Under Armour Bets on High-End Clothing Line
13 September 2016 - 10:30PM
Dow Jones News
When Under Armour Inc. unveiled an all-white, chunky sneaker for
basketball star Stephen Curry this summer, it became the butt of
jokes from sports fans and sartorialists alike. This week, the
company is hoping to improve its standing among tastemakers with
the debut of a high-end clothing line at New York Fashion Week.
Under Armour has its work cut out for itself. Its debut comes
years after fashion collections from competitors such as Nike Inc.,
Adidas AG and Puma SE. And its collection, called Under Armour
Sportswear or UAS, is aimed at what the company describes as
"ambitious millennials," a group of consumers who may or may not be
willing to splurge on $199 wool trousers and $1,500 trench
coats.
The Baltimore-based company has made its name in performance
sports gear, and is best known for sweat-wicking clothes used by
varsity athletes in football, basketball and other sports. With
$3.96 billion in revenue last year, the company is roughly a 10th
the size of sportswear leader Nike. To maintain its recent
double-digit growth rate, analysts said moving off the field is a
necessary step.
Ben Pruess and Tim Coppens, the creators of the new collection,
said despite the company's history as a maker of athletic wear, the
UAS line isn't athleisure. "That word is, well, it's a word, but it
is not this," said sportswear executive Mr. Pruess, gesturing at
the racks of sport jackets and chinos.
The clothes come with technical bells and whistles like a rubber
finish on the buttons. "The thread on the shirt buttons has an
elasticity so it has almost no chance of breaking," said Mr.
Coppens, who is its creative director. Other features, like
zippers, are glued rather than stitched, a technique more common in
athletic gear than traditional premium fashion lines.
While rivals' runway collections have leaned more toward
streetwear, Under Armour Sportswear focuses on what Messrs. Coppens
and Pruess describe as the East Coast young professional look, with
trousers, button-downs, and blazers. The collection is aimed at
individuals who are growing out of logo-heavy streetwear into
professional attire, according to Mr. Pruess.
Morgan Stanley analyst Jay Sole said it is best to consider the
fashion line as "a marketing expense" for the near term, but the
new line will help the company avoid being considered a midtier
brand as it goes forward with a plan to make sports gear available
in department-store chain Kohl's Corp.
Under Armour finance chief Chip Molloy told analysts at a retail
conference last week that development for the UAS line is a
long-term project. "It's going to take a couple years," Mr. Molloy
said. "But we firmly believe there's another whole wave of growth
to come with that."
The new line will be sold at Barneys New York and Mr Porter, the
luxury men's e-tailer, in addition to Under Armour's stand-alone
flagship stores. The clothes will also sell on a new website for
the line. Consistent with an emerging trend at fashion week, the
clothes will be made available for purchase starting Thursday. The
distribution of the collection will be limited to the U.S. at
first.
Under Armour's leap into fashion-casual clothing follows in the
footsteps of Adidas and Puma, which have made big splashes at New
York Fashion Week in recent years with Kanye West and Rihanna,
respectively. Fashion designer Alexander Wang unveiled a
collaboration with Adidas Originals during his runway show on
Saturday during fashion week, which began Sept. 8. Nike has also
released collaborations with Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci and Public
School in recent years.
Earlier this summer, Under Armour faced a rocky launch of its
widely panned Curry Two Low "Chef" shoes. The sneakers, a casual
version of Under Armour's signature shoe for the National
Basketball Association's most valuable player, Mr. Curry, were
regarded as clunky and bland-looking by sneaker watchers, a
critical snub in an industry which rewards flashiness and pizazz.
Mr. Curry defended the shoes during the NBA playoffs, describing
them as "fire."
The duo behind the UAS collection—Messrs. Coppens and Pruess
—worked together at Adidas. Mr. Coppens then moved on to Ralph
Lauren, where he served as design director at its
high-performance-wear label, RLX, before launching his eponymous
line in 2011. Mr. Coppens, who was born and raised in Belgium, made
his name with high-end street-and sports-influenced pieces like
bomber jackets and sweatshirts that blend leather, cotton or linen
with nylon and neoprene.
To succeed among the fashion-set, Under Armour will have to get
beyond its sports-brand reputation, said Clare Varga, active
director at trend forecaster WGSN. "Under Armour's success has been
built on their performance credentials," Ms. Varga said. "To
announce they were moving into fashion was quite a step change and
also immediately put them out there to be judged."
Write to Ray A. Smith at ray.smith@wsj.com and Sara Germano at
sara.germano@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 13, 2016 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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