It has also opened several specialty stores and factory outlet locations in Canada, China, and 39 states including the opening of its first Brand House in Baltimore in 2013 and second Brand House in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. In late 2007, Under Armour opened its first full-line full-price retail location at the Westfield Annapolis mall in Annapolis, Maryland. The same year, the company launched its first television commercial, which centered on their motto, 'Protect this house.' The company IPO'd on the NASDAQ in November 2005, raising $153m of capital. In 2003, consumer sector focused private equity firm Rosewood Capital invested $12 million into the company. The following year, Under Armour became the outfitter of the new XFL football league, gaining even more attention during the league's debut on national television. The ad generated close to $750,000 in sales. Leveraging the release of Any Given Sunday, Plank purchased an ad in ESPN The Magazine. In Any Given Sunday, Willie Beamen (played by Jamie Foxx) wears an Under Armour jockstrap. Under Armour received its first big break in 1999 when Warner Brothers contacted Under Armour to outfit two of its feature films, Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday and The Replacements. In 1997, Plank had $100,000 in orders to fill and found a factory in Ohio to make the shirts. By the end of 1996, Under Armour had sold 500 Under Armour HeatGear shirts, generating $17,000 for the company. That same year, Under Armour launched with several new apparel lines including ColdGear, TurfGear, AllseasonGear, and StreetGear. With positive reviews from players, word began to spread and orders began to increase. This deal opened the door to contracts with NC State, Arizona State, and other Division I football teams. Following that front page, Under Armour's first major sale came, when an equipment manager from Georgia Tech requested 10 shirts from Plank. People began to take notice of the brand when a front-page photo of USA Today featured Oakland Raiders quarterback Jeff George wearing an Under Armour mock turtleneck. Plank opted to use the British spelling ' armour' in the company name because the toll-free vanity number was still available for that version. Major competing brands including Nike, Adidas and Reebok would soon follow in Plank's footsteps with their own moisture-wicking apparel. Plank soon perfected the design creating a new T-shirt built from microfibers that wicked moisture and kept athletes cool, dry, and light. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Plank developed his first prototype of the shirt, which he gave to his Maryland teammates and friends who had gone on to play in the NFL. This inspired him to make a T-shirt using moisture-wicking synthetic fabric. Īs a fullback at the University of Maryland, Plank got tired of having to change out of the sweat-soaked T-shirts worn under his jersey however, he noticed that his compression shorts worn during practice stayed dry. After a few moves in the city he moved to his current headquarters in Tide Point. From his grandmother's basement, Plank moved to Baltimore. His first team sale came at the end of 1996 with a $17,000 sale. He spent his time traveling along the East Coast with nothing but apparel in the trunk of his car. Plank initially began the business from his grandmother's basement in Washington, D.C. Under Armour was founded on Septemby Kevin Plank, a then 24-year-old former special teams captain of the University of Maryland football team. Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armour, pictured in 2018

Armor poser debut