No Surprise

One brand – guess who? – continues to dominate the performance apparel game

The team category is evolving rapidly, but dealers say one thing is staying the same: Under Armour is the players’ choice.


We’re a few years beyond defining performance apparel as the “Under Armour category.” Or are we? It depends who you ask. We quizzed a few team dealers in different parts of the country to get a feel for what they see happening in this still-strong marketplace. How do they even define performance apparel? And where’s the category headed?

Here’s the no-brainer answer: Performance apparel is evolving at a rapid pace. Not only are there more brands in the mix, but there is also an ever-expanding assortment of styles and price points available. Performance apparel has evolved to include everything from compression to loose fitting shirts and shorts to hoodies, even going as far as protective apparel with built-in pads and other high-tech “supplements.”

“I definitely would not define performance apparel as compression any more,” says Cliff Schantz, of Red Rock Sporting Goods in Miles City, MT. “You’ve got loose fit performance apparel really driving the category. It’s a whole different ball game now. It’s the whole nine yards and we sell performance apparel consistently, everyday.”

Cheryl Piesco, of Piesco Sporting Goods in Easton, MA, echoes that sentiment. “Originally it was just Under Armour compression, but it has changed and I would say performance apparel now is any apparel made of moisture wicking fabric. That now encompasses many items, not just compression gear. And the thing with performance apparel is that it really works better.”

The Effort at Branding

Brian Redman, of Red Stick Sports in Baton Rouge, LA, says that Nike performance apparel sells briskly at the higher price points, along with Under Armour. Redman notes that performance apparel sales at Red Stick are “probably split evenly” between team and retail sales.

According to Michael Burns, of Russell's Sporting Goods in Savannah, GA, Under Armour dominates at retail, but in team sales,where price is more of a factor there are opportunities for other brands coming in at lower price points.

Price Pressures Weigh In

“We have tried different brands for retail in the store, but they do not sell,” says Burns. “As far as the general public that comes in our store, Under Armour is the only brand of performance apparel, especially compression performance wear.

In our area of the country, performance apparel and Under Armour are still synonymous. The term ‘Under Armour shirt’ is used the same way as a ‘Kleenex’ means facial tissue, ‘Coke’ means a soft drink, ‘White-Out’ means opaque correction fluid.”

Burns adds that both the team and retail areas of the business are crucial in performance apparel. “Most of our team customers are looking for some type of moisture management apparel for uniforms.”
In the case of schools that are struggling with a budget placing team orders, they often do not include performance apparel as part of a team buy. “They don’t want to add additional cost to the overall cost for the players,” Burns notes.

“Schools in our area do not allow the performance apparel on bids because it is worn under the jersey or shorts, has a more intimate contact with the student and is not reused from year to year. The Board of Education will not buy it for the students. For the same reason, they do not buy socks for the school teams. Therefore, we get a lot of schools that send individuals in to buy the compression piece off the rack.”

Burns continues, “When we have a team order, whether it is for a jersey or an undershirt, our customer is more price conscious. But nobody ever asks us which brand or product performs better.”
Red Rock Sporting Goods’ Schantz feels that branding, marketing and pricing are all important. “Nike as far as I am concerned were the inventors of it all, but they just let Under Armour sneak in and kick their butts. They dropped the ball by not pushing it and Under Armour came in and took over the market. Some of it is name driven. Under Armour is the first brand teams ask for and if they can’t afford it, then they start asking who else does that, that we can get in the same vein that doesn’t cost as much. So then you go to the next vendors.”

In highlighting secondary brands, Schantz notes that “everyone in the industry is making it now — you’ve got Nike, Adidas and Reebok, and then on and on.” He highlighted names such as Alleson, Russell and A4 as brands he can do good business with in performance apparel for teams “at lower prices.” Schantz also highlights strides made in protective performance apparel from brands such as McDavid, along with Nike and Under Armour.

Price Pressures Weigh In

Others note that while protective gear, such as a girdles with pads built in, is part of a team buy for football, protective apparel for other sports such as soccer or basketball is still often left for a retail sale.

At Red Stick Sports, Redman says, “We’re in a pretty nice market as far as the consumer, so in performance apparel we sell pretty much all Nike and Under Armour.” A key seller from Nike is the Nike Pro sleeveless tight crew and loose fit shorts, both with Dri-FIT.

“On the retail side, price is not a factor,” says Redman. “On the team side, price is a factor. There are a few lower cost brands that do a good job. We sell a lot of Russell. It is good to have choices. If somebody is out of a particular product, there are probably half a dozen or more lines that would be considered off-brands, that if somebody doesn’t have the particular color and quantities you need, you can go to the next one. That’s an advantage. If people can’t afford Under Armour or Nike then they look to the off-brands.”

Piesco has both team and retail aspects to her business, and says that Under Armour’s presence in team is only growing for her. “They are heavily in the team market and are focused on that, doing custom uniforms and everything. So it is a team customer asking for that brand. We also sell a lot of Under Armour hoodies to school teams. They collect money and put the captain in charge of it. Even in this economy, they don’t have a problem buying the Under Armour. Kids have money when they want.”

“It’s a category that we’ve sold a lot of in the last couple years and the business has trickled to other brands that cost less than Under Armour. Everybody has their own thing. Some teams can’t afford Under Armour, which is fine. There are other nice products that they can buy that aren’t quite as costly.”

The Evolution of Performance

Schantz says that he sells performance apparel as part of spirit packs for teams, and in the cases where teams do not include performance apparel as part of the team purchase, then players often come in to the retail part of his business and buy it on their own. “There’s plenty of good performance apparel out there and people just need to be aware that if they can’t afford the Under Armour there is somebody else out there that makes it that is comparable.”

In addition to there being more brands and more styles of performance apparel available, there is a technical evolution still underway. In compression, for example, the drive towards recovery product, compression worn after workouts to reduce muscle fatigue, is gaining ground on the team level. Under Armour’s Recharge line is one example. “I see the performance apparel continuing to improve,” says Burns. “I have seen the new recovery products from both Under Armour and McDavid. I expect to see more products of this nature to become available.”

For the everyday training apparel and on-field performance apparel, innovations on the fabric side have also evolved rapidly in recent years, with everything from lighter weight fabrics to the trend towards stretch apparel in team jerseys. Another factor still being worked on is durability. “Some of the current moisture wicking, performance fabric pick and run badly,” says Burns. “As the demand for performance uniforms continues to rise, I think we will see more innovations in the fabrics for uniforms.”

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