Under Armour: Facts and Statistics (2024)

• Under Armour had its first team sale in 1996, the year the company was founded. Back then, Kevin Plank was traveling along the East Coast with his T-shirts, trying to sell them to various sports teams. He secured a lucrative deal that brought him $17,000. Plank pulled off this big sale nearly single-handedly. 
• Plank was the first person to start selling moisture-wicking apparel to athletes. His use of microfibers kept sportsmen cool and dry even after a strenuous play or workout. 
• Plank chose the English spelling of his company not because he had some connections to Great Britain. His choice was dictated by circumstances. When Plank was choosing the name for his company, the toll-free vanity number for “Under Armor” was not available. The toll-free vanity number for “Under Armour,” however, was. Plank chose what was on offer. 
• The company’s logo is straightforward: it combines the letters “U” and “A” from the name “Under Armour” into a simple shape that visually represents two people locking their hands in a sign of victory. 
• Apart from its headquarters in Baltimore, Under Armour has several offices around the world, namely in Amsterdam; Denver, Colorado; Guangzhou, China; Hong Kong; Toronto, Canada; Austin, Texas; and Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Under Armour’s shoes and clothing are made in over 150 countries worldwide. Although the company is headquartered and makes some products in America, most are made in Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and China.
• By the end of 1997 over 7,500 Under Armour products had been sold.
• The same year, 12 college football teams and 10 National Football League (NFL) teams begin to wear Under Armour garments.
• The Under Armour brand experienced rapid growth after 1999, after it was featured in Warner Brothers films, such as Any Given Sunday and The Replacements.
• The company finished 2001 with sales of more than 25 million and with only 58 employees.
• Under Armour launched its Women’s Performance Gear product line in retail outlets and on the company website in 2003.
• Under Armour had its IPO in November 2005. That is, it sold its shares to the public for the first time. The event helped the company to raise $153 million. 
• The company started offering footwear in 2006.
• Under Armour doesn’t only endorse athletes. It also sponsors Duck Dynasty, a reality TV show brimming with controversial comments. 
• The company attempted to secure a partnership with Kevin Durant, a star basketball player for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. It offered Durant a contract worth $250 million over a decade. Yet Nike made a counteroffer of $300 million and won Durant over to its side.  
• Under Armour has a partnership with NBA athlete Stephen Curry, who is considered to be the “face of their footwear line.” Originally signed to Nike, Curry joined Under Armour in the 2013 offseason.
• Under Armour released its Scent Control products in 2012, which feature technology that makes it difficult for people to detect the scent of the wearer. 
• Under Armour’s Speedform shoes are unique. They almost have no stitching and no insole. 
• The company’s fastest-growing product line is shoes. The sales of shoes reached $239 million in 2012. 
• In 2014, the company made over $3 billion with a market cap of over $15 billion.
• On October 10, 2018, Under Armour announced that it signed Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid to a sneaker endorsement deal.
• In Q2, 2020, the company reported a revenue decline of 41% or $707.6 million.
• Under Armour’s largest product category is apparel. 
• The Curry 9 Flow shoes are the Curry line’s pinnacle model. It duplicates the Curry 8 Flow’s stability and traction qualities, but it boasts better cushioning and additional high-end materials. 
• Under Armour’s products are made in Asian and Southeast Asian countries like China, Jordan, and India. 
• Under Armour is a male-dominated company: 56% of the company’s employees are male.
• The most common race/ethnicity at Under Armour is White. Nearly 60% of the employees of the company are white. 
• Under Armour has 17,500 employees. 
• The average employee at Under Armour makes $34,713 per year. 
• Only 3% of the employees in the company make $100K-$200K a year. 
• On average, Under Armour’s employees stay with the company for 2.9 years.  
• Only 4% of the company’s employees stay with it for more than 11 years.
• About 53% of Under Armour employees are between the ages of 20-30 years.
• Only 1% of the company’s employees are younger than 18 years. 
• About 38% of jobs at Under Armour are remote. 
• Under Armour had a Revenue Growth Rate of 4% over the last five years on average. 
• In 2022, Patrik Frisk, the company’s Chief Executive, stepped down, and Colin Browne was appointed Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. Stephanie Linnartz became the new CEO of Under Armour in February 2022. 
• Under Armour’s market cap currently stands at around $3.28 billion.

• Kevin Plank, the founder of Under Armour, enrolled at the University of Maryland as a walk-on because no college offered him a scholarship to play football. Plank had to become the wedge buster, the player who breaks up the blockers on the opposing team. He sacrificed his body to enable others to make a tackle. Plank’s generosity and courage eventually earned him an excellent reputation and a position as a team captain at Maryland. 
• As a student at Maryland, Plank ran a flower shop and enlisted his wife-to-be to deliver bouquets for Saint Valentine’s Day. 
• While playing football and sweating, Plank thought about making a lightweight, sweat-wicking synthetic T-shirt. He initially made such a shirt from fabric found in women’s undergarments. 
• Plank’s first big sale came with the Georgia Tech football team in 1996. He had some tricks up his sleeve to increase his chances of earning money. He always made his company look larger than it was and carried two types of business cards with him  – of President and Salesman, selecting which one to use depending on the occasion and negotiation. 
• After moving to Baltimore, where the company is still headquartered, Plank signed Baltimore native athletes – Michael Phelps, Lindsey Vonn, and Tom Brady. 
• Dreaming of overtaking Nike, Plank used to send Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, a Christmas card with the words: “You will hear about us one day.”
• Plank lives in Lutherville, Maryland, in a house consisting of two old conjoined horse barns on 85 acres. He bought this property in 2007 for an undisclosed price. 
• Kevin Plank’s net worth is estimated at $1.8 billion. As of writing, Under Armour’s market cap is $3.21 billion. 
• In 1997, Under Armour introduced its now-famous ColdGear® fabric, which keeps athletes warm, dry, and light in cold conditions. The same year, the company invented AllSeasonGear®.
• Under Armour went public on November 17, 2005, trading on the NASDAQ under “UARM.” The company became the first U.S.-based initial public offering in five years to double its stock price on its first trading day.
• The next year, Under Armour ventured into the sports footwear industry by creating its first line of football cleats. 
• In 2007, Under Armour opened its first Brand House in Annapolis, MD. 
• Under Armour went over $1 billion in annual revenue in 2010, just 15 years after its inception. 
• By buying several fitness apps, the company started to build a digital fitness community in 2015.
• Under Armour, in partnership with Stephen Curry, NBA champion and MVP, announced the launch of the Curry Brand in 2020. 

Source: Forbes; Under Armour

Continue reading to learn more statistical facts showing Under Armour’s development over the years. 

Under Armour’s revenue comes from the sales of its footwear, performance apparel, and accessories for men, women, and young people. The company had its first break in 1996 when it made $17,000. The total revenue of Under Armour has increased annually since 2008 and exceeded $5 billion for the first time in 2018. In 2021, a new record was set at roughly $5.7 billion. The first year of the pandemic proved to be a lean year for the company. In the second quarter of 2020, Under Armour reported a revenue decline of 41%.  As a result, it had to close some of its brick-and-mortar stores. And yet, despite losses, Under Armour still managed to perform better than analysts had predicted. They had estimated the company’s profits to be $541 million, but Under Armour made $707.6 million that quarter.  The full fiscal year 2023 brought the company $5.9 billion, which is up 6% currency-neutral from the last year. 

Under Armour reported its 2024 second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, November 8, raising its annual gross margin expectations. The company’s shares, down about 29% so far this year, were last up 5% in early trading as second-quarter profit topped analysts’ estimates.

Under Armour reported its 2024 first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, August 8 with a a decline in net revenue, but still slightly beat estimates, as a dip in expenses and e-commerce demand helped mitigate the broader impact of a recent slowdown in consumer spending.

Net revenue fell by 2% to $1.32 billion in the three months until the end of June, marginally above consensus estimates of $1.3B. A slip in wholesale revenue was tempered by Under Armour’s e-commerce business, which helped boost direct-to-consumer sales by 4% to $544M.

Net income is a company’s net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been taken into account. In the fiscal 2023 year, Under Armour’s net income was $387 million. Excluding a $45 million earn-out benefit in connection with the sale of the MyFitnessPal platform, a $96 million benefit from a tax valuation allowance release related to restructuring, and a $20 million litigation reserve expense, the company’s adjusted net income is $266 million. For the uneven trajectory of Under Armour’s net income since 2009, see the sales figures in the table below:

EPS, Earnings per Share, are defined as Under Armour’s net earnings or losses attributable to common shareholders per diluted share base, which includes all convertible securities and debt, options, and warrants. While in the fiscal year 2023, Under Armour’s revenue was in line with analysts’ estimates, its earnings per share surpassed their estimates by a staggering 23%. This year’s earnings per share figure is much higher than the $0.51 loss reported in the fiscal year 2022. 

A company’s net sales are the total revenue, less the cost of sales returns, allowances, and discounts. This year, Under Armour’s sales were hurt by stubborn inflation. The higher discounts that the company had to offer eroded profit margins. Cost-conscious consumers have been shopping less for home goods, apparel, and electronics. Because of higher interest rates and rentals, people had to spend more money on essential products than on sportswear. Under Armour fared worse than its competitors, Nike and Lululemon Athletica, whose customers proved to be more loyal. Under Armour saw less steady demand for its products in the fiscal year 2023 than its rivals. The company expects fiscal 2024 net sales to be flat or slightly higher than the 3.7% expected by analysts.  

Under Armour is known for making performance apparel. Its specialization is sportswear engineered to keep sportsmen dry, cool, and light throughout the game or workout. Its apparel category includes t-shirts, jackets, hoodies, pants, leggings, shorts, athletic bars, and protective gear. The Performance Apparel segment is the company’s most important division. According to Forbes, it accounts for nearly 50% of the company’s valuation. Under Armour constantly innovates its performance apparel to strengthen this segment and build a competitive edge.  To see how much Under Armour sold in this division from 2013, check the table below:

Equally important is Under Armour’s footwear division. The company’s shoes are divided into several categories: tactical boots, basketball shoes, training shoes, running shoes, and cleats. Under Armour’s tactical boots are weather-proof and last for a long time. The company’s basketball shoes are of various designs, colors, and features. They are made of microfibers, which allow the air to fill in the shoe even when it is worn for hours. Cleats are football shoes, while training and running shoes are the company’s trademark and get developed every time a new technology appears in the market. 

The smallest division of Under Armour is accessories. In this division, the company sells headwear, bags, and gloves. Under Armour’s accessories include HEATGEAR and COLDGEAR technologies. They also have advanced fabrications to improve athletes’ performance. 

Under Armour presently operates more than 350 stores, including brand and factory houses. The number of its stores has steadily been increasing, which indicates a strong presence of its brand worldwide and signals growth. In 2016, there were 162 stores and factories in Q1, but by the end of the year Under Armour operated 188 factory houses. In 2017, there were already 219 factory houses around the world. In 2019, the number of factory houses went up to 263 by the end of the third quarter. 

Source: Business Quant

As the company grew during the last decade, so did its number of employees. From 2021 to 2023, the number of employees around the world stood at 17,500. The majority of the company’s employees are white and male. On average, they earn $34,731 annually. Only 3% of Under Armour’s staff makes from $100,000 to $200,000 a year. Most of Under Armour’s employees work for it on average for less than three years. To appreciate the steady growth of the number of employees at Under Armour, see the following table:

Source: Statista

On May 19, 2023, the price of Under Armour’s shares dropped 4.66% compared to its close a day before. Buyers pushed the stock value down to $7.26. As of writing, Under Armour’s stock price is $7.39. Overall, Under Armour moved 18% lower over the past month. Now, analysts and investors are expecting new figures from the company due to be published at the beginning of August. Wall Street analysts predict that Under Armour’s revenue for the quarter will be between $1,27 billion and $1.35 billion. They also predict a negative growth in sales, about -3.70% compared to the quarterly growth in the same period last fiscal year. The company’s year-on-year revenue for 2024 is expected to increase to $5.95 billion, which will be a 0.90% jump on the figure reported in the last financial year. 

According to WallStreetZen, Wall Street analysts predict that Under Armour’s share price could soar to $10.77 by May 22, 2024. This would represent a potential upside of 45.78% from the current UAA share price of $7.39. However, PandaForecast predicts that the weighted average target price per Under Armour share in Feb 2026 will be $14.71. The pessimistic target level is $13.44 and the optimistic target level is $15.65.

Source: stockregister.com

What attracted athletes and dancers to promote Under Armour is its focus on producing not just sportswear but apparel enhancing people’s performance. Starting with its first product, a T-shirt wicking away sweat, Under Armour has revolutionized the category of sportswear. Its invention of the Moisture Transport System indeed pushed the boundaries in the sportswear industry and became its visiting card. This system wicks away perspiration to keep athletes dry, cool, and comfortable while they exercise or play. After its innovative T-shirt followed a new line of performance wear that was released in 2013. The apparel included in this line was designed to disseminate and recalculate heat and minimize odor. A year later, Under Armour created yet another novelty, a shirt reflecting heat and enabling athletes to stay cool in the sun. In addition to its HeatGear and ColdGear fabrics, the company made sleepwear intended to help sportsmen to recover from games or workouts. This sleepwear is made from a fabric printed with ceramic particles absorbing the body’s heat and radiating it back as Far Infrared energy. As this energy has many health benefits, athletes in Under Armour pajamas recover faster from exercise, sleep deeper, have less inflammation, and benefit from regulated cell metabolism. Unwilling to experiment only with apparel, the company also spent a total of $700 million acquiring apps MapMyFitness and MyFitnessPal. The idea behind these apps was to create mobile digital fitness and health communities and allow people to work out and count steps and calories and, in so doing, achieve their fitness goals more surely. 

Under Armour has endorsed and collaborated with some of the most famous athletes in the world. Among these athletes are Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Stephen Curry, Muhammed Ali, Anthony Joshua, Bryce Harper, George St-Pierre, Maro Itoje, Michael Phelps, Lindsey Vonn,  and Serena Williams. The company’s sponsorship deal with Stephen Curry, a basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, proved to be particularly long-lasting and productive. Since 2013, Curry has helped promote Under Armour’s product technologies and signature launches such as UA Charged, UA HOVR, UA Warp, and UA Flow. UA Flow, released in 2020, has best-in-class cushioning technology and has become extremely popular. Overall, Under Armour and Curry together released ten signature shoes in a decade since the partnership began. Each pair has a unique design and commemorates milestones in Curry’s basketball career in the NBA. When Curry Flow 10 was released last autumn, Stephen Curry became the ninth athlete in history to release 10 signature shoes. 

In 2020, Curry and Under Armour launched an offshoot apparel division, Curry Brand. The new line included shoes and clothes for basketball, golf, and other sports. The partnership between Under Armour and Curry has been so successful that he is poised to sign a lifetime contract with the company worth more than $1 billion. The current deal that expires in 2024 is reportedly worth $20 million annually. 

Under Armour also sponsors sports events. This year, the company renewed its sponsorship of US Speedskating and USA Bobsled and Skeleton. The new agreements will be valid in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy. USS will receive both money and products. USABS will receive equipment and traveling funding for athletes from Under Armour.

Source: Under Armour; Forbes

Under Armour was founded on September 25, 1996.

Kevin Plank, a then-24-year-old former special teams captain of the University of Maryland football team, founded Under Armour. 

Under Armour is a public company and has five principal shareholders. Kevin Plank is the largest Under Armour shareholder, with 33.8 million Class C shares owned indirectly through a series of trusts. Plank’s stake in Under Armour affords him 65% of the company’s voting power. Other shareholders are Patrik Frisk, Michael S. Lee, Harvey L. Sanders, and Kip Fulks.

The company’s logo is straightforward: it combines the letters “U” and “A” from the name “Under Armour” into a simple shape that visually represents two people locking their hands in a sign of victory. 

Under Armour’s shoes and clothing are made in over 150 countries worldwide. Although the company is headquartered and makes some products in the USA, most are made in Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and China.

Under Armour’s market capitalization amounts to $3.21 billion, as of 28th of May 2023.

Under Armour is headquartered in Baltimore, and has several other offices around the world, in Amsterdam; Denver, Colorado; Guangzhou, China; Hong Kong; Toronto, Canada; Austin, Texas; and Jakarta, Indonesia.