Last month, sports equipment and athletic clothing company Under Armour (NYSE: UAA) unveiled a new brand featuring Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry. The new brand could help put Under Armour in greater competition with the immensely successful Air Jordan brand pioneered by Nike (NYSE: NKE).
The Air Jordan brand remains a uniquely successful partnership in the realm of celebrity-partnered branding. Originally produced exclusively for basketball legend Michael Jordan, the brand was released to the public in 1985 to immense success. The brand, it's iconic "jumpman" logo featuring Jordan's silhouette, and the ubiquity of its trademark shoes have become a household name in the decades since the first Air Jordans became available to consumers.
Under Armour's new brand, launched in a partnership with Stephen Curry, shows promise in being a competitor to the Air Jordan brand. Curry's success on the court, his mass popularity, as well as his reputation as down-to-earth and good-natured towards his fans makes him a natural choice for a named brand.
The brand, which will go public on December 11, features sportswear and accessories, including sneakers, which brings the brand in direct competition with Air Jordan. The success of the brand could be what Under Armour needs to escape its current decline, which has seen the firm lose a great deal of market share to competitors such as Nike. Even before the line's launch, however, there appears to be some promise; Curry's jersey is a consistent best-seller among the NBA's considerable roster of merchandise, which could be a bellwether for the success of the new brand.
The partnership will also expand on Under Armour's and Curry's philanthropic efforts. Under Armour, which invests in education and sporting activities for youths, and Curry, who founded the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation with his wife Ayesha, will invest a percentage of the brand's revenue in promoting sports programs and creating safe play spaces for youths.
"We have a shared goal of unlocking play for kids, so that became a natural place for us to focus," Curry said in Under Armour's release. "I grew up doing a lot of things to give back to the community with my family-and continue that now-while Under Armour has done so much to support athletes around the world."