Good call, there definitely aren't any Americans who identify as black but not as African.

Totally ditto. My 13 year son does not wear UA anymore. It used to be all he wanted and my wife would buy him a ton of it. Now he will only be seen wearing Nike, Adidas and Vineyard Vines.

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"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

UA remains what it always has been, a trashy apparel brand at a premium price point.

haha did not expect that as a 3rd.

Well, I hate to invest in companies that depend on a 15 year old kid in the valley to determine your profit lines. Remember BK shoes? Adidas leather jackets? The apparel/fashion industry is a tough one. With that said my Nike stock has split and split over the years and yikes I have a bunch of money tied up with them. Seems like it stays strong over the years. I am thinking UA is ripe for a take over and the brand will come out strong for someone else. The stock market is a scary place to park money.

Vineyard Vines' sales must be growing like crazy...

My son is 11 and ONLY wants Nike, although he did go for a pair of Adidas soccer cleats the other day, after reluctantly admitting they felt better. He completely ignores UA.

In the southeast, I would swap #3 on the list to Southern Tide, but we are starting to see some Vineyard Vines.

Southern Tide was just coming into view when I was in college and in a fraternity. We were the southern/fishing/hunting type and everyone wore Southern Tide. We were also located in an expensive town with TONS of money so Vineyard was always prevalent. Chubbies were a popular brand too. I grew up a surfer so never left that realm of clothing (hurley, volcom, quik, billa)

One difference is that UA is publicly traded (with all the hullabaloo that can go along with satisfying investors and the market) and Hoka is still a privately held company. I can imagine that means Hoka can play the long game and not have to worry about the next sugar high of the most recent earning report.

that makes a huge difference. I was at a public company that went private (diff industry) and our game went from monthly profits to a 10+ year strategy. No more shooting from the hip type style.

However - UA's (big) competitors are public so they are all trying to get the same piece of the pie.

Hoka isn’t privately held. They’re owned by Deckers, which is publicly traded.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Triathletes and fitness aside, Nike has a higher demand for shoes from an aesthetic standpoint. Kids do not want UA shoes. UA has recently tried to rectify this by hiring away designers from other shops.

Bingo. When the supposedly premium stuff is on the shelves at Kohl's, it's not premium anymore. Customers are smart enough to figure that out, given enough time.

As is common, UA chased market share and sacrificed profitability in the process.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

NOT off-topic or a topic for the LV. Reading historic insights from the initiators of the multisport lifestyle (and industry) like Empfield and Monty are gems! (Not "old school", rather THE School.) Besides his previous manufacturing expertise, I'm very interested in how Dan's hands on TriSports at the retail distributor level with play with the new orthodoxy.

As for business sense from Curry or even S. Tinley, they've always been whores for free stuff and a paycheck. Not that there's anything wrong with that in the slightest. Just have to consider the sources carefully for industry, finance, and economic insight.

OMG, did I just dis' ST on SlowTwitch? Next thing I'll be taking on Riccitello.

FULL DISCLOSURE: In 1989 I bought Saucony Azura ST solely because of... ST)

Another factor is UA chose to get political, with a left lean. I’m not making a political statement, but clearly that strategy hasn’t worked out so well for a few others, namely ESPN, the NFL and Hollywood. It doesn’t really pay to lean in any direction, but the bs coming out of Plank was just too much.

And it’s 2017, you gotta have a competitive moat. If it can be replicated for less, it will. See Newton..

Also, their shoes suck and NBA players don’t want to wear them. That won’t drive sales.

That's funny, because that's an inversion from 4-5 years ago.

Left lean? The links above show pro-Trump statements by their CEO, Plank, who has a history of publicly supporting GOP politicians.

Unless you mean "left lean" on how Plank walked back this pro-Trump statements and left the Trump "advisory council."

But in general I think student-athletes and pro athletes left lean, so it's not surprising that a sports apparel company would since those are the primary marketers.

You can look at it that way if you like. ESPN is suffering from structural issues surrounding their cable-oriented approach and cord-cutting. The NFL has issues involving oversaturation (Sundays are no longer as special with the expanding slate of Thursday games, and the product on the field is crap compared to previous years (many of the highest-profile players are out for the season and games have been both less competitive and less competent). I am what you would probably think of as a raging liberal and love football and support the protests, but am watching less this season because of these listed reasons. This article addresses both (indirectly for ESPN, but it's hugely dependent on cable subscriptions which are, as mentioned, declining).

http://money.cnn.com/...-networks/index.html

Hollywood I have much less knowledge of, but there is some talk of the rising importance of global box office sales leading to studios producing films with more international and less domestic appeal. The F&F franchise was mentioned specifically in this context.

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The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Funny you should say that when Hoka are about to have three models that reviewers can barely distinguish when describing them apart (Cavu/Mach/Clayton 2).

Kevin Plank tells financial commentator he was not ‘laser-focused' on Under Armour but is now

Yup! I'm willing to go very far out of my way to make sure that aspiring nazi never gets a dollar from me.

Not. One. Effin. Cent.

There is a ton going on in this tread.

1. Hoka is a little over $100 million in sales (2016), UA nearly $5 Billion, not even close to similar

2. Monty said Hoka is dominating the sport, they dominated the Kona poll, that is not the same as dominating the sport which I'd argue they are not doing as the average triathlete doing 1-2 races a year is wearing a "regular" running shoe from the likes of Asics, Saucony, New Balance. There are way more of those Triathletes then there are ones doing Kona or even posting on Slowtwitch

3. Hoka is owned by Deckers which has a major stockholder that is very unhappy with results and wants to split up the company because it is performing poorly overall. Hoka is the stand out brand in the portfolio but so small as part of Deckers that they don't make a dent in the issue

4. UA is getting hammered on stock price because for the first time they are not growing at 20%+ per quarter. They are still growing but not like before and investors don't like that

5. Hoka is on the verge of being over sku'd as someone mentioned with 3 nearly identical models.

6. UA had to make a move that has hurt them with a store like Dicks. They put product into Kohl's. A lot of that product was destined for Sports Authority and had to go someplace once SA went under. That's move is what will hurt them long term.

Is UA a mess right now, yes. They are not growing crazy fast and that is the only way they know. They will get it figured out I'm sure. Hoka is a great brand with great people but it will be very hard for them to get to $1 Billion anytime soon

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