Under Armour Finally Comes Around

I guess I can get off my soapbox now. My rants against Under Armour’s “Cotton is the Enemy” ad campaign – which infuriated me to no end – can cease.

My son and I sit together at Ole Miss football games. Last fall, he showed up in an Under Armour shirt. “Do you understand that wearing that is an insult to me?” I asked. “That’s a slap in the face. You can wear Nike; you can wear adidas – I don’t care – just not Under Armour.”

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I wasn’t joking, even though Nike and adidas also use synthetics – in addition to cotton, I hasten to add.

But it appears Under Armour has finally seen the light and the virtues of cotton, and I say welcome to the club – we need the Under Armour brand; Under Armour apparently needs cotton.

According to reports in the Baltimore Sun and lacrosseplayground.com, Under Armour is set to launch a new line of “hybrid-cotton apparel” next year. A research report released last week described the new line of apparel as “coated cotton that wicks moisture from the skin, but still has its cotton feel.”

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Nothing feels like cotton, Under Armour has discovered.

Under Armour spokeswoman Diane Pelke was quoted on the website lacrosseplayground.com: “We are always challenging ourselves to provide athletes with the apparel they want – and need – for every training and game-day situation. As such, we rigorously test multiple fabrics to determine the optimal combination of comfort and performance. Performance is the key and we are always looking for new fabrications to offer to our athletes to give them the edge.”

This is an important move by Under Armour because, the report says, “Under Armour hasn’t been doing so hot with their shoe line. Footwear may not be the earnings-driver for the company. However, cotton athletic wear is a $12 billion market, compared to a $5 billion market for running shoes and a $3 billion market for basketball shoes.”

In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t know if Cotton Incorporated has been working with Under Armour on this new line. If Cotton Incorporated has, or has not, they’ll tell me when it’s time.

 Mark Messura, Cotton Incorporated’s Executive Vice President, Global Supply Chain, said in the March 2008 issue of Cotton Grower: “Our emphasis (at Cotton Incorporated) has been to convey to companies that they can achieve substantially better performance and moisture management than what is available today – even better than Under Armour. Our latest technology outperforms Under Armour. I think retailers and clothing brands want products that perform well, and cotton is a good fabric for them because consumers’ preference is strong for cotton – it is the number one fiber in clothing. Consumers like the comfort of cotton.”

“The key point is that a lot of consumers wear athletic clothing in their everyday life. It’s hard to differentiate just the athletic percentage of that unless you are talking about things like uniforms, specifically.

“The significance of these technologies is that consumers can get cotton athletic wear and performance apparel with both comfort and performance. Consumers have always loved the feel of cotton.”

UBS Investment Research analyst Michael Binetti said in the Baltimore Sun the new cotton line could help Under Armour if it can’t successfully re-launch the footwear category by next year. But Binetti must believe in the potential for success with the cotton line – he upgraded Under Armour stock from “neutral” to “buy” last week.

Shares of Under Armour closed at $33.56 last Wednesday, up $2.48 from Tuesday’s close.

I guess I’ll have to cut my son some slack now, huh?
 

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