Word: armour
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Plus, as Under Armour moves beyond cleats to sneakers with broader appeal, it is picking an ideal entry point: the training-shoe market is ripe for a revival. Nike popularized cross-trainers in the late '80s and early '90s with its famous "Bo Knows" campaign, which depicted the multisport star Bo Jackson playing hoops, football and tennis and weight-lifting in his Nikes. Since that heyday, the sporting life has become more specialized but training more diverse...
...Under Armour sees today's young, hyperfocused athletes as "95-5" players, who spend 5% of their time on the playing field of their sport and 95% training for that sport--either by pounding weights, sprinting or doing more high-tech plyometrics, which involves a lot of leaping and side-to-side movements. The company's pitch: During that 95% training time, don't use some dumb running shoe; wear our Prototype. The company is offering three types of sneakers: the Speed Trainer is the lightest, most breathable shoe, designed for athletes who spend the bulk of their time trying...
Then there's the Evade sneaker for jocks who make more lateral moves in their drills. "The shoe becomes a piece of equipment," insists Raphael Peck, Under Armour's senior vice president and shoe guru. But will young athletes really spend $100 for a shoe to lift weights in? "They're spending $40 on a T shirt," quips Plank, nodding to the premium price that consumers are paying for Under Armour's sweat-sopping gear...
Still, at Under Armour's modest bricks-and-mortar headquarters on the Baltimore waterfront, it's pretty much all about the shoes. Plank and Peck are sitting at a table, talking kicks. "People know you're real when you're focused," Peck says, when asked if Under Armour's specialized trainers exclude a swath of potential customers--like weekend warriors and the average Joe who just wants something, anything, for the treadmill. Plank is preaching: The brand has proved itself in apparel and cleats and is ready for the next step. "We've paid our dues," he says. True...
...This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] The Prototype Trainer UNDER ARMOUR DAVID VS. BIGFOOT Under Armour is hot, but Nike has the money to kick it into the ground The SPARQ trainer NIKE $640 million Sales* $17.9 billion $45.5 million Earnings* $1.8 billion $1.7 billion Market cap** $32.2 billion Ray Lewis Famous endorser LeBron James...