Under Armour Cuts SKUs 25% Again and Chases Full-Price Sales

Under Armour posted $1.2 billion in Q2 revenue, down 7% year over year, and will cut its SKU count by another 25% after finishing a reduction of the same size in May. CEO Kevin Plank laid out the plan on an earnings call Friday. The company wants to sell fewer products and sell more of them at full price.

The quarter's declines were broad. Sales fell in both direct-to-consumer and wholesale, and in every region except Latin America. All three product categories — apparel, accessories and footwear — declined. Under Armour reported a net loss of $425,000 for the quarter.

What does the store revamp change for shoppers?

Under Armour is reworking its retail footprint on three fronts: showrooms in major cities displaying the brand's strongest products, a refined performance assortment in full-price stores, and more full-price product mixed into outlet locations. The outlet move matters most strategically, because it trains discount-channel shoppers to see and buy current-season goods at current prices.

The company is also going lighter on owned operations. Under Armour is transitioning its youth sports category into a licensed business, with Centric Brands running that segment by fall 2027. The goal is cost reduction and freeing resources for brand-building and marketing.

Marketing as 'the brand's largest opportunity'

Plank said Friday that Under Armour will release one major product story each month, backed by fewer, larger campaigns. The company has already run high-profile work this year, including a campaign featuring "Heated Rivalry" star François Arnaud and the debut of its Bouncy Tee with K-pop band BoyNextDoor.

"We have what we need — we've got leadership, we've got budget and we absolutely have desire — but frankly, as we've found, just putting things out there and putting an Under Armour logo don't do it," Plank said. "A shirt or a shoe without a story is just a shirt or a shoe. The riches we have from innovation — I don't think there's another brand that is close — we just need to make sure that people actually see that."

The brand is also rolling out a "this is your armour" global platform as part of the push.

Why analysts aren't convinced yet

Telsey Advisory Group credited Under Armour with good cost management but withheld judgment on demand, writing in emailed comments that "we have yet to see meaningful signs that Under Armour's products are resonating and the company's revenues can inflect back to growth."

GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders went further, calling the results "another chronic underperformance." He noted Under Armour has lost more than one-fifth of its quarterly revenue over three years. Some of that decline is deliberate — cutting promotions and SKUs — but Saunders argued the deeper issue is brand relevance.

"The fact here is that Under Armour is not simply going through a temporary period of softness, but has a much more fundamental problem with its relevance to consumers," Saunders wrote in emailed comments. "This issue shows up in third-party stores. Even strong retailers, like Dick's, really struggle to make Under Armour sections look compelling. Assortments come across as fairly random and disconnected, and too many products unsuccessfully straddle the line between being fashionable and being technically functional."

What comes next

Under Armour met its own expectations in Q2 even as revenue slid. The test for the turnaround arrives over the next several quarters: whether monthly product stories, leaner assortments and the Centric licensing deal, fully in place by fall 2027, can move revenue back toward growth before cost cuts run out of room.