Is Under Armour Fast Fashion? An Expert Breakdown!

December 18, 2023

Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Under Armour is a sportswear brand in the United States that specializes in footwear and apparel.

Kevin Plank, a 24-year-old former University of Maryland football team special teams captain, founded Under Armour on September 25, 1996.

In the beginning, Plank operated the company out of his grandmother's basement in Washington, D.C. With only clothes in the trunk of his car, he spent his time traveling the East Coast. He made his first team sale at the close of 1996, selling for $17,000.

Plank established a facility in Ohio to produce the shirts in 1997 after receiving orders totaling $100,000.

Plank chose to spell the company name "armour" in the British way because the toll-free vanity number for that version was still functional.

When Oakland Raiders quarterback Jeff George was shown on the front page of USA Today sporting a mock turtleneck from Under Armour, people started to take note of the company. The first significant sale for Under Armour occurred when a Georgia Tech equipment manager asked Plank for ten jerseys.

Contracts with NC State, Arizona State, and other Division I football programs followed. Under Armour introduced a number of new clothing lines that year, including StreetGear, AllseasonGear, ColdGear, and TurfGear.

Under Armour now manufactures glasses, equipment, shoes, undergarments, accessories, and apparel. In retail, manufacturing, and logistics, it employs about 17,000 people.

Sustainability Rating: 2/10

Category: Clothing, footwear, accessories

For: Women, men, kids

Products: Tops, shirts, dresses, skirts, leggings, sweatshirts, jackets, hoodies, jeans, shorts, sportswear, underwear, loungewear swimwear, knitwear, shoes, bags, accessories

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Price: $

Sizes: 2XS-3XL, 0-20 (US), 2-22 (UK), 32-58 (EU), 4-24 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, viscose, lyocell, modal, polyester, acetate, neoprene, nylon, acrylic, spandex, polyurethane, wool, rubber, leather, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Manufacturing countries: Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam, India, Japan, Taiwan.

Certifications: Not transparent enough

Interpretation Of The Sustainability Score

If a brand is rated 2/10, it does not do enough to reduce its impact or provides little to no evidence of such actions. It does not demonstrate enough care for people, animals, and the planet.

What Are The Sustainability Practices Of Under Armour?

Under Armour states that they want to lessen their environmental effects. In their products, they seem to be dedicated to using recycled polyester in order to decrease the amount of fibers manufactured from fresh raw materials.

The brand also plans to reduce product packaging for single-use plastic brands by 75% by 2025 and 50% by 2023 and use only recycled polyester by 2030, with a minimum of 35% by 2025, for clothing and accessories.

They are also aiming to implement their circular design and sustainability principles by 2023 with a focus on products that will be offered in the fall and winter of 2024. By 2027, at least 50% of their products should be compliant.

These goals show that the brand is conscious about the environment and planning to reduce its impacts. However, the brand is making very little effort for the environment right now and its plans are too big for its efforts. This gives the impression that it won't be able to accomplish its goals.

Nothing organic, like organic cotton, is used by Under Armour. Regenerated nylon and only 10% recycled polyester are two examples of the recycled materials used to create some of their products.

The majority of its materials are made of synthetic fibers derived from petroleum, such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and others, or natural materials like ordinary cotton without the necessary licensing.

Are There Any Ethical Practices Of Under Armour?

Under Armour claims that every supplier and subcontractor is subject to a code of conduct. It aims to transact with vendors and subcontractors who abide by the law.

Under Armour uses third-party audits or unannounced informal visits to evaluate adherence to its code of conduct. Every year, the Fair Labor Association evaluates around 5% of the relevant suppliers by conducting assessments of a portion of its factories.

However, Under Armour had a low score of just 22% on the 2022 Fashion Transparency Index due to the company's limited disclosure of its social and environmental policies, practices, and effects.

In order to guarantee appropriate living wages, safe working conditions, health and safety, and other essential rights for workers in its supply chain, the brand does not display any labor certification standards.

Under Armour also asserts that no forced labor is used by its suppliers or subcontractors.

But Under Armour has received reliable reports of mistreatment both inside and outside the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including forced labor.

Under Armour claims that it is taking steps to reduce the possibility that such abuses may take place in its supply chain or be connected to it, as the reported and particular circumstances make it impossible to use third-party audits to determine whether they are happening.

However, due to its lack of transparency, we can’t tell if there are more suppliers that use forced or child labor for the manufacturing of Under Armour’s products.

Does Under Armour Give Back To The Community?

Under Armour aims to be a positive influence on communities. They give their teammates 40 hours a year to volunteer as a way to empower them.

They have an objective to achieve a collaborative effort of one million hours by the end of 2025, which translates into a $25 million investment in communities and organizations worldwide.

Furthermore, Under Armour also assisted those who were impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. A $1 million donation from Under Armour was donated to Feeding America's hunger relief initiatives.

Are There Any Animal Welfare Policies at Under Armour?

Under Armour does not use fur, feathers, or skin from exotic animals. But many of its garments are made from down feathers, wool, and leather.

Furthermore, in 2016, the brand received a lot of heat because it created an advertising campaign with the hashtag #UAHunt.

Customers were encouraged to share pictures of their kills using the inflammatory hashtag #UAHunt; the more unusual and uncommon the animal, the better.

Never forget that this is a gruesome celebration of animals killed for sport, complete with a beautiful photo of the carcass, rather than subsistence hunting.

Bears, wolves, elk, and foxes are all fair game; one well-known hunter used a 10mm Glock to kill a mountain lion after her hounds chased it up a tree and tired it. In an attempt to promote its goods, Under Armour was encouraging anything by constantly posting graphic images on social media.

Under Armour also sponsored a celebrity hunter Sarah Bowmar and Josh to participate in a gruesome killing of a Canadian black bear. Josh Bowmar used a pile of bait to entice the bear, and he then used a homemade spear to impale it.

Even worse, he put a GoPro camera on his spear and recorded the entire murder, which made Bowmar giggle uncontrollably.

The Canadian government outlawed spear hunting in response to public outcry, and Under Armour stopped sponsoring Sarah.

This indicates that Under Armour does not care about the animals and does not follow any animal welfare policies.

Sources:

https://about.underarmour.com/en/our-company/history.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Armour

https://about.underarmour.com/en/stories/2023/02/under-armour-disrupts-nyc-market-with-innovative-new-retail-expe.html

https://about.underarmour.com/en/Purpose/Sustainability/environment.html#accordion-8f51c5f77d-item-0a21011153

https://about.underarmour.com/en/Purpose/Sustainability.html

https://about.underarmour.com/en/Purpose/Sustainability/2023-sustainability-and-impact-report.html

https://about.underarmour.com/en/stories/2022/09/under-armour-releases-2021-sustainability---impact-report--outli.html