Under Armour

Under Armour is a leading athletic clothing line directed towards the overall athlete who is looking for the most comfort during extracurricular activities. The mission of the company is, "to provide the world with technically advanced products engineered with exclusive fabric construction, supreme moisture management, and proven innovation. In short, every Under Armour product is doing something for you; it's making you better."

Founded in 1996 by University of Maryland graduate Kevin Plank, Under Armour has become the leading supplier of the athletic performance apparel industry. Under Armour began with simple idea to create a t-shirt that would enhance athletic performance by regulating body temperature and removing perspiration without absorbing it. Under Armour was based out of Plank's grandmother's basement in D.C. until he moved the headquarters to, and built a manufacturing plant in, South Baltimore.

Initially, Under Armour focused on selling their products to Division I college football programs. As a former captain for the Maryland Terrapins football team, Plank got tired of wearing heavy cotton t-shirts under his football pads in the hot summer months, and multiple turtlenecks under his pads during the cold late fall months. As a business major at College Park, Plank developed the idea of Under Armour for a management class.

After graduation, Plank traveled to New York City's garment district to test various materials and eventually designed a material out of spandex and lingerie to be worn under the football pads of athletes. Under Armour's product lines include HeatGear, ColdGear, TurfGear and LooseGear, which can be found in more than 8,000 retail stores and on Under Armour's website. The idea was a major success at the college football level and Under Armour has diversified itself to all sports for athletes of all ages and gender. Many professional sports leagues and teams, including Major League Soccer, National Hockey League, and US Ski Team use Under Armour as their official supplier for performance apparel. In the summer of 2004, Under Armour became the exclusive athletic ware supplier for the entire United States Military.

Consistency tends to be the best assets that Under Armour has to their advantage. According to Plank, he states that the success of a business, "starts with a good product," and he continued to say that after you have a good product, "use front-end hustle with back-end muscle." Due to this consistent product that Under Armour produces, it has obtained a heavy customer loyalty. Sales and revenue speak for themselves. In 1996, Under Armour had revenues of fifty thousand dollars compared to 200 million in 2004.

Originally, Under Armour was manufactured in a basement in the Georgetown district of NW Washington DC. Today, Corporate Under Armour and its manufacturing plant resides on the Baltimore Inner Harbor, except for one factory store in Ellenton, FL. They currently are using a lot of air and ground transportation to get the product to the customers. The manufacturing process that they use is called a pull system. To utilize the effectiveness of the system Under Armour uses the assembly line process to maximize efficiency. The step bye step assembly line consists of people such as sewers, heat sealers, cutters, markers, and spreaders. Under Armour has a big expense due to the amount of air and ground shipping to get there product out nationally because of their isolated position in the North East of the US. Under Armour has not only become a nation wide retailer, it can be purchased world-wide