Kevin Plank became a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist after starting the company Under Armour. Under Armour is a massive athletic wear/gear company that rivals other sportswear companies like Nike and Adidas. The origin of the company idea is a textbook example of how the entrepreneurial mind should work: Plank noticed a problem in his life and developed a solution. In the 90s he was on University of Maryland’s football team and kept getting frustrated at his typical cotton T-shirts under his uniform. The cotton material would make him the sweatiest guy on the field. He realized that there wasn’t any ideal athletic sportswear that would keep players dry while playing. He wanted a mesh/stretchy material but when he couldn’t find it, he decided to make it himself. After developing shirt with the material he desired, Under Armour officially launched in 1996. Naming the company was somewhat of a struggle for Plank; he originally wanted to call it “Heart” or “Body Armor” but he couldn’t obtain the trademark rights to either title. The name “Under Armour” was a mistake at first – Plank’s brother mistakenly called the company “Under Armour” and the name apparently stuck from that point. The early days of the company were fairly mild; they did $17,000 in their first year. It was only when they decided to dedicate $25,000 to buying an ad in an ESPN magazine that the brand really exploded. The ad was able to generate 1 million dollars in sales for the company in the next year. In 2017 Under Armour had an annual revenue of 5 billion dollars. In 2019 Plank decided to resign; handing his position to Patrik Frisk.
That’s so fascinating how the company only had 17 thousand dollars in profit their first year then bought a 25 thousand dollar add for espn and were able to get one million dollars in revenue because of it. I personally am more of a fan of Nike and Adidas but its super fascinating to see how the company began
I never knew all of this so I appreciated to know now! I am a huge fan and was always curious but now I know. Very cool story the way things unfolded and it makes sense, cotton shirts are not the best to wear! It is funny too that the name accidentally came around, I think this is very neat seeing where it started of making 17k a year to now, absolutely insane.