UA Was Too "Athletic" Instead Of Puma.

The fashion circle has not yet figured out how to maintain a beautiful and safe distance from the new president, but a sports brand is telling you with your own blood and tears that you can never be too careful in this matter. This is the Under Armour (Andemar), who has overtaken Adidas and ranked second in the industry.

The origin is CEO Kevin Plank in a recent interview, "feeling difficult to suppress" did not stop the car, called Trump "the light of the United States" (almost the meaning of it, the original saying is "a real asset for the country"), "can have such a business president, is the United States lucky, people should seize this opportunity."

This "touted" suddenly ignited a lot of anger of the anti trump people. Some even said on Twitter that they were ready to sell the shares of Under Armour, and urged consumers to boycott the products of Under Armour. Sam Poser, an analyst at SIG, also said that in the analysis report, with the leader's words, it is almost impossible for the company to build a cool urban lifestyle brand in the future.

For this company, however, the biggest crisis does not come from the boss's political stand.

The fourth quarter financial report released earlier this month showed that the total sales volume of Under Armour in the first quarter was $1 billion 308 million 100 thousand, but it was lower than the US $1 billion 410 million Zacks expected by the US rating agency. From the perspective of income growth, the problem is even more serious. In the first three quarters, the figures were 30.2%, 27.7% and 22.2% respectively, while in the fourth quarter, only 11.7%, falling again and again, finally breaking the previous 26 consecutive quarters of sales growth of more than 20%.

So, question, Under Armour, who had been a strong leader, hasn't killed the "boss" Nike yet. How did it soften?

Maybe Sam Poser says the problem is: "Under Armour is not cool enough for young people even though it is excellent in sports field."

How important is this cool thing? Look at Puma, you will know.

It is also recently that Puma SE Puma group said that the brand achieved a growth rate exceeding the market expectations in the fourth quarter, a fixed exchange rate growth of 10.1%, and a significant increase in sales in the 2016 fiscal year than in 2015. The Group expects that the current 2017 fiscal year's revenue and earnings will continue to grow at least for the year.

The 10.1% growth of Under Armour may be a tragedy, but putting Puma into reality is actually "bringing the dead back to life". You know, two years ago, this brand could be embarrassed by the opening up of the group.

And for Puma, it's the singer and fashion icon Rihanna.

In the second half of 2014, the endangered Puma made a "most important decision" and invited Rihanna to be his creative director. Rihanna himself is also serious enough. After a year, Rihanna launched the PUMA BY RIHANNA Collection Series in the name of personal brand FENTY. Among them, the main PUMA Creeper was reportedly sold out for three hours on sale. In the fourth quarter of 2015, PUMA sales increased 11% year-on-year, and the growth of footwear products and clothing products also reached two figures.

In addition, with Rihanna, it is more and more fashionable to enter the fashion week. In the street shooting, there is a sense of existence, from "sports brand" to "sports fashion trend card".

Puma CEO Bj RN Gulden calls Rihanna the initiator of brand trend, and after Rihanna, Puma has invited Kylie Jenner and Cara Cara as spokesmen.

The story of Puma is finished, and the sports brand that you want to talk about is only two words that are not enough. Nike and Adi are well versed in this. By the way, I heard that Dior and Nike will soon have a cooperation.

Go back to Under Armour. Since its debut, in the media coverage, Under Armour has often been described as a technology company, while another clothing brand that likes to call itself "technology company" is UNIQLO. The two things in common are: first, emphasize the functionality of clothing; two, ugliness.

It is undeniable that professionalism and technology are at least once a magic weapon for Under Armour to open up the market. Otherwise, it will not be possible to sign the injured ankle and help them achieve a career explosion. But why must the function become two opposite to the good thing? After all, for today's people, they not only want to wear sports clothes in the gym to run with iron, but also want to be able to walk in the street and walk without dogs. Under Armour's CEO Kevin Plank obviously realized this point. After the release of the earnings report, he said, "we need to make our products more fashionable". This has become the direction that the company needs to exert its strength in the next year.

In addition, the article exhorts Kevin Plank: don't overdo it in "technology". It's just a marketing strategy. In fact, those fitness app brings only 2% of the profits. (Under Armour has acquired MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and Endomondo three sports App), and the emphasis on sneakers is also taking the company to a harsh battlefield.