Under Armour confirms a report that it is in negotiations with a new potential franchise partner to develop its Brand House retail format in Russia. The first stores may be opened in Russian shopping centers in the autumn of 2022, according to local sources. The new franchisee would take over from Vostokinvest, which went into liquidation in June 2020 after closing all its 16 UA stores in the country at the end of 2019. Reportedly, the main reasons for its financial difficulties were a poor marketing strategy and bad choices in the products being offered at certain times of the year. Meanwhile, UA is working in the market with the Russian fashion e-tailer Lamoda and with a distributor of fashion products, Lestate, which sells UA products through its Sport Point chain of sporting goods stores. Sales through Lamoda went up by 75 percent in the first half of this year.

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