The stock of Under Armour dropped by more than 4% on Friday and it's value as a company lost almost $600 million. This was in large part due to comments made by a CEO of a major footwear retailer. Foot Locker Chairman and CEO Dick Johnson said that the latest model of Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry's shoe line, the Curry 3, "started off a bit slower than the previous models," causing a sell-off in the stock market.
"I think Under Armour is doing a great job investing in their footwear business," Dick Johnson said on Friday in a presentation with analysts. "The 2.0 and 2.5 Curry shoes in the third quarter performed well. The 3.0 is fairly new into the business. It started off a bit slower than the two previous models."
Dick Johnson added that it's still "early days" to judge the Curry 3. The Curry 3 has been on sale for a month as of Tuesday.
"We're optimistic that they (Under Armour) are going to be able to continue to keep that (footwear business) with some momentum behind it and certainly expand their footwear offerings," Dick Johnson said.
According to some people, the Curry 3 is not the actual problem for it's slow sales this year. The design is not that bad compared to the previous model, the Curry 2 low or also known as the "nurse shoes". It has something to do with the fact that there's a big Nike guy, Kevin Durant, that's playing with Steph Curry right now.
There's even a theory that Phil Knight, co-founder and CEO of Nike, was responsible for Kevin Durant's decision to ditch the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with the Golden State Warriors. And if the Under Armour's stock continues to drop, you may want to believe that this theory might be actually true.
There are also other factors to consider on why sales of the Curry 3 is lower than the people from Under Armour expected them to be. One is the price. The Curry 3 is priced at $140 a pair. That's $20 more than the Curry 1 and $10 more than the Curry 2. Second is the high top models that Steph Curry wears during games. Steph Curry has a history of ankle injuries in the past, thus he only wears high tops to protect his ankles. Most people who wear basketball shoes for fashion wear low tops and low tops are more popular than high tops.
