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When the American company athletic clothing under armour missed goals of revenue in 2008, Chief Executive Kevin Plank slashed his annual salary of $500,000 (￡ 321,000) $ 26 000 (￡ 17,000). "There was a feeling growing animosity towards managing both," remembers Plank. "It was all a distraction as anything else."

While skeptics would point to six-figure bonuses Plank attached to the performance of enterprise income each year, cutting its own guaranteed compensation meant so badly that the 38-year old can only be rewarded with improved performance .c ' is something that many on both sides of the Atlantic would have liked bankers at the time but Plank insists that the move was as much to do with caution, as it did with demagoguery, with other senior key also requested to share the pain.

"We were going through growth, our systems were not up and running and we knew that we could do a better job." We had several quarters of figures triple inventory growth and we we had been in a difficult position in espèces.Nous said "we are going to do a better job and we're going to improve the balance".A difficult moment, everyone thinks that the world was ending. ?

Baltimore company expects to achieve revenues of more than $billion this year and is now in a much stronger cash position. There is also a European expansion seriously, and while its European headquarters in Amsterdam, Plank said that the UK would be a "market for world trade, that we are building Foundation.

Board, an American football from the former College of the University of Maryland, established the company in 1996 with $16,000 in cash and another $ 40,000 on credit cards.Its grand plan was ban humble cotton T-shirt sports professional players have traditionally conditioned port under the colours of the team by selling a shirt fabric "the moisture-wicking" hugged the figure and discard the sweat instead of absorbing it. Society, which began trading in the basement of her grandmother, now sells a range of an array of sports, sportswear but insists Plank success needs as much caution as it does to take risques.Sa initial growth was slower that the overall number suggests, he says, and 90pc of its income always come from the North American.

"Our goal is to be a global brand." "Half of our income should come from outside our pays.Nous are far from doing that occur", says Plank, which only sold more than a million of its shares in the company for purposes of "succession planning and charity".

He said that the UK will be largest market for the company in Europe.Its products are already stored in UK 775, stores and was particularly successful with golf players, with Plank claiming clothes is stocked in 80 100 top courses of the page.Il says consumers here is beginning to see a more active presence marketing business next year. "If this is a panel display or a television advertising, we have not done a good job of it yet but we have focused on what is happening."

A certain conservatism remain, however. "There are three ways that brands can expand beyond their core market: new categories of products, new classes of distribution, new geography." Most companies get in trouble trying to be too fast. If it is in times of war or in the enterprise, spread too thin is where most of the failures.

Half of sub products shielding is manufactured in Asia, and the company already has a strong presence of retail in the Japanese market. Only required to build time which is a source of inspiration "caution" to sell to Chinese consumers too. "We have built a company of 100 m $ to Japan, which tells us that our brand reflects. But it took ten years to do so. We spent eight years ranging from $ 0 - 35 new good m.La is that the company is only 14 years old and would last much longer than me. We have the opportunity to do this for a very long time.While we are excited about what owns China, we must find a balance to protect what we have.?

The growth of the company in each territory has widely hunted by the adoption of the mark by children.Windsurfing is a loss to explain, "if I could express themselves in a bottle, I would be a really smart guy") but points out that it is practical because "it is difficult to convince a 45 years to stop bearing a mark and start wearing ours."

Unsurprisingly, Plank enjoys sponsorship deals with star players, but it is typically dismissed on who gets signed: they must be real users and enthusiasts of the product and, more fundamentally, not profitable too. "Now that we've crossed ￡ billion, the worst thing we could do is think that we are a big company now too.If we the checkbook checkbook against other brands, they have much more resources and lot more money than us.?

Football Premier League in particular, be critical awareness of the mark in the United Kingdom and company discusses Bobby Zamora of Fulham and Paul Robinson Blackburn.Une case kit - as one there with the Welsh Rugby Union to provide national team - kits with a great football club would be attractive, Plank conceded, but quickly adds: "we're not just a licence.Si company we want to be profitable requires a little more thoughtful than."

Sufficiently ambitious vision for the company - which emphasizes its products with an element of "return material" such as his "recovery following ', compression garment company claims can speed recovery after exercise - is that it will be a version of the Intel chip clothes." ""When I said that I wanted to call my Performance Armour, said that he looked like a set of pneumatiques.Maintenant performance apparel company became the word most cliched in the monde.Si we really do our work, we would be part of a label which says 10pc Lycra 15pc poly, 7pc as blindage.Chacune brands can use it.?

Meanwhile, the company will focus on its careful expansion and the diversification.Il simply added basketball in its range of products in its domestic market, for example.

"Many people have bet against us over the years we stand up and go to work every day to strike this chip off the coast of our épaule.Vous could bet on someone else to win in our space, but I would not bet on us lose."

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