Under Armour, the fast-growing U.S. company specializing in high-performance sports apparel, is opening European headquarters in Amsterdam to steer its onslaught on the European market. The operation will be led by Ryan Wood, partner and sales manager of the U.S. company, who was appointed as president of international sales. Mark Mackay, the Scotsman who joined the company from AND 1 last year, remains in the USA as vice president of international sales.
The company indicates that it will apply roughly the same strategy in Europe as in the United States, concentrating on grassroots promotion to spread its team sports products. While Under Armour built its business around its moisture wicking apparel, it is extending its team sports offering with a range of cleated boots, and it is mulling plans to introduce apparel for other sports, such as hiking and golf.
Under Armour, which raised $157 million when it went public late last year, is already sold in several European countries, mostly in the UK and Ireland. The company has been covering these two countries by itself for several years through Michael Dodds, an employee who works with three reps and a sports marketing manager. It has made particularly impressive inroads in English rugby and soccer, as an estimated 80 percent of England’s professional teams use Under Armour underwear. The product has been discovered by an Italian football team, AC Milan.
The brand has enjoyed stunning growth in the USA over the last years, but in 2004 its revenues from international sales represented just 4 percent of its turnover. Over the last months, however, Under Armour has begun to hold talks with distributors in many more European countries. Not surprisingly, thanks to Mackay’s connections, Under Armour has been leaning heavily on the European sales network of AND 1, using several of the basketball brand’s distributors. Among others, it has sealed a deal with SGA Vanneste for the Benelux countries, along with No Comment in France, Sport Box in Italy and Basket King in Spain, while Germany is to be covered by Elmar Klinge of Main Sport. Under Armour will apparently work some other countries directly from Amsterdam. One of them is Sweden, where it severed last year its ties with its existing distributor, Twins Equipment.
Ryan Wood is a long-time partner of Kevin Plank, the former American football player who set up Under Armour in 1996. The two have known each other since they played football together at Fork Union Military Academy, a prep school in Virginia. From the company’s office in Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium, Wood will be covering Europe as well as Asia and Canada. Wood was previously senior vice-president of sales, dealing with key accounts in the USA. This task will be taken over by Matthew Mirchin, vice-president of U.S. sales, who joined Under Armour last year after several years at Russell Athletic.
