Americans are slowly becoming more self-aware about their physical health, which is really helping the athletic industry to take off. Businesses are selling wearable technology to measure steps and heart rates as well as clothes fit for physical activity and, gym memberships continue to soar.
Under Armour, a Baltimore-based company, saw sales grow by over 20 percent for 16 straight quarters, according to an earnings call CEO Kevin Plank posted. The athletic company knows it is far from competing with big names like Adidas and Nike, but has found it's slow, but steady partnerships with rising stars has paid off.
Whether it was Golden State Warriors basketball player Steph Curry, youngest PGA Tour winner Jordan Spieth or seventh men's overall Boston Marathon runner Nicholas Arciniaga, these "diamond in the rough" athletes gave Under Armour a lot of looks at a lower cost than signing big names like Kobe Bryant.
"We want to remain opportunistic about staying close enough to the athlete and the consumer to find those Jordan Spieths out there, and as you know, they're incredibly rare," Plank during the call. "But I promise that's what we're trying to do is find athletes before they're really out in the open and the market really has a chance to understand what we're doing."
As a way to further expand Under Armour's presence in the athletic industry, Plank announced that the company will dedicate 11 percent of revenue, about $330 million, to custom print displays and vinyl banners alone. This may not sound like a lot compared to other companies, but it is a 34 percent jump for the growing organization.
Under Armour also plans on allocating more its resources to the running footwear category, even though it only controlled little more than 2 percent of the $7 billion running shoe industry, according to reports from Dow Jones Business News.