Source: UA Newsroom
Under Armour has the benefit of Nike encountering their #metoo moment first as the reason why the brand hasn’t really seen any blowback against StripperGate. Why did I just lead this post on UA’s direction in footwear with a comment on their recent troubles in the exec suite? Because I feel that it is a representation of a brand that has no idea after 20 years what it is. A few weeks ago the company signed a host of NBA big men and launched a limited run of a A$AP Rocky “designed” bootleg of an Osiris skate shoe from the 90s. They also launched a retro styled runner the Forge 96 when the company didn’t even make shoes in the 90s. The problems with Under Armour can be seen in the botched launch of the Tim Coppens led UAS (Under Armour Sports), a lifestyle division thrown together for the fashion world that launched via a series of pop-up shops without any storytelling or direction. The UAS division was dissolved and ‘integrated’ into UA.
Under Armour/UAS the Integration Starts with the UAS Forge 1 Mid
In the post above I wrote about the movement of UAS and in that article I wrote that UA has failed to use athletes in their marketing. I also wrote that they had figured out the “logo” issue. The placement of the UA logo has been a problem since the inception of the brand. It has worked on some shoes, but it’s best presented when the logo is diminished as it has been on the Curry line. Now Under Armour is looking to build it’s footwear on the back of its HOVR technology. In doing so they created some early promo that allows for storytelling via video and explanation on their news site.
It looks as if Under Armour finally has their direction, but if that is true, they just created an entire line of shoes that fail miserably at relaying the fashion and style needed to make a performance line successful. Under Armour is pushing hard towards performance. I’ve always said that is their only path and it seems that they’ve read this and they are running with it. However, when I said that performance is their lane, I didn’t mean to resort to these horribly designed shoes above. I also would have expected someone in the room to say, “Hey we just created a two and half minute video and there wasn’t one person of color in the video.”
Then again, maybe that’s where the brand is heading. Maybe Under Armour wants to be more like Newton Running and less like Nike and adidas. If that’s the case the brand is in more trouble than I thought. This collection for 2019 will go directly to Dick’s Sporting Goods and other ‘running’ and big box oriented stores. There isn’t any way in hell a buyer with the ‘cooler’ chains like Foot Locker and Finish Line would decide to carry this line. It definitely will never reach urban retail and crossover as the adidas UltraBOOST did. This ad is Under Armour. It’s white, bland and non-threatening. There isn’t any element of “protecting this house”. It’s not in your face, aggressive, fashion forward, it’s just empty.
Under Armour knows where it’s headed. It appears that they’ve given up on even trying to get a seat at the table and in my opinion the brand is now officially behind the privately owned New Balance. If I had to make a prediction I see sales trending downward here at home and international if this is what they are leading with.