Is Under Armour Moving Towards Becoming The Biggest Apparel Brand in the World?

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Image via Complex Original
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Nike fanatics don't panic, the Swoosh is safe, just hear me out for a second.

According to a recent report from SportsScanInfo, Under Armour has surpassed adidas as the #2 seller of athletic footwear and apparel. The spot was held by adidas by quite some time, but Under Armour has continued to grow and expand into new territories, while adidas is looking to regain it's traction.

The top spot of course is held by Nike, who all but dominated footwear and apparel sales across the US for many years. Don't believe us? Just take a look at the best selling sneakers from the month of August. Notice anything? Every shoe but one is from the Nike family, with the only other one cracking the list being the UA Highlight MC. While it's a near impossible feat to overtake Nike when it comes to US sales, especially in footwear, it does show that UA was not shaken by missing out on Kevin Durant, and the CEO of Under Armour even went far enough to say they were happy to drive the price up, and that "no deal is too big for Under Armour".

This confidence is understandable to an extent, as Under Armour continues to grow their market share across different categories, including their largest women's campaign, I WILL WHAT I WANT, where they signed Gisele Buchdron to be the face of. Under Armour's biggest category is through it's base layers and clothing, which all but changed the sporting apparel culture when it came onto the scene, and sprouted up multiple imitators to make lightweight, dry fitting apparel and gear.

adidas can however make a push to restate their claim at the #2 spot with some careful marketing and signings. The hype behind the Yeezy x adidas collaboration will surely improve sales for the Three Stripes in at least one category when they drop later this year. Along with Kanye, adidas has a solid group of young stars in the NBA led by Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard, and John Wall, who's rumored to be getting his own signature shoe, so it looks like things are on the upswing for adidas in the footwear category, but ultimately lacks in apparel where Under Armour and Nike are king.

While Under Armour overtaking the top spot from Nike is nothing short of a pipe dream, the fact that UA was able to overtake a global juggernaut like adidas means the competition is heating up. The best news about all of this is due to the fight for market share, brands are pressured to push the boundaries and innovate further which only means better products for us, the consumer. In the end, that's all anyone really cares about, right?

[SportsScanInfo]

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