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Under Armour
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"The product launches June 11, and we’ve spent
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quite a bit of time looking at what our competition has
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done, how they have positioned themselves. What
we’ve found is a programme that is going to stand us
apart, but really introduce this football consumer to
Under Armour football, which is almost as important as
the shoe itself.
It's a web-based programme, called the Under
Armour 11. We’ve identified 11 athletes from various
countries in Europe including Germany, Spain, we have
a Brazilian actually as well, Scotland, England, Wales,
SGB spoke with Under Armour's Senior
France, who represent the very best of football in a pure
sense, the passion towards the sport.
Manager for Football Boots, Alex Chater,
In-store we’ve taken this programme down and we’re
supplying our retailers with some pretty unique POS
about the new footwear
material, the usual credits include the windows and the
shoe shelves and footwear display towers, but we’re
really focussed on the training. Every store retailing this
U
nder Armour is not a brand that does things by halves. their
product will receive an in-depth training session, and
running gear is going down well in the sports industry, and now
they’ll also receive posters and brochures and little fun
they're adding football boots to their rapidly-growing range.
gadgets to keep them always top of mind with regard
The boots – two lines, names Dominate and Create – look great and the
to the boots themselves and some of the selling points.
company has spent time working with regular footballers, plus
The distribution is very tied to high-end specialty
professionals like Bobby Zamora of Fulham, to
soccer shops, those stores who will really take a vested
perfect the product. Alex Chater explains…
interest in explaining to the customer about what our
SGB: Under Armour is a very 'American' brand in a
brand USP is and how we differ from the competition."
lot of ways, so football boots are something of a
diversion. Why do them?
Alex Chater: No. I think it’s a natural extension when
you look at, we introduced American football cleats in lot of people have just a
2006 and came on and took 25% market share; the next season we very, very stiff lasting board without any
introduced baseball cleats and lacrosse cleats, and cushioning. And then we have our Armour Form and our Armour
with similar success; last year we launched training shoes; this past year we’ve Form sock liner which actually moulds to the bottom of your foot, allowing
launched running shoes. If we’re going to be a growth brand, and we feel like your foot to sit in the sock liner instead of on top of the sock liner, giving you
we are the brand of the next generation, there’s a tremendous amount of a tremendous amount of extra stability. And then underneath the top layer
soccer players that have been asking us to develop a soccer boot, and at the that holds to your foot we have a very responsive material that allows for
same time we are a global brand, a lot of the players in Europe know us for comfort and stud dispersion underfoot. And that’s one thing that every player
our apparel, and it’s a natural extension to bring that performance into our has said that has put on the boots, is that just the way they fit and they feel
footwear. because of that underfoot comfort.
SGB: What are the key USPs for the end user in the boots? Our Dominate boot, which is our power meets tradition, or technology meets
AC: We feel like we’ve got a point of difference with how we’ve treated tradition shoe, we have a special technology in our leather, it’s water-
underfoot and the performance and comfort and cushioning underfoot. intelligent leather, and, much like our apparel is focussed on not allowing
We’ve done that with our Armour Bound EVA on top of the lasting board, a moisture, it’s focussed on moisture wicking and ventilation.
18 SGB SPORTS JUNE 2009
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