Under Armour's Attack on Nike | Sweat Equity
3/18/202644 min
It’s 1995 and college football player Kevin Plank is frustrated with the way the cotton t-shirt he wears under his pads gets drenched with sweat. He begins designing a t-shirt made from a different kind of material - one that will wick away sweat and keep him cool and dry on the field. Upon graduating, Plank uses his life savings and maxes out his credit cards to launch Under Armour. And within ten years of its founding, Plank sets his sights on the biggest prize of all: taking on Nike.
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First 90 secondsDavid Brown· Host0:00
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business Wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. [phone ringing] It's summer two thousand and five in Baltimore, Maryland. Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank is staring out the window of his office as he waits for someone to pick up the phone. The sky outside is bright blue with a hazy shimmer from the humidity. Plank knows that within seconds of stepping foot outdoors, he'll be dripping in sweat. For years, sweat was his biggest nemesis. As a linebacker for the University of Maryland, the cotton T-shirts he wore under his football pads would get soaked, becoming heavy and clingy, slowing him down on the field. So he set out to fix the problem. Nearly ten years ago, Plank created a shirt that wicked sweat away from the body, the cornerstone product that became the foundation of a company he named Under Armour. Now, that company is one of the fastest rising sportswear brands in America.
Speaker 1· Soundbite1:15
Thank you for calling Dick's Sporting Goods.
David Brown· Host1:17
A receptionist finally answers his call, and Plank asks to speak with Edward Stack. A moment later, Stack comes on the line.
Speaker 1· Soundbite1:26
Kevin, how are you? Those new running shirts are selling like hotcakes.