Under Armour Logo

Since the Under Armour sportswear brand started, no other sportswear brands excel in sports apparel production as they do. That’s owing to its founder Kevin Plank’s experience with bad apparel on the field. Today, a lot of athletes and outdoor folks rely on Under Armour for quality and durable clothing.

Among other distinct brands around, the Under Armour Logo stands widely recognized and arguably is the major driving factor to their popularity. They even said it’s one of the key designs of the brand. But how did this logo come to be and become so popular? 

Under Armour History

In 1995, a 23-year old football player Kevin Plank, who played for the University of Maryland, College, got frustrated about his sports apparel’s inability to keep him dry and comfortable on the field. Back then, football shirts were mainly cotton. It was a bad experience for him knowing that he sweats a lot. Cotton doesn’t wick moisture; instead, absorbs the sweat and keeps you damp. 

Owing to this experience, Plank started looking into different materials that can wick sweat out of the body after his graduation in 1996. Eventually, he settled with synthetic materials. Plank investigated different synthetic prototypes before arriving on the one he was going to try out. 

Deep into the Under Armour history, Plank took the material he had decided to try out to a local tailor and asked him to sow seven t-shirts just like a tight little white Hanes t-shirt he showed him. Plank took the seven sample shirts to some athletes and some of his former teammates and asked them to try the shirts out. They all came back with different suggestions on how the shirts can improve based on their different sport demands. But overall, they loved the shirt. Plank realized he wasn’t just up to revolutionize football shirts, but all sports performance shirts.

Initially, Plank solicited to call his new sportswear company Heart, but unfortunately, he couldn’t trademark it. He thought of another name — “Body Armor,”. But, all attempts to trademark Body Armor were fruitless. One day, Plank’s brother, Bill, jokingly asked him, “How’s that company you’re working on, uhh… Under Armour?” The name appealed to Plank, and that marked the birth of Under Armour.

Under Armour Logo

The next phase for Plank was to design the Under Armour Logo. It’s worth mentioning that Plank chose the British spelling of “Armour” rather than the American spelling “Armor” solely because he thought the phone number 888-4ARMOUR was more compelling than 888-44ARMOR.”

Plank designed the very first Under Armour Logo. He wasn’t a designer, so the logo had a minimalist design using the first letters of Under Armour (U & A). The design was U layered with an A (without a crossbar) in all black except the part where U crossed A, which was white. He spelled a bold “UNDER” on top and a bold “ARMOUR” with athletic apparel underneath. This was the first look of the Under Armour Symbol. Since 1996, the Under Armour Logo changed in 1997, 1998, 1995, and last in 2005, which we see to date. The current version of the logo still has the same look but curvier and has “UNDER ARMOUR” written underneath. This logo is noticeable on all of Under Armour’s products.

After unveiling the official logo, they started selling. The first Under Armour shirt was soft, skin-tight, stretchy, and the main feature — sweat-wicking that kept athletes cool and dry. In its first year, the Under Armour Shirts sold up to $17,000. Subsequently, the Under Armour Shirts started pulling in huge sales because athletes loved them. In 1998, Plank moved the Under Armour headquarters from his grandmother’s rowhouse to a new headquarters in Baltimore city. Since then, that has been the home of Under Armour. 

It wasn’t until 1999 that Under Armour got a significant breakthrough. They signed a deal that got their product placement in the movie “Any Given Sunday.” This movie was a hit and got famous athletes and Hollywood stars marketing their brand in the U.S. It all started with an ESPN magazine feature in the year 2000. They also became the official supplier of major leagues in 2001 making them bigger and bigger.

The Under Armour Symbol started gaining popularity, which led Under Armour to air its first national commercial. They named the campaign “Protect This House.” The campaign featured a chant, which went viral. Almost all sports teams in the U.S. had their version of this chant. Under Armour grew more popular. They went from producing performance t-shirts to exclusive sports apparel. They even branched out to underwear. To cut it short, in 2006, they ventured into football cleats; in 2009 performance running shoes, and in 2011, Under Armour produced basketball shoes.

Final Thought

Today, after over 20 years, the Under Armour Symbol is present in all forms of sports. Under Armour products are known to be fashionable and aesthetically appealing even to non-athletes who use their shoes and apparel worldwide. 

The Under Armour Logo symbolizes speed, strength, and athleticism making it even more meaningful to its users. When people wear Under Armour products, they take pride in the logo resting majestically on the items because it speaks about their healthy lifestyle or fitness goals. The logo played a big part in the brand’s success story. 

Want to find out more about UA Apparel? Check out our write-ups here – Under Armour Shoes / Under Armour Backpacks / Under Armour Underwear / Under Armour Shorts / Under Armour Hoodies / Under Armour Stephen Curry / Under Armour Joggers