UNDER ARMOUR MAKES IT TO THE MAJOR LEAGUES

Last month I wrote about Under Armour’s plunge into the cotton sports-apparel market with its new line of “Charged Cotton.” For UA chief executive, Kevin Plank, the move was a total about-face from his company’s roots as an anti-cotton brand. (“Cotton is the enemy!” was the old marketing slogan.)


But it was a necessary—and smart—move on the part of Plank. UA had pretty much saturated its own synthetic performance-wear market. The U.S. cotton activewear market, at $12 billion, is four times bigger than UA’s old stomping grounds. No brainer, really. And the move continued Plank’s quest to become the “biggest and baddest brand on the planet.” Which means, of course, overtaking a certain behemoth located in Oregon. It will take a while. Nike has $19 billion in revenue; UA has $1 billion. Nike spends more than double UA’s revenues on marketing alone. FORBES