Under Armour: The Nature Of Its Business, Product Portfolio

Under Armour, Inc.’s (UA) primary business consists of the development, marketing, and distribution of branded performance apparel, footwear, and accessories for all age groups, and for men, women, and children.

The firm’s moisture-wicking technology provides a performance alternative to traditional products. United Armour, or UA, customers are athletes for the most part. UA products are also targeted at the sportswear market and persons with active lifestyles.

UA designs and develops non-traditional performance fabrics. They’re merchandised on the basis of gear lines and marketed across the sporting goods outdoor and active lifestyle markets.

1. HEATGEAR ® for hot temperatures – The specially designed microfiber blend fabric designed to wick moisture from the body which helps the body stay cool, dry and light.
2. COLDGEAR ® for cold weather – This fabric provides both dryness and warmth.
3. ALLSEASONGEAR ® for moderate temperatures – This gear uses technical fabrics to keep the wearer cool and dry.

This is a relatively new category, with products launched in 2006. UA’s footwear product portfolio consists of softball and soccer cleats, slides, performance training footwear, running footwear, basketball footwear, and hunting boots. Footwear products are a high-growth driver for UA. Read more about key growth drivers later on in this series.

This consists of headwear, bags, and gloves, including products manufactured under using HEATGEAR® and COLDGEAR® technologies.

Several licensees develop apparel and accessories products for Under Armour, in collaboration with the firm’s product, marketing, and sales teams that each play an active role in the design process. This collaboration helps control brand and product consistency. These products include socks, team uniforms, baby and kids’ apparel, eyewear, and inflatable footballs and basketballs.

UA purchased MapMyFitness in December 2013. MapMyFitness offers digital fitness platform licenses and subscriptions, along with digital advertising. UA’s bigger and more entrenched rival, NIKE, Inc. (NKE) has already invested considerable resources in NIKE+, its digital platform.

Under Armour is part of the S&P 500 Index and is included in the holdings of ETFs tracking the Index such as the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

The firm’s products are consumer discretionary items, which means they’re not essential, but rather aspirational products. Consumers would like to purchase them, personal finances permitting. As such, UA also forms part of the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY). XLY holdings also include other prominent apparel firms such as TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) and L Brands Inc. (LB).