did as well (nike, adidas, etc) in the “shoe aspect” due to two things I believe I may be right of at the moment? For one, their foundation was built upon apparel as their introduction to the people’s minds when they came out. Secondly, no sense of aesthetics in their design didn’t help either. If you’re gonna come out as apparel, then later you decide to undertake shoes, you’d better make a splash when venturing upon the footwear market……….there is no room for error. And those weak designs didn’t help at all, but destroyed the shoe trajectory. And I’ll add another, thirdly: as Nate says: “That logo isn’t becoming and befitting on a shoe”. And it could be that it looks much better on the “upper right or left chest” as it originally was made? Where it was meant to shine most brightest. It’s logo is more befitting on a fabric apparel piece than the shoe.

[@Sabundy]

I think you are right. That logo just does not work that well on shoes. And shoes are the bread and butter of sports brands. Even Nike makes 70% of its revenue from shoes. And think about Under Armour......they literally don't have a single iconic shoe. Not one.

[@sal84ify]

remember Apex sneakers?

[@AliasHSW]

The introduction and history of UA sounds like straight word for word plagiarism of another video in UA

[@takeflight2142]

Dudes be hatin dam dudes be hatin thx for the view I guess 😂

[@RH-vd3yu]

@@takeflight2142ahhh you dont take criticism i see

[@LILGZY]

curry basketball shoes are nice you tripping… i do have to admit they have some ugly shoes but most of them aren’t bad daily shoes for running & working out

[@truthreignsforever9286]

That under armour logo isn’t befitting on a shoe. Dang, Nate, we see eye to eye on certain things bro! Lol. After I typed that you had said it afterwards. I wasn’t repeating what you said. Eerie bro!

[@takeflight2142]

Yeah that logo looks weird, I don’t care what no body say 😂

[@joelashadali]

I understand and agree with you that their footwear is hideous but so are Yeezys in my opinion. Underarmor never felt premium...none if it

[@timothyslaughter476]

They blew it with the shoe launch. Hey kevin...hire some Nike people!!! Thank me later!!!

[@biggdoggc2490]

I buy and wear a lot of Under Armour gear including the shoes, however I only buy Under Armour shoes if they're mostly black, but I have to admit I wouldn't buy any of those crazy color shoes they are ugly. I have all black shoes from the Rock's brand but none of those off the wall footwear by Under Armour.