Under Armour announced the opening of the brand's first stores in Ukraine at the end of December. They are both located in Kiev and operated by Under Armour's exclusive distributor in the country, the MD Fashion group.
MD Fashion is one of the biggest multi-brand distributors in the Ukrainian fashion market, according to the company's website. In addition to Under Armour, it works with Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel, G-Star Raw, Gant, Walker, Replay and several other brands.
Clara Isvirt, general director for Under Armour in Ukraine, told the local press that the company is planning to open ten more stores for the brand in 2018, aiming for a network of 20 doors in the coming years.
As previously reported, Under Armour entered the Russian market with a store in Moscow last year. Reportedly, the company had been considering a move into Ukraine prior to 2014, but those plans were eventually halted because of the economic and political crisis that the country had to endure following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
While reducing the price of real estate, the economic difficulties have hampered the development of the sporting goods market in Ukraine. The average GDP per capita slumped from the equivalent of $4,000 in 2013 to $2,200 in 2016, and according to a local market research agency, Max Consulting, this led to a contraction of nearly 23 percent in the market for clothing and footwear in terms of local currency during the same period.
With the strong devaluation of the hryvnia over the past few years, the market has shrunk nearly by half since 2013. Max Consulting estimates that consumer spending on sports apparel and footwear market was worth around $500 million in 2016, including $230 million for footwear. It is not clear whether the situation has been improving or stabilizing recently, as it has in Russia.
