From mowing lawns and selling flowers to being the billionaire CEO of a respected sportswear brand: the story of Kevin Plank

From mowing lawns and selling flowers to being the billionaire CEO of a respected sportswear brand: the story of Kevin Plank

October 4, 2024 – 08:45

The American led his business to transform it from a small venture to earning more than $300 million a year.

Kevin Plank is the founder and CEO of Under Armorone of the most valued sports clothing brands in the world market. Your company has an estimated value of 3.96 billion dollars and is only behind Nike, Adidas, Puma and Asics. The North American leads his textile empire after forging it with the profits from his gardening work.

The garmentsBaselayer” are the most outstanding products of his brand and the reason why he managed to turn his venture into a multimillion-dollar business. The American was inspired by American football to launch your model. Plank’s prototype combined his sporting passion with his entrepreneurial nature by noticing that the clothing that was traditionally worn was uncomfortable.

Previously, players wore cotton t-shirts under their kits. The businessman described that this type of fabric was annoying because it got heavy with rain, perspiration and mud. Furthermore, he added: “I played football at the University of Maryland and discovered that neither I nor my teammates liked the cotton t-shirt.”. From this point his idea of ​​using compression fabrics on the torso began.

The story of Kevin Plank and the success of his business in the world of sports

The entrepreneurial spirit was present in the life of the American from his early adolescence. The American used to take advantage of the days he didn’t go to school due to bad weather to remove snow from his neighbors’ houses and raise a few dollars for his expenses. In the summer he chose to cut the grass or sell bracelets at concerts. She also carried this ambition to college, where she sold roses for Valentine’s Day. The first year he sold 100, 200 in the second, 600 in the third and 1,500 in the last to raise $17,000.

He obtained this last money almost at the same time from his idea that would revolutionize the sports market. Her first step was simple, she bought the fabrics at a local store and took a tailor to form a first batch of 7 prototypes of t-shirtswhich he would distribute among his companions. They were a hit with his team and he would later also give some to the baseball and lacrosse teams.

Plank’s efforts were rewarded with small sales but also with the relationship he formed with around 60 athletes from his university. Some of them reached the main leagues in the country, with part of their team in the National Football League (NFL). The entrepreneur asked them to take some of their merchandise to the league and distribute them. All the players wanted more Under Armor clothing and there began their steps to change the competition.

The brand raised 18,000 dollars, the second raised 110,000, in the fifth it raised 5 million and more than 300 million by the time it was 10 years old. The following 5 years broke the barrier of 5,000 million in income. Much of this profit could be realized after his appearance on the big screen with the movie starring Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday.

This film was released in 1999 and was based on an American football coach. Plank heard about the production from a friend of his and tried to send clothes and many letters. Finally they hired Under Armor and their clothes looked like another character. This publicity boosted and saved his venture because he had run out of money after an advertisement on ESPN and, after two weeks of the film, he had already obtained $800,000 in profits.

How much is Kevin Plank’s fortune, according to Forbes

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The magazine, which specializes in economics and analyzing the movements of billionaires, studied Plank’s fortune and determined that his net worth is around 1.1 billion dollars.

Source: Ambito

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