The Myth Of Under Armour Has Ended, But Technological Innovation Has Ceased.

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, at the end of 2016, it became popular.

The first loss since its listing.

In 2017, it experienced layoffs, downgrades, and CEO turnover.

Before that, investors didn't expect anything to do with Under Armour.

In the era of closer integration of fashion and sport, this has been won by performance and technology.

Sports brands have become less popular with consumers.

In the latest earnings report released in August, Under Armour (UA) had a net loss of $12 million 300 thousand for the two quarter of June 30th, and failed to make any profit in the two quarter.

Despite the strong momentum in recent years and the increasing number of people who love sports, the whole sporting goods market is developing in a broader direction. However, the sports brand, which was originally fashionable, is too professional.

UA started with tight compression clothing and successfully applied to the sportswear market by emphasizing the functional methods of products.

The former CEO Kevin Plank, who created the brand, admitted that UA is still lacking in fashion in product design.

Consumers are becoming more and more uncertain about the brand characteristics of UA. What does this brand represent and what sports are more professional?

UA brand overall is still outstanding, but lack of brand clarity, and most importantly, it is not cool.

Hi-tech positioning

Since its inception, Under Armour is standing in front of consumers with the image of a technology company. It emphasizes the functionality of clothing and does not emphasize the appearance of fashion.

In 1996, the founder and CEO Kevin Plank founded the brand, the main body to create high-performance sweating clothing that allows quick sweating and keeps the athletes relaxed and light in vigorous exercise.

Since then, by virtue of its professionalism and high-tech image, UA has emerged from many sports brands and is being pursued by professional athletes and young people.

Faced with the situation that has been carved up by sports brand giants, UA has cut into the market by creating a new product category of tights.

The advantage of this is that avoiding positive competition with big brands can also lead to higher profits.

And the first to enter the market segmentation brand, often give consumers the deepest impression, step by step to consolidate their position in the camp.

For many sports brands, the materials and concepts used are almost the same. The way of marketing lies in how to pack technology into an exciting concept and catch the eye of consumers at once.

Nike launched a visual air cushion sole, exposing a part of the sole of the pparent air column to reflect its seismic capability.

Visually and conceptually, it is very easy for people to understand the concept of "stepping on the foot".

Adidas chose to expose the Boost, so that consumers can see or touch the soft and elastic foam particles with the naked eye. In fact, Nike's visualization air cushion is a marketing concept using technology concept.

Tights and professionalism are the lever that UA leverages the market, emphasizing the shaping, quick drying, sweating and light functions of technology fabrics.

When UA launched its first sport tights, there was no such product in the market. This tight fitting sportswear, dry, cool and light, satisfied the actual needs of athletes and sports enthusiasts.

At that time, the sports industry giant Nike and Adidas did not attach importance to the market, without relevant professional products.

The introduction of UA tights has left the sports brand giants far behind in the high-performance tights market with a 70% share.

Sports brands are familiar with such routines: new technologies, good-looking designs, plus sports stars, can be used to improve the performance of sports equipment.

At the same time, in order to stabilize the market, Under Armour has pushed different products with different functions. It has not only cut into the niche market with unique functions, but also has become one of the fastest growing categories of sports apparel industry.

UA turns professionalism into a brand tool to attract attention. Athletes hope to display their strength and beauty through professional sportswear. Tight fitting sportswear not only meets their actual needs, but also meets their psychological pursuits.

It is undeniable that professionalism and technology have been a magic weapon for UA to open up the market. But for today's people, they want to not only wear sportswear in the gym, but also go out.

The less fashionable UA apparently failed to keep up with the popular pace.

From professionalism to fashion

In recent years, as people pay more attention to health, more and more people start sports, but the sportswear market is gradually depressed.

Take the second half of 2016 as an example, Nike shares fell 11%, Under Armour shares fell 14%, Adidas shares rose 25%, Puma shares rose 20%.

For sports brand, the key to success or failure is product innovation and the assurance of market pformation.

Sports brands only emphasize sports performance. It is far from enough. With the coming of fashion and fashion, most of the consumers in the sports apparel market buy a brand of clothing for the sake of fashion and comfort rather than professional sports needs.

Sports brands must understand that people are more concerned with what stars and celebrities are wearing than what sports stars wear on the playground.

Sponsoring sports stars, emphasizing sports professionalism, is out of date. For sports brands, entertainment stars or media people are having an impact on consumers, and the ability to carry goods is greater than that of athletes or teams that are more inclined to sports concepts.

Look at two examples of rising trend: Adidas and rap singer Kayne West have collaborated with Yeezy Boost, Kayne West and wife Kim Kardashian have always been the topic of entertainment and fashion.

For fashion brands, cooperation with net red and tide people has become a topic of social networking, and then the limited sale routines are common.

Now Adidas has used it on sports shoes, and it's just getting hot.

Relative to the tragedy of Under Armour losing money, Puma is completely relied on fashion icon Rihanna to bring back to life.

After becoming the creative director of Puma, Rihanna wore his own design shoes to enter the fashion week, and all kinds of street pads, so that Puma pformed from sports brand into sports fashion trend card.

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However, the similarity of the two examples also proves that sports brands follow the trend is a risky move, and a little carelessness will be completely abandoned by the loyal customers of the brand.

When the explosive money has been carefully manufactured, the burst mode has become a replicable success.

The easier it is to copy, the easier it is to be replaced.

Although UA's products are professional enough, they are still popular in sports fields, but for young people, it is far from being a cool brand.

And until now, we have not seen any intention to cooperate with the famous fried chicken.

Myth has ended, but technological innovation can not stop.

While products are not fashionable enough to attract young people, Under Armour has not yet been attracted to geeks like other clothing businesses.

Diversification of product structure has become its primary task at present.

Under Armour has chosen a more intelligent and more technological way to cope with the shrinking market.

For example, on the CES display of intelligent sports shoes, but also launched its first sleep "sports recovery pajamas", and also released a mobile phone App update.

Under Armour has put up a new label for smart wearable technology manufacturer, which is aimed at smart sportswear for high-end users.

But in this new field, it also faces competition with its old rivals Adidas and Nike.

At the moment, we haven't seen what changes Under Armour is making fashions and the market is changing. Rather than people who are more active in sports nowadays, they prefer to make themselves and social networking accounts look more attractive, whether in sports or in other ways.

If a brand wants to catch up with consumers, it should not only grasp the sense of technology, but also pay more attention to the sense of design and fashion. After all, the development of the clothing industry has come up with a more ancient law. The function of the trend is far greater than that of functionality.

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