Under Armour's Big Step Up

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Still, at Under Armour's modest bricks-and-mortar headquarters on the Baltimore waterfront, it's pretty much all about the shoes. Plank and Peck are sitting at a table, talking kicks. "People know you're real when you're focused," Peck says, when asked if Under Armour's specialized trainers exclude a swath of potential customers--like weekend warriors and the average Joe who just wants something, anything, for the treadmill. Plank is preaching: The brand has proved itself in apparel and cleats and is ready for the next step. "We've paid our dues," he says. True. But how much will Nike raise the cost of membership?

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.]

The Prototype Trainer UNDER ARMOUR DAVID VS. BIGFOOT Under Armour is hot, but Nike has the money to kick it into the ground The SPARQ trainer NIKE $640 million Sales* $17.9 billion $45.5 million Earnings* $1.8 billion $1.7 billion Market cap** $32.2 billion Ray Lewis Famous endorser LeBron James

*Past four quarters **As of May 12, 2008