Where will Under Armor go after "breaking up" with Curry?

China Economic Reporter Liu Wang reported in Beijing

On November 15, the NBA (American Professional Basketball League) regular season Warriors challenged the Spurs away. Warriors player Steve Curry scored 49 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the game.

Also attracting attention are Curry’s sneakers. On that day, Curry wore Nike's Kobe 6 shoes, which attracted widespread attention. This was the first time in more than ten years that Curry wore Nike sneakers on the court. Just the day before, Under Armor and Curry had just announced that Curry's personal brand Curry Brand would operate independently, ending this more than ten-year partnership.

It is worth noting that the cooperation between the two parties will not stop immediately. Under Armor mentioned in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that Under Armor will launch the last Curry brand signature shoe, Curry 13, in February 2026 according to the original plan, and will gradually launch more color matching and related clothing products before October 2026.

Prior to this, Under Armor had just welcomed a new executive in the Chinese market. On November 9, Chen Jianing, who had held senior executive positions in multiple multinational companies, officially became the vice president and general manager of China, and was fully responsible for the strategic planning and business operations of the Chinese market.

Curry has a broad fan base in China. Under Armor, which peacefully "broke up" with Curry, may need a new story in the Chinese market.

From counterattack to "breakup"

The fate between Under Armor and Curry can be traced back to 2013. At that time, Nike and Curry parted ways, and Under Armor successfully signed Curry with an average annual contract of US$4 million.

At that time, Under Armor and Curry, one did not have extensive deployment in the basketball field, and the other was troubled by injuries in the NBA. But no one expected that after the cooperation between the two parties, they jointly staged a "counterattack" drama and would profoundly affect the pattern of the basketball shoe market in the future.

In the following more than ten years, Curry wearing Under Armor won 4 championships, 1 FMVP, 2 scoring champions, 2 All-Star Game MVPs and 1 Olympic gold medal.

This directly drove the rapid growth of Under Armor's basketball product line. Public information shows that in 2015, Curry's first signature shoe, Curry 1, achieved sales of US$160 million. In the same year, sales of Under Armor basketball shoes achieved a substantial growth of 350%, pushing the company's total revenue from US$2.33 billion in 2013 to US$4 billion in fiscal year 2015.

In 2020, Under Armor and Curry jointly launched the sub-brand CurryBrand. In 2023, Curry officially became the president of CurryBrand and received Under Armor equity incentives worth approximately US$75 million. The two parties once reached a lifetime cooperation intention worth US$1 billion.

However, some basketball enthusiasts and Curry fans recalled to reporters: "When Under Armor first entered the Chinese market, they felt that the brand was very stylish. After signing Curry, basketball fans felt that the brand was very stylish. But for some reason, when buying basketball shoes, many people's first reaction was not Under Armor."

In fact, Under Armor's income in the basketball field is not ideal. Some media reported that Under Armor founder Kevin Plank mentioned in the earnings call, "In terms of the basketball category, our global scale is only about US$100 million. For a company with a market value of US$5 billion, it is incredible that it has not been able to make this business bigger and better." He believed, "We can definitely do better in basketball."

In the end, the two parties chose to part ways gracefully. Kevin Plank mentioned: "For Under Armor, at this critical stage of our business recovery, we need to advance this process with rigor and focus. For Curry, this is the right time to let the business we jointly create develop in accordance with his vision. We are always grateful for everything he has done for Under Armor."

Curry said: "Under Armor gave me trust early in my career and gave me the space to build a brand that transcends the sneakers themselves and can truly bring influence. I will always be grateful for this."

Such a high-value cooperation eventually broke up, which was caused by multiple factors. In 2024, Kevin Plank returned as the brand's CEO and announced a restructuring plan to improve the company's financial and operational efficiency.

According to the restructuring plan disclosed by Under Armor, the core strategy of the restructuring covers multi-dimensional business adjustments, including tightening the promotion mechanism to increase unit price and overall profitability; focusing on the brand's core men's clothing business; restarting Flow technology to re-engrave the Curry series of sneakers, etc.

In September 2024, Under Armor announced that it expected to incur pre-tax restructuring and related expenses of approximately US$140 million to US$160 million in the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years, which is nearly twice as high as the previously predicted restructuring costs. Under Armor previously expected to incur pre-tax restructuring and related charges of approximately $70 million to $90 million. According to multiple media reports, after the split of Curry Brand, restructuring costs will further increase.

At the same time, Under Armor's performance is under certain pressure. According to financial report data, in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, Under Armor's revenue reached US$1.3 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5%; net loss reached US$19 million, and adjusted net profit was US$15 million. In fiscal year 2025, Under Armor's revenue dropped 9% year-on-year to US$5.2 billion, with a net loss of US$201 million.

For Curry, it is undeniable that his career has reached the later stage, but his personal commercial value is still at its peak. According to data released by "Sportico", in the annual income list of NBA players in the 25-26 season, Curry ranked second with $109.6 million, of which salary income was $59.6 million and off-court endorsement income was $50 million. The CurryBrand brand still needs to continue to invest heavily in marketing and research and development.. For Under Armor, splitting the brand can save subsequent R&D and marketing expenses.

Ma Gang, an independent shoe and clothing commentator, believes that from the perspective of strategic planning, Under Armor is a subtraction and can focus more resources on its core business. For Curry, he needs to choose a new partner or operate it himself, which may affect the brand's market performance and market share in the short term.

The Chinese market needs new stories

In fact, before signing Curry, Under Armor had been relatively well-known in fitness, baseball and rugby, and its marketing activities were also launched around the above sports.

In 1999, Under Armor signed a contract to sponsor the film "The Sunday Challenge" directed by Oliver Stone, providing sports equipment support for the film. Wearing Under Armor gear and accessories, members of the football team appeared in key scenes in the film, drawing widespread attention from athletes around the world.

In 2001, Under Armor became an official partner of the National Hockey League and signed licensing agreements with Major League Baseball, USA Baseball and key retail partners.

Under Armor's first national television commercial also starred the former University of Maryland football star known as the "BigE". In 2005, Under Armor entered the sports shoe market. The first product it launched was a series of football shoes. In the following years, it launched running shoes, training shoes, basketball shoes, etc.

In the Chinese market, Under Armor has entered the public eye, and it is inseparable from Curry's boost. Behind the split of the CurryBrand brand, Under Armor has also made some moves in the Chinese market.

Previously, in order to promote the rapid development of the Chinese market, Under Armor announced a key appointment. Starting from November 9, Chen Jianing will officially serve as vice president and general manager of China, and will be fully responsible for the strategic planning and business operations of the Chinese market.

In response to the reporter's interview, Under Armor mentioned that Chen Jianing has more than thirty years of outstanding leadership experience. His career has spanned Greater China, Asia and even the United States, and he has held senior executive positions in many multinational companies. Under Armor expressed its affirmation of Chen Jianing's insights into the Chinese market, strategic planning, digital transformation, overall business performance management and high-performance team building, and believed that she is the ideal person to lead Under Armor China, this strategic core market.

Under Armor has also launched a series of strategic initiatives in the Chinese market, covering areas such as sports ecological construction, youth training, scientific fitness and mass sports empowerment. Including reaching partnerships with the Chinese flag rugby national team and the Chinese men's seven-a-side rugby national team; increasing the running field by upgrading running shoe products; entering outdoor tracks, etc.

But what still needs to be noted is that competition in the Chinese sports brand market is extremely fierce. According to the "China Outdoor Sports Industry Development Report (2024-2025)" released by the Sports Economic Department of the State Sports General Administration, in the first half of 2025 alone, 24,000 new outdoor sports-related companies have been added across the country; as of the end of June, the number of existing companies has reached 335,000.

In addition, Under Armor will continue to invest in the basketball track. Under Armor mentioned in its reply to reporters that in the future, Under Armor will further focus on the development pace of its core brands, create new Under Armor basketball products, and continue to support athletes and basketball projects at all levels.

As Under Armor said, the current layout of sports brands in basketball is no longer just competition for endorsements by top athletes, but also focuses more on basketball enthusiasts and their own event organizations.

For example, Nike has multiple levels of basketball games. The China High School Basketball League sponsored by Nike has become a "palace-level" event for young basketball enthusiasts; Adidas's "Rush" League has also gone through ten years; there are also the Anti-Wu Streetball League under the domestic brand Li Ning, the Touchdown League under 361°, and the Fight 3.0 League under the sports brand Wei Dong Sports, etc.

According to Jiang Han, a senior researcher at the Pangu Think Tank Research Institute, the competition among sports and leisure brands in the Chinese market is becoming increasingly fierce. Domestic and foreign brands including Nike, Anta, and Hongxing Erke are all increasing their presence. Under Armor needs to find new stories as soon as possible if it wants to seize the market.