The Rise & Fall of Under Armour

In the 2010s, there was one tiny American brand doing what no one else had been able to do for decades in sportswear. It had grown sales in North America at double digits every year for 13 years, taken market share from Nike, and leapfrogged Adidas as the new number #2 athletic brand in the United States. It was an upstart with a passionate fanbase, competed on quality over price, and backed by some of the most celebrated athletes in the world. This was Under Armour.

In the eyes of the media and investors, the fast-growing Under Armour was the closest to a Nike slayer that the industry had ever seen - and that enormous potential was quickly priced into the stock. Yet fast forward to the present - just a few years after the hype and my own experiences, Under Armor is a shadow of its former self and is worth only a little more than a penny stock.

Declining sales, executive turnover, failed pivots, expensed trips to strip clubs, and federal investigations into dodgy accounting have plagued the company year after year. Under Armor these days lags behind not just Nike and Adidas, but also New Balance, Puma, and Lululemon. Even the collaboration with Steph Curry, once a rival Nike’s billion-dollar Jordan product line, has fallen short. While Air Force Ones, Yeezys, UltraBoosts, Air Maxes, Blazers, Converse, 574s, and Jordans dominate footwear, Under Armor has remained non-existent on the field and on the street.

How could such a a promising brand with athletes like Steph Curry and Tom Brady collapse in such a short time? In this episode, we’ll cover the 4 eras of Under Armor and how their rapid downfall is a timeless case study on governance, tech, and the unspoken dangers of founder-led companies.

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0:00 Earn Your Armor
14:17 The Nike Slayer Era
26:50 The Icarus Era
30:29 The Band-Aid Era