Under Armour is an interesting company. Their situation is quite different from the others I am discussing because they are still a young entity and have been quite cautious about their growth. Many times they have been reluctant to put the cart before the horse and other times they have gone all out. To date, they still have not released Under Armour lacrosse uniforms for private club/team sales nor do they have readily available
UA replicas of the NCAA lax teams they sponsor.
Yet, they were a featured sponsor in the movies "Any Given Sunday" and "The Replacements," which came out in their infancy. The logos are quite different from the current crop, but there is no mistaking what Jamie
Foxx, Orlando Jones and their respective crews are wearing.
Essentially based on pantyhose, the fact the
UA is still around is amazing. When the shirts were first brought to Maryland football players, they were tested with some skepticism. When they worked, they spread like wildfire. Before too long, all performance compression
apparel became colloquially known as "Under Armour," even if it was made by other suppliers like Nike. When it became commercially available,
UA really took off. Many have adopted their compression shorts and boxer jocks as everyday underwear. Their compression shirts are viewed as more comfortable than classic cotton tees under dress shirts.
The company was well known for its under
apparel, but managed to have great success when they began producing outerwear as well. Their neoclassic intersecting
UA logo is almost as well known as Nike's Swoosh. But it would be their venture into football cleats and the infamous "click-clack" and "our house" slogans that would truly put the company on the map.
Nobody expected their cleats to go anywhere. Not only did they prove popular with
UA afficiandos, but the were a hit with the pros.
UA became the third approved NFL cleat in the Reebok era after Nike and Reebok (
UA beat Adidas to approved status by over a year). Not long after, baseball cleats debuted and their shoes appeared on lacrosse fields.
UA has since released training and running shoes and soccer uniforms. Soccer cleats will appear within the next couple of years. More and more schools are wearing
UA football uniforms and Maryland became the first school to have EVERY sport sponsored by
UA.
Already a presence in the
performance apparel, bag, shoe, and NCAA lacrosse markets,
UA will most likely make their equipment debut in lacrosse. Football, baseball, and soccer are over saturated with
equipment suppliers and
UA knows they have a strong presence and respect in the lax
world due to
their Maryland connections.
Although they tend to build rather than
acquire, in this expansion they lack the technology and
equipment to
efficiently build from the ground up. Most likely, they will buy a smaller, but successful company like
Maverik, Scorpion, or Serpent. It is also conceivable that
UA would purchase Louisville before or after that brand enters the lacrosse fray.
UA has yet to enter the hockey world in any real capacity, but a foothold in lacrosse would indicate some ice time on the horizon. Expect it around 2012. Click-clack.
Continue to Part 5
This is the dark horse of my equipment predictions. This Japanese company is relatively unknown in the US outside of baseball. The rest of the world sees Mizuno as a highly regarded athletics manufacturer. Their core products are in golf, but they also produce volleyball, tennis, cycling, soccer, and martial arts gear, shoes, and equipment. The Mizuno soccer shoes are all but nonexistent in the US, but British online stores feature them and they appear in televised European soccer matches from time to time.
Mizuno has long been a leader of the Japanese athletics industry. It began as a small company importing baseball and golf equipment from the US before deciding (like most Japanese companies) that it could do better. The company quickly produced high quality goods that rivaled and then surpassed the American originals. As the sport grows in Japan, Mizuno will undoubtedly see a market and choose to capitalize on it.
There is a company in Japan currently producing lacrosse shafts for the home market known as Samurai. Samurai's shafts (http://www.samurailacrosse.com/) are very clean and classic; the kind of thing you would expect from a Japanese company. They lack the flair and flash of most contemporary US shafts. Still, their traditional look makes them beautiful and desirable. I would be proud to yield one of their weapons on the field.
Should Mizuno decide to pursue lacrosse, it is very likely that they would consume, or at least work very closely with, Samurai. Before long, the Japanese company would be able to produce sticks that rival the goods of long time US companies like Warrior and STX. Their bats are already highly coveted even with their premium prices. Perhaps that is due to their excellence at "America's pastime." Imagine what will happen when the Japanese invade lacrosse.
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