While covering other sports categories, Under Armour has chosen to focus on training and running to build up its brand image in Europe, said Massimo Baratto, senior vice president in charge of Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA), during the official opening of a brand-new headquarters in Amsterdam early last week.
In tune with this objective, Under Armour participated for the first time in the Fibo fitness show in Cologne a few days later with a stand of 400 square meters for the global launch of Rush, a new line of training apparel whose mineral-infused fabric, developed in collaboration with Celliant, is said to enhance performance and recovery. The line became available yesterday on UA.com, at Under Armour brand houses and selected retailers worldwide.
Rush converts body heat into infrared energy that is re-emitted back to the body. Under Armour announced that Mick Schumacher, the 20-year-old son of Michael Schumacher, will be wearing it, joining other brand ambassadors.
Under Armour's European operations are growing briskly and delivering profits. The company's growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) accelerated to 35 percent on a constant-currency basis in the fourth quarter of 2018. This led to total revenues of nearly $500 million for the full financial year, up by 23 percent in constant currencies.
Kevin Plank, Under Armour's founder, and Peter Frisk, the Swedish-born manager who became the chief executive in 2017, were on hand for the inauguration of the company's new headquarters in Amsterdam, along with two sponsored athletes, Yusra Mardini and James Haskell, who had interesting stories to tell. In an aside, Frisk expressed confidence that the company's European sales will easily double within the next three years.
Accommodating 200 employees from 25 different nationalities, Under Armour's new EMEA office is located across from Amsterdam's Olympic stadium. The company set up its first European office 16 years ago in a small space inside the Olympic stadium itself. As the staff continued to grow, it was dispersed in several locations around the city when Baratto, the former chief executive of Italy's Oberalp, was appointed European director 11 months ago. In September, he took responsibility also for the Middle East and Africa.
The new 4,800-square-meter space occupies the premises of the former Citroën building in the city, which has been completely rebuilt and modernized, with large open rooms that encourage cooperation and showrooms for retail partners.
The investment is part of a plan to take the share of international sales up from 25 percent last year to 42 percent by 2025. Prior to its inauguration, Plank and Frisk attended the opening of Under Armour's first directly operated Brand House in India, located in New Delhi's DLF Promenade Mall. It sold $62,000 worth of products in the first four days in business, indicating the high level of pent-up demand for the brand. Ten more stores are due to be opened in India this year.
After opening Brand Houses in Amsterdam and Prague, Under Armour will open another one on Milan's via Orefici in May, complementing some 100 other mono-brand stores operated by third parties. It is also working to develop its e-commerce, which now represents about 10 percent of sales in Europe. Its website addresses customers in 20 languages.
Frisk landed in India after touring many countries in Europe and Asia, where the company continues to see strong potential for further development, offsetting the relative weakness that it has encountered in its domestic U.S. market lately. In the final quarter of 2018, while North American sales declined by 6 percent to $965 million, Under Armour's revenues in the rest of the world went up by 24 percent in dollars and by 28 percent in local currencies, representing 28 percent of the total turnover. Asia-Pacific had the strongest growth, up by 39 percent. Currency-neutral sales in Latin America declined by 11 percent.
As part of its international expansion drive, Under Armour is also planning to open a new office in Hong Kong before the end of this year to oversee the Asian market. The continent will be a major focus of expansion in the next few years. About 200 new mono-brand stores are due to open in China in 2019.
