Word: sweated
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Kevin Plank didn't set out to create a cult around athletic underwear. He just wanted a comfortable T shirt to wear under his football pads, though he admits he was a bit obsessive about it. The result is a line of sweat-shedding sports clothing that more than doubled its annual sales in 2002, to $55 million. It's called Under Armour, and athletes from pro football linebackers to kids who play in rec hockey leagues regard the skintight garments as cool--in every sense of the word...
...Maryland landed in the hospital with heat exhaustion over a weekend of practice sessions in August 1995. Plank, a senior running back and business major, managed to avoid collapse but was bothered by his soggy cotton undershirt. The thing bunched and chafed under his pads, and when soaked with sweat, it added to the load on his back. "Being short and slow," he says, "I was looking for every ounce I could spare...
...searched sporting-goods stores, catalogs and the Internet for a synthetic shirt that would shed sweat as fast as the Lycra compression shorts he wore under his football pants. High-end specialists who sold gear for mountaineering and skiing offered pricey garments made with an inner layer of fabric that wicked perspiration away from the skin to an outer layer where it would evaporate. These clothes helped prevent hypothermia in extreme cold. But nobody made what Plank wanted: an affordable, featherweight, moisture-wicking T shirt--one that would fit skintight so it would lie flat under straps and pads...
...that's not its only challenge. Like most successful upstarts, Under Armour faces growing competition from big established brands. Nike has launched a line of sweat-wicking clothing called Dri-FIT One. And Reebok is selling a similar line, called NFL Equipment, as part of a 10-year, $250 million licensing deal with the National Football League. Meanwhile, Under Armour's image of insider cool will be strained as it tries to expand its market beyond committed sports enthusiasts. "It's been able to captivate the hard-core male athlete," says Marshal Cohen, co-president of market-research firm NPDFashionworld...
...microphone. At the end of one number ("Baby Let's Play House"), he wipes his mouth with the cuff of his jacket. It looks like the gesture of the lion who, in his performance, has just devoured the lambs in the audience; but I bet it was nerves and sweat...