JT Bodyguard, UnderArmour knock-off?

[Dryden]

Anyone tried these undershirts yet?

http://www.actvil.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=ksX14jA7rsDgCXBcsM_H5CSXF6D4Zr0cKaU=?Pro ductID=z5asFAY7x0MAAAD6NTF1AT7A&ydisFAY7g1AAAAD77ycwXGDK=nWasFAY7itEAAAD7_icwXGDK# variations

Looks like an UnderArmour knock-off, but the price isn't bad. Are these comfy?

[spacedtedybear]

Stuff like UnderArmour has been out for years. It's a standard lycra/coolmax blend. Nothing special. Every company out there whether its paintball, running, cycling, football, etc.. has their own version of that kind of apparel. Each company has its own textures because of different blend combinations, and each company has it's own little witty term used for their "moisture wicking" fabrics. In the end, the fabrics are all made in the same textile mills.
The only reason why UnderArmour has been known lately, is because football players wear them underneath their jerseys.

[rkjunior303]

any hockey players.. I wear that stuff under my hockey pads -- it really does help!

[magman007]

people people people.... you see the lacrosse players were the ones who made it in the first place!!!

AS taken from e-lacrosse.com



First, UnderArmour is made by UnderArmour, but more on that later. The reason UnderArmour is more expensive is that more people want it. It's supply and demand. We carried both the UnderArmour product and the competing Warrior product as a lacrosse retailer and the difference in sales was astronomical. I recently interviewed retailers in Maryland and Virginia who said that UnderArmour is so popular that the line represents a significant portion of their sales and that many people come to the store just to buy UnderArmour. It's a "destination product". That said, we decided to look deeper into UnderArmour and the whole performance apparel scene.Gatorade, which was created at the University of Florida, UnderArmour was born on campus. A football player at the University of Maryland, Kevin Plank, who also played lacrosse in high school, began using different moisture wicking materials instead of the absorbent cotton for under jersey wear and it caught on. He was smart enough not to name it TerpWear and the rest is history. And it is historic. After making the Fast Company Fast 50 for 2002 and starring in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday, UnderArmour, with growth of 12,753% over 4 years, ranked 2nd in the 2003 Inc. 500. Inc. Magazine says that the Baltimore based private company made $50.7 million in 2002 and now has 180 employees. Ironically, this is the same company that approached some Lacrosse companies early on for help and were booted to the curb like Elvis was by record companies so many times before he became the King. The UA logo is now the crown of sports industry royalty and they don't even need lacrosse anymore with a dominance in football, new deals with Major League Baseball and the US Ski Team and a brand building TV show on ESPN that's actual pretty good.Hoover's analyzes companies for the financial markets and they sum up UnderArmour's position pretty well, "So far, UnderArmour Performance Apparel has yet to show a chink. Since its foray into the sporting goods market in 1995, the maker of performance athletic undies and apparel has been grappling its way through the industry pack, grabbing 93% of the compression shirts market share. Specializing in sport-specific garments, Under Armour dresses its consumers literally from head (Cold Weather Hood) to toe (Team Sock). UnderArmour apparel is sold via the Internet, catalogs, and by about 3, 000 sporting goods stores in the US. Founder Kevin Plank and two other officers own UnderArmour." One of the "two other officers" is Baltimore Bayhawks star Kip Fulks.

[magman007]

"The sailor makes the boat but the gear makes the sailor" is an old adage in New England but is the angle from which UnderArmour has attacked its target audiences. Mike Ryan of Ryan Consulting worked in the lacrosse and apparel industries and watched as UnderArmour invented the Sports Apparel industry. "Kevin at least helped define the market. And then he advanced it to where fashion meets function. Dri FIT® and other materials existed before, but UnderArmour orchestrated a paradigm shift in people's thinking," Explains Ryan. "People started thinking of the product as equipment rather than clothing. They needed it. It is now a necessity as opposed to a luxury. And that's great marketing. Kevin's genius is marketing." So UA put Performance Apparel on the map. But soon, there were many competitors. Even their partners were producing the stuff as the NFL created their own version with the help of Reebok under the NFL Equipment brand. Many others followed as we'll discuss later but the market expanded quickly. Even a magazine about performance apparel is now put out by a British firm called Textile Intelligence. Four times a year, Performance Apparel Markets "provides subscribers with business and market analysis of worldwide trends in high performance activewear." So, what's in performance apparel that makes it perform for you? Every manufacturer has its secret ingredient or system for wicking moisture, whether its PERFORM® by New Balance, Dri FIT® by Nike or UnderArmour's Moisture Transfer System®. But the property common in most of the products in the performance apparel category is elasticity. Most of these moisture moving materials can achieve different levels of stretch and recovery based on the percentage of Lycra® used in producing them. Lycra® is produced by Dupont. Dupont and its scientists are the true inventors of performance apparel or at least performance materials. They also make Antron®, Coolmax®, Cordura®, Dacron® Polyester, Hollofil®, Micromattique™, SolarMax®, Sorona®, Supplex®, TACTEL® and Thermolite®, all used in the production of sporting industry textile goods. In fact most lacrosse heads and plastic sporting goods for that matter are made from Dupont plastic beads which can be molded anywhere in the world into almost anything.Ryan says its not just which material used that determines value, but the weight and quality of the workmanship and then ultimately the price. He also says that UnderArmour is using much more expensive materials in their products than most competitors, "Nike uses great materials too, but most of the knock-offs that are cheaper in retail cost are of lesser quality too. Nike's making a push at UnderArmour's primary market with the 'Gridiron Series'. They hired Michael Vick, Terrell Owens and other NFL stars to market the line." And Fibre2Fashion reports that Nike's new global advertising campaign and budget focuses in on performance apparel specifically. Multiple medium campaigns are driving it's new Pro Vent® Compression, Nike Sphere® with a climate control system, and Dri FIT® brands. E-Lacrosse would love some of that advertising, but you likely won't seeNike or anyone other than Baltimore's UnderArmour and Warrior, who is a lacrosse company spending money in our game to sell shirts.Funny as it seems, UnderArmour's largest competitor is not Nike or Reebok. Especially with the introduction of the Performance Grey® T-Shirt, they're really taking on the mega industry conglomerate Cotton, Inc. which is known for its "Seal of Cotton" logo and "The fabric of our lives" advertising jingle and spends more on advertising yearly than UnderArmour earns. Cotton Inc. will be difficult to unseat as it is funded by most US cotton growers and importers and is overseen by the US Department of Agriculture as basically a national monopolistic company beholden to special interest power. There are no synthetic growers, unions, or government agencies tied to the success of the homegrown Baltimore private company but it would only take the release of a line of 100% cotton UnderArmour underwear to make friends again. There is another adage popular in the south and tied to their economy, "Cotton is King."UnderArmour is fully aware that the world is against them. Their latest TV ad features football players chanting "We will protect this house!" in an effort to pump them up for a home game. But, everyone got the underlying point. UnderArmour is claiming commercial turf. We'll see if they can keep the turf they've gained and maybe even grow. Gaining another 1200 percent over the next four years would make them one of the largest companies in the world, but just staying ahead of major players Nike, Reebok and New Balance will be enough to impress us.




and that prolly everything you ever wanted to know about under armor

[Resist148]

after reading that I still dont get wtf it does

[Jack & Coke]

Originally posted by Resist148
after reading that I still dont get wtf it does

It makes you shoot more accurate, with flatter shots, and longer range.

[LeatherPants]

I use UA stuff. Does it help? I feel it does. I got hooked on the stuff from some of my friends who are football stunt men. Basically the guys you see taking all the hits in TV commercials and movies. They swear by it.

Basically I wear the stuff from head to toe, literaly. The stuff keeps you cool wicks away sweat.

[Chojin Man]

Originally posted by magman007
UnderArmour, with growth of 12,753% over 4 years, ranked 2nd in the 2003 Inc. 500. Inc. Magazine says that the Baltimore based private company made $50.7 million in 2002

Makes me wish I had some stocks in this.

[LeatherPants]

OH yea bringing up "Any Given Sunday." My friend Horace was the stunt double for Jaime Fox. Man he got messed up during that shoot.

[oldsoldier]

We use it here in "sunny" Cuba. It has two advantages: one, it wicks moisture from your skin, making you feel cool, and soaking your BDU top (which also will keep you cool). Two, it doesnt stink after a week and a half wearing it. Once its washed, its as good as new. It feels clammy while wicking moisture...but, its kinda like air conditioning.

[xXHavokXx]

It gets assloads of bounces, and stops welts.

[SpecialBlend2786]

We got UnderArmour everything last year for football. Shorts, gurdle, shirt, wristbands...

I love the stuff, doesn't soak up sweat at all like cotton t-shirts do. Therefore they weigh tons less and keep you cooler. I havn't tried many other companies stuff, but I do know that the adidas climacool stuff is pretty good. I still like the feel of underarmour better, its all smooth and stuff.