Under Armour's Attack on Nike | Signature Sneakers | 3

Summary

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Business Wars: Under Armour's Attack on Nike | Signature Sneakers | 3

Host: David Brown
Guest: Tim Newcomb (Sports tech & sneaker industry reporter)
Date: March 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Business Wars dives deep into the world of signature sneakers, focusing on Under Armour’s attempt to dethrone Nike, particularly through its high-profile, but ultimately fraught, partnership with NBA superstar Steph Curry. Host David Brown is joined by expert journalist Tim Newcomb to explore:

• The origins and evolution of the signature sneaker
• The business dynamics between athletes and brands
• Lessons learned from Steph Curry's rocky tenure with Under Armour
• The shifting power dynamics with the rise of global brands like Anta and On
• The future of sneaker endorsements and changing strategies among both legacy and challenger brands

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Birth and Cultural Rise of the Signature Sneaker

[04:56 - 08:35]

• The first true signature sneaker was the Converse Chuck Taylor, named after a former pro basketball player turned salesman.

  “If they could put his name on the side of the sneaker, then it helped sales. So that’s how you got your first signature sneaker, the Chuck Taylor from Converse.” — Tim Newcomb [05:24]

• The 1960s–70s tennis boom catalyzed signature sneakers—think Adidas’ Stan Smith, Rod Laver models.
• Signature sneakers expanded marketing focus from teams to individuals, especially in tennis where player identity drove sales.

2. Endorsements vs. Signature Deals

[08:35 - 11:07]

• Signature deals are much higher stakes than typical endorsements, requiring R&D and marketing investments tailored to the individual athlete.

  “A signature deal is bigger all the way around... a major investment for the brand.” — Tim Newcomb [08:50]

• If successful, they can elevate both player and brand (e.g., Michael Jordan’s Air Jordans); failure leaves brands with costly, underperforming products.

3. Cultural Impact: Transcending Sport

[09:53 - 11:07]

• The "holy grail" is when a sneaker breaks out of sport—worn for fashion, not just performance (e.g., Air Jordans, Chuck Taylors).

  “If you can get your product to transcend the niche... you have now, you know, obviously broadened your consumer base exponentially.” — Tim Newcomb [10:19]

4. Athlete vs. Brand: Who Wins?

[11:07 - 12:28]

• Athlete involvement is crucial; Kobe Bryant exemplified using signature deals to build both shoe and personal brands.

  "Kobe... saw this as an opportunity to partner with Nike and really create a product that was very much his.” — Tim Newcomb [11:23]

• Passive athletes, who just see it as a paycheck, rarely find the same long-term success.

5. Under Armour & Steph Curry: Lessons from a Failed Experiment

[12:28 - 15:59]

• Under Armour’s Curry partnership aimed to mutually boost both reputations but failed to gain the coveted “cultural cachet.”

  “It never really caught on... being that it didn’t, that was maybe ultimately the downfall of it.” — Tim Newcomb [14:13]

• The lack of cultural relevance and coolness was identified as a fatal flaw in Under Armour’s approach.

6. Nike’s Revolutionary Approach—The Air Jordan Moment

[16:54 - 20:48]

• Unlike established brands, Nike made Jordan "the face," a rare move at the time.

  “They offered Michael Jordan something that nobody else was really able to offer at the time, and that was being the face of a brand.” — Tim Newcomb [17:38]

• Nike took a big risk; had Jordan been merely average, it could have failed spectacularly.

7. The Sneakerhead Phenomenon & Storytelling in Sneakers

[20:48 - 22:02]

• Signature releases turned sneakers into collectible events, fueling "sneakerhead" culture and secondary markets.
• Storytelling became central—Kobe’s line, for example, each sneaker release narrating a chapter of his personal/professional journey.

  “Kobe was very locked in to the story he was telling and the persona that he was presenting... the Mamba idea.” — Tim Newcomb [21:15]

8. Athletes as Superheroes/Cultural Figures

[22:02 - 23:52]

• Sneaker sales increasingly tied to the athlete’s personality and narrative; brands cultivate both "rebel" and "straight-laced" personas (e.g., Agassi vs. Sampras).

  “Brands are going to look for every way to connect with a consumer.” — Tim Newcomb [24:03]

9. The Changing Dynamics: New Players and Athlete Power

[27:40 - 29:10]

• The rise of Anta and other international upstarts signals that star athletes may increasingly sign with non-traditional brands.

  “It’s not that far-fetched to think that a star player is going to sign with a brand that isn’t Nike or Adidas...” — Tim Newcomb [29:10]

10. Lessons from Roger Federer’s Split with Nike

[30:49 - 34:30]

• Federer’s transition to Uniqlo (and a stake in On Running) showcased how elite athletes can leverage their status for unprecedented autonomy.

  “It was actually the other way around. Nike didn’t re sign Roger. ...It obviously worked out exceedingly well for Roger.” — Tim Newcomb [30:55]

11. Future of Signature Deals and Athlete Autonomy

[34:30 - 36:57]

• Only generational icons can truly go independent; most athletes still need big brands to build global reach.

  “You’re not going to have that with very many athletes... you will have had the help of brands we’ve all known the name of along the way.” — Tim Newcomb [35:03]

• Brands increasingly offer equity and creative input as part of athlete deals.

12. Competition & Emerging Brands

[37:04 - 37:24]

• Chinese brands (Anta, 361 Degrees, Peak) are leveraging basketball and celebrity to break into the global market.

13. Under Armour’s Struggles and Reinvention

[37:24 - 39:41]

• Overextension, persistent discounting, and lack of high-end cachet weakened Under Armour’s brand.

  “They got too big too fast... they also had a kind of quality question mark. Not saying the product wasn’t quality, but it didn’t appear so...” — Tim Newcomb [37:39]

• The path forward involves “getting back to roots” by owning a specific athletic niche (performance gear for serious training and extreme weather).

14. The Challenge of the Running & Training Market

[39:41 - 40:43]

• Training/running gear is enormous and competitive—opportunity exists, but share is hard to win.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the cultural aspiration of signature shoes:

  “Everybody’s just hoping for that one hit... there’s really no way to manufacture it, otherwise everybody would be doing it all the time.”
  — Tim Newcomb [15:16]

• On Jordan’s impact:

  “There’s no way to replicate what happened in that situation.”
  — Tim Newcomb [20:06]

• On Federer’s move to On:

  “Let’s take this running shoe company and let’s add a tennis line. …And that’s how it all transpired.”
  — Tim Newcomb [34:10]

• Fantasy sneaker pick:

  “...modernize a retro. So let’s give us the technology of 2026 with the look of a [Rod] Laver.”
  — Tim Newcomb [41:32]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | How signature sneakers began | 04:56–08:35 | | Signature vs. Endorsement deals | 08:35–11:07 | | Under Armour’s Curry experiment and lessons learned | 12:28–15:59 | | Nike & Jordan: The groundbreaker | 16:54–20:48 | | The rise of the sneakerhead and athlete storytelling | 20:48–22:02 | | New global players & athlete autonomy (Anta, On, Federer) | 27:40–34:30 | | The struggle to be “cool”: Under Armour’s missteps | 37:24–39:41 | | Under Armour’s new focus and market realities | 39:41–40:43 | | If you could own any sneaker... | 40:43–41:32 |

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Final Notes

Tim Newcomb’s insider stories and historical context paint a rich portrait of a market that is as much about storytelling and culture as it is about high-performance products. The episode emphasizes just how much the identity and business savvy of both athlete and brand shape the winners in the global sneaker arena, and previews a future where even the biggest names look increasingly outside traditional partnerships for their next move.

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This summary covers all major content discussions and industry insights from the episode, omitting ad breaks and closing credits. Ideal for listeners seeking a detailed recap with clear guidance on the episode’s most valuable segments.

Transcript

[David Brown]

Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app from Audible Originals. I'm David Brown, and this is Business Wars. Back in the 1980s, when Michael Jordan signed a lifetime deal with an upstart running shoe brand called Nike, choosing them over established footwear giants like Converse and Adidas that revolutionized the signature sneaker landscape and catapulted Nike to the top of the marketplace. Well, Under Armour made a similar place, signing Steph Curry in 2013 with, let's say, mixed results. But one thing is clear. Nowadays, every star athlete needs a signature line, from shoes to apparel and athleisure. And with the rise of newer international brands like on and Anta, athletes have more choice than ever when it comes to finding the perfect fit for their shoe deal. The jury's still out on whether the Nikes and Adidas of the world are feeling the heat. Here to unpack, or should I say unbox? All that is sneaker and sports tech industry reporter Tim Newcombe. Tim's work has appeared in Forbes, Time, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, and more. He chronicled Kobe Bryant's signature kicks and tennis legend Roger Federer's split with Nike. We'll talk about the rise of the signature shoe, the new players in the sneaker game, and how Under Armour picks up the pieces of the Stephen Curry fallout. So lace em up. That's all ahead.

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[David Brown]

Tim Newcomb, welcome to Business Wars.

[Tim Newcomb]

Thank you, David. I appreciate you taking the time to have me.

[David Brown]

Yeah, it's really great to have you. I gather you covered the sneaker and sports apparel industry for Forbes, Sports Illustrated. Lots of outlets over, what is it, at least a decade now, I guess. How did you get started on this beat? What was it that got you interested in this?

[Tim Newcomb]

I've always been interested in sports and enjoyed sports. But instead of covering the actual games and the actual on field or on court play, I've always gravitated towards some of those peripheral things. Whether it's uniforms or technology or stadiums or anything that kind of makes sports happen.

[David Brown]

So what is it do you. Are you interested more in the business side, the deals, or is it the, like the products themselves?

[Tim Newcomb]

I love the technology and the products. And when you have a product, there's a business aspect to it because there's marketing involved and all that. So I think they all kind of meld together. Even the technology and the business merge together. Especially in sports when you're hiring these athletes to, to pedal the product.

[David Brown]

So you know what I thought you were going to say, Tim, So many people are sneakerheads these days.

[Tim Newcomb]

I don't know about.

[David Brown]

Are you sneaker head or are you not?

[Tim Newcomb]

I would not classify myself as a sneaker head. Those that know me maybe would disagree based on the number of shoes in my closet. But I am not one of these hardcore sneaker head individuals. But I do enjoy the history of them, the process of creating them, the design, all that kind of stuff does intrigue me. But I'm not a collector.

[David Brown]

I'm fascinated by the whole culture around the collecting of sneakers. It's, you know, some people are into particular brands, some people are into the retro stuff, you know, or the whole thing just absolutely blows me away. But this is a great entree for us to begin talking about Under Armour because in our series we've been hearing about how this really important athletic brand and the partnerships that they created with star athletes can really help build that brand and the reputation in the public eye. And I know you covered Steph Curry's rocky tenure with Under Armour for Forbes, but I have to ask you about the origins of the signature sneaker. Nowadays it seems like every athlete has one. How did this all get started? Chuck Taylor's by Converse, or does it go back further?

[Tim Newcomb]

Yeah, actually. Well, that goes pretty far. You're over 100 years back there with Chuck Taylor for Converse. So those days, sneaker companies were rubber companies. They were, you know, Converse was a rubber company to start, and then they started making sneakers. And the Chuck Taylor, as you say, is considered the first signature sneaker. Chuck Taylor was a, a former professional basketball player and he turned salesman for Converse and he was a coach at the same time. And it just turned out that they could sell more sneakers if they put this gentleman's very recognizable name in the world of basketball. If they could put his name on the side of the sneaker, then it helped sales. So that's how you got your first signature sneaker, the Chuck Taylor from Converse.

[David Brown]

Seems to me like Chuck might have had a bit of an entrepreneurial or marketing bent himself. No?

[Tim Newcomb]

Well, I didn't Know, Chuck, personally, I'm not quite that old, David. But, you know, definitely there's a business side to how all this started. So, yes, there's definitely the entrepreneurial salesman aspect and finding ways to make your product sell better. And, you know, this was the first foray into that. And it all comes from a business world.

[David Brown]

Yeah, for sure. Converse, now owned by Nike, they seem to have a stranglehold on the. On the basketball market for decades. But I know tennis played a big role in the popularization of signature sneakers, too. I'm thinking Adidas. Stan Smith, right? You've written about that one too, huh?

[Tim Newcomb]

Oh, yeah, for sure. The. The signature sneaker market really did take off with tennis. You had the Chuck Taylors back in the 1920s. But then in the 60s and 70s, when sneaker culture became a thing, with signature sneakers, it was the tennis world. Adidas led the way. You have the Stan Smith that we all know about. The Rod Laver was actually a huge shoe at that time for. For Adidas as well. You had a handful of athletes, actually. You had John Newcomb from Australia. He had a signature sneaker with Adidas and then Lotto. And even today we talk about, you know, female athletes with signature sneakers that actually started in tennis as well, with a Billie Jean King from Adidas or a Chris Everett, you know. So the signature sneaker concept really was behind the individual athlete in tennis, because in those days, the individual athlete was marketed differently than a team athlete.

[David Brown]

Yeah, that classic white and green design of the Stan Smith seemed to be sort of especially iconic. Do you have any personal favorites?

[Tim Newcomb]

Personally, I like tennis. That's my favorite sport. So when I was growing up, the Rod Laver was my favorite because it was a little bit counterculture, I guess, to the Stan Smith, it had the suede toe on there is a little bit more robust. So the Rod Laver is my favorite kind of classic signature sneaker.

[David Brown]

Now, let me ask you something. Was it the style of the sneaker that drove your affection for the Rod Laver, or was it Rod Laver? How much of that was a part of, you know, the celebrity versus, say, the style?

[Tim Newcomb]

Yeah, I think for me, it was definitely the style because I grew up in the late 80s and 90s, you know, just to date myself here for all your listeners. And Rod Laver, he was, you know, he was the 60s. So I didn't know Rod Laver or Stan Smith the athlete really, you know, high school kid. I'm looking at the style of the sneakers and what's popular, although when they were being sold. It was about, you know, players on tour in their name.

[David Brown]

This sort of goes to a distinction that's easy to overlook, and that is you've got the signature sneaker, and then you've got these big dollar endorsement deals. How is the signature deal different from an endorsement?

[Tim Newcomb]

A signature deal is bigger all the way around. And when I say all the way around, that means it's going to be bigger for the athlete in terms of dollars, but it's also a major investment for the brand. And whether it be basketball or tennis, you're asking a brand to sink a lot of money into creating a specific silhouette designed around a specific player. So there's a lot of R and D money involved in that.

[David Brown]

I see.

[Tim Newcomb]

And then your marketing money is tied directly to one individual player. And so that's a different way to do marketing than if you're just marketing the entire brand, obviously. And so then what happens is, if that goes well, then it can go really well, as we all know from Michael Jordan, you know, Kobe Bryant, right. LeBron James. If it doesn't go well, then you've sunk a lot of money into a shoe that maybe isn't selling very well, but there's really no recourse to turn that around if the athlete doesn't have the cachet to bring in the dollars.

[David Brown]

In a way, sometimes it seems like the athlete or the athlete's mark on the item somehow transcends sports and becomes part of, you know, casual wear in a. In a larger sense. Air Jordans, the Chuck Taylors with Converse, a similar kind of thing. And that seems to be where a lot of sneaker makers want to. Want to push things. Or am I wrong about that?

[Tim Newcomb]

Oh, that's obviously where everybody wants to be. If you can get your product to transcend the niche that it was created in, I mean, you think of that from really any product, whether it's athletic wear or anything. If you have a product that goes beyond the niche it was created for, then you have now, you know, obviously broadened your consumer base exponentially. And so you brought up Air Jordan. You know, the Jordan brand did that so well because Jordan was so popular and basketball culture and sneaker culture was booming at the time. So now you're transcending. You have people buying it for more than just performance wear. And if you can open up that consumer option beyond that one little niche, then you've created a lot of opportunity.

[David Brown]

You know, when you think about how these deals are set up and how they work, who really benefits more is it the athlete or the brand, does the athlete see this as a paycheck primarily, or does the athlete see this as a jumping off point for their own brand?

[Tim Newcomb]

In a sense, yeah, that's a good question. I think a little bit depends on the athlete and how they view it can help determine their success. Take somebody like Kobe, for example. He saw this as an opportunity to partner with Nike and really create a product that was very much his, even though it was with Nike.

[David Brown]

Yeah.

[Tim Newcomb]

But then that helped him build his personal brand, which includes additional sponsorships beyond Nike, while growing the Kobe line within the Nike brand and just being willing to do whatever was needed to do to promote his signature sneakers helped it grow. Granted, he was one of the best players at the time, so that helps things as well. But then you also have other athletes that maybe don't get that business side as well. They just see it as a paycheck. And if they're not willing to put in extra time to make things better, to do promotion, things of that nature, it's going to struggle for that shoe to take off.

[David Brown]

Well, let's go back to Steph Curry and Under Armour, which obviously is the. The focus of our most recent series here. I was fascinated by how Under Armour sort of tried to lure in Steph Curry by sort of appealing to his, shall we say, ego just a bit. You know, the idea that they were going to make him a bit of a star within their own realm, in a way. Do you see that Under Armour partnership with Steph Curry as benefiting Curry more or benefiting Under Armour more? Or how do you see that playing out? Or did it just. Did it ultimately fall flat over the course of time?

[Tim Newcomb]

Ultimately, it didn't work the way either of them wanted it to, obviously, since they're no longer together. But the blueprint was let's help each other. Help each other. Where it gives rise to Curry himself as a brand, it puts him on a superstar pedestal. Right. Allows him to build his personal portfolio, allows him to be the face of an entire brand. Under Armour, in this case, it gives Under Armour a star athlete that was at the superstar level to give them credibility in the performance game of basketball, which they maybe didn't have at that time.

[David Brown]

And that cool factor, too. There's. There's. You can't skip that.

[Tim Newcomb]

Right. Well, and I think you bring up the cool factor and. And a lot of folks would say that's what the downfall was with the Under Armour Curry partnership was that just never got the cultural cachet that some other brands had Whether it was Under Armour coming in without having a history of cool design.

[David Brown]

Right.

[Tim Newcomb]

Or a history of kind of connecting to basketball culture, you have people feel like they're forcing the issue, and it never really caught on. So, yeah, if it had caught on and culture is cool, well, then great. That helps you even more. But being that it didn't, that was maybe ultimately the downfall of it.

[David Brown]

So I'm wondering, is there not a larger lesson that you can extract or one could extract from that experience? Was Under Armour unique because they needed some of that authentication that they were hoping Steph Curry could bring to it? But it's so difficult to bring in the cool factor if you're a company when you haven't established yourself as cool, it's always that sort of first hump if you haven't established your sort of cultural bona fides, if you will.

[Tim Newcomb]

Yeah, I mean, I think that hits it exactly on. It's like every brand is out there searching for how do we become the it factor? How do we push ourselves beyond all the competition.

[David Brown]

Yeah.

[Tim Newcomb]

And there's really no way to manufacture it, otherwise everybody would be doing it all the time. Everybody's just hoping for that one hit. I mean, I'm gonna go way off stream here, but think of a water bottles. You know, we had Hydro flask was huge. And then Stanley, and then, oh, wallet. You know, it's just like, yeah, you know, there's cultural trends and how do you know? How do you know which one's going to hit? And so, yes, Under Armour was trying to set themselves up to hit the next cultural trend by aligning themselves with a mega superstar who was exceedingly popular at the time, Steph Curry. But it never hit from a cultural cool standpoint. That's just something they weren't able to to figure out.

[David Brown]

Hey, we need to check our laces real fast. Our guest is Tim Newcomb. He's a freelance journalist specializing in the sneaker industry and sports retail. And when we come back, we're going to take a look at how Nike paved the way for the disruptors in the sneaker space today. Stay with us.

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[David Brown]

Hey, there. Welcome back to Business Wars. Our guest is Tim Newcombe. He's covered the sports tech industry for Sports Illustrated, Time, and Esquire, among others. You know, today, Tim, we think of Nike as probably king of the hill when it comes to sports brands. But the origins of the Air Jordan, which were featured in that film Air, show how Nike revolutionized the sneaker industry when the company was still just a startup. And there's a great scene in that movie where Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon, pitches Michael Jordan and his family at Nike headquarters in Oregon. Now, I'm sure there are some dramatic liberties taken in the film, but what do you think Nike could offer Jordan in 84 that the Converses of the world couldn't?

[Tim Newcomb]

They offered Michael Jordan something that nobody else was really able to offer at the time, and that was being the face of a brand. In fact, that's one of the more famous reasons he didn't sign with Converse at that time, which was the leader, so to speak, in basketball shoes, was they had Magic and Bird and Dr. J and all these superstar athletes. They told him, we can't put you in front of them. They're. They're big, legendary all stars. Where Nike, they were the challenger brand at the time, and so they had the opportunity to make Jordan the face of the brand.

[David Brown]

Yeah, at other companies, I guess he would be big fish, but there'd be a lot of big fish swimming around at Nike. He's the main event.

[Tim Newcomb]

Exactly. They put all their eggs in that basket, and it only grew for him.

[David Brown]

Talk about risky, though. How much of a risk do you think it was for Nike to go out on a limb there and put it all on Jordan?

[Tim Newcomb]

Well, they have to start somewhere. At that point, they really need to make a mark. So, yeah, they have the risk of signing him to the contract. And I don't have the figures in front of me, but whatever that first dollar sign was, that was really their only risk at the time because they have to do something. They have to really make a name for themselves. But at the same time, if Jordan doesn't pan out the way Jordan panned out, there's no way we're talking about it right now.

[David Brown]

Do you think that maybe that was a kind of watershed moment? Because, you know, you think about some of the later sneakers that came along. Reebok with Allen Iverson. Right. Kobe Bryant's Adidas and later Nike's. And as with the Jordans it's not just one shoe, but each version becomes its own release, its own major event. That's gotta be a great business strategy for the shoe companies and for the athletes, too. But when did the whole sneakerhead thing kick off? Because I have a sense that that sort of also revolutionized the business in a way, because you ended up with people who had to be sort of. What do they call them? It's not absolutists, but completists. That's what I'm looking for. As soon as you had the release of another Jordan, you had people already in line for it, days, if not weeks ahead of time. And then you had a whole business on the side with bidding wars over, you know, getting those shoes. And there was the whole limited edition factor, too. Right.

[Tim Newcomb]

I think there were just so many different aspects of business and marketing that merged together at the perfect time for Nike. With the athlete that nobody would have guessed would have transcended the sport in the way he did. There's no way to replicate what happened in that situation. Yes, you have fans that now are clamoring for shoes. Like, we didn't have lineups for shoes before. We have these signature releases, you know, on an annual basis with, you know, special editions coming out later on. So there's a whole consumerism there that didn't exist. We have a culture around shoes that didn't exist before.

[David Brown]

Yeah. And in a way, the brand itself is sort of telling a story about the player and about itself. You had a really fascinating Sports Illustrated story about Kobe Bryant's career and how each subsequent sneaker sort of signified that next step. And it seems like from the outside, he was very intentional and aware of a kind of narrative that he was telling through his sneakers, right?

[Tim Newcomb]

Oh, for sure. Kobe was very locked in to the story he was telling and the Persona that he was presenting, and it all worked into building his brand. The whole. The Mamba idea, the. After the Achilles tear, you have one shoe that has these stitches, these red marks on the back of the shoe, basically, you know, the stitches where the Achilles tendon would be. You know, every colorway brands are trying to tell stories behind each colorway that are personal and connect and really trying to connect an athlete that most people are never even gonna see live, let alone meet, Trying to connect that athlete to these consumers so that they'll be more interested in the product.

[David Brown]

You know, it almost seems like in the mind of many consumers for these sneakers that these sports legends represent superheroes, each with a little aspect of their personality that you, when you buy that shoe, you're sort of buying into that storyline, you know what I mean?

[Tim Newcomb]

Oh, for sure. There's definitely a correlation there. A connection of I want to be part of this athlete's journey, of their, of their success, of their career and be a part of that. And on the flip side, there's a little bit of risk to that if I'm a brand, because in order for me to want to lock in and be part of this journey with this athlete, then you're going to have to want to like this athlete and they're going to have to want to be performing and playing otherwise and behaving themselves. Yeah, exactly. There's. But you know, there's an element too where, you know how much bad behavior that, that brings a different kind of consumer. You know, if, if you think back to tennis again, you have the 90s, you had the Pete Sampras versus Andre Agassi. Nike played that up like nobody's business. Sampras, the straight laced, you know, by the book rule follower, and Agassiz, the rebel without a cause. If we're going to borrow the Canon camera line and the long hair and the bright colors, I mean, so much of this is manufactured marketing. But now if I'm a consumer who's more of a straight lace type person that really enjoys somebody that follows every rule, well, I'm probably going to gravitate toward the Sampra shoes and gear. And if I'm the other person, anti country club and all that kind of stuff, hey, I like the Agassi stuff. So now Nike has created an avenue for both types of consumers to have a way into their brand.

[David Brown]

Sort of reminds me a little bit of that Beatles versus Stones thing back in the 60s. If you could have worn those on your feet, that would have been pretty cool. There's a little bit of that going on. It sounds like.

[Tim Newcomb]

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Every way to connect with a consumer, brands are going to look for it. Yeah.

[David Brown]

Now I'm curious. When you look at the Kobe line, since you really focused in on that for that Sports Illustrated article, did you have any particular favorites?

[Tim Newcomb]

My favorite, I think was the Kobe x, the Kobe 10, because that was the one where I sat down with Kobe in LA and really had a deep conversation about that and what he was thinking. The first colorway was this, this blue color because he remembered getting up crazy early when he was rehabbing from the Achilles tear and, and swimming because that was really kind of the first thing, you know, you can do with An Achilles tear to. To kind of get back into shape. And, you know, so there's a blue colorway to tie to the swimming that he would do really early every morning. And it really did tell a story. And for somebody who was a fan of Kobe, you can really see how that can resonate with them if they're pulling for him to succeed. And, you know, it has this tie to something that's real in his life.

[David Brown]

Yeah, now. Now a little sort of breaking down the fourth wall, if you will, here. When you were doing that interview, were you thinking, okay, Kobe's been really well trained on this. On this storyline, or did you get a sense it was coming from the heart, you know, from him?

[Tim Newcomb]

You know, that's a great question, because I've interviewed, you know, dozens, hundreds of athletes, and a lot of them are tied to products and brand appearances and things of that nature. And you can tell the ones that they don't want to be there. Well, they don't last with that brand very long. You can tell the ones that are just completely coached and rehearsed, and it's like they don't come across super, you know, super well. And then you have the ones like Kobe and Roger Federer, who they really care, like Kobe. This was something he actually worked on and partnered with, and this was really important to him because it represented him like his shoe represented him. And he wanted it to look and feel and be a certain way, and he really cared. So to answer your question specifically about Kobe, I could tell that, yes, he lived and died. Each detail of his signature shoe, which is not the case for every athlete.

[David Brown]

Steph Curry signed with Under Armour in 2013, three decades after Jordan signed with Nike. Let's talk a little bit about the echoes there. You have this emerging star athlete signing with a less established sportswear brand. What about similar versus different? When you're looking at Jordan and Nike versus Steph and Under Armour from the

[Tim Newcomb]

outside, from the first glance, you do have that, oh, wow, this is similar. You have a rising superstar in the sport of basketball signing with what would be considered a challenger brand at the time. So, yes, Jordan with Nike, Curry with Under Armour. Similar in that way. The differences are what we talk about with the establishment of a culture. In the 80s, basketball culture wasn't what it is now. It wasn't an established culture. The way that it has grown. And so fast forward, like you said, 30 years. And it does make it difficult for a challenger brand that already had basically a vision in the public eye of what they were to then Break in and be relevant.

[David Brown]

Let's fast forward a bit. What do you make of what Steph's doing now? Wearing different classic signature sneakers from other athletes and brands at every game. I think there's even a Curry Watch website that chronicles every sneaker he's worn since the split. Right.

[Tim Newcomb]

Yeah, it's definitely interesting since he split with Under Armour in late 2025, to really run the gamut and wear basically any shoe you can imagine from, from retro to to his own to other brands to popular to not popular. He's obviously working toward a deal for next year at this point, and so it's keeping his decision at front of mind to sneaker fans. And then when he does make that announcement of who he's signing with, probably will come with a little bit more intrigue.

[David Brown]

Yeah, a little oomph. And yeah, there's a lot of anticipation over where this is all headed. Looks like he's up to 63, counting right now in terms of the number of different sneakers he's worn since that split there. There's been a lot of speculation about where he'd land, as you were talking about. And one contender, kind of interesting. Anta. It's a Chinese brand that certainly doesn't have the name recognition in the US but it seems to have emerged as this real big player on the international sportswear scene. And I'm wondering what you think, if anything, that says about where we are with signature sneakers today.

[Tim Newcomb]

Yeah, Anta is one of the biggest sportswear brands in the world, based in China, like you said, has a huge following. And there's professional NBA players with Anta deals. And so I think it shows how the proliferation of athletic brands has only grown with an Anta, you know, just adds to the overall options for players and for fans. And it's not that far fetched to think that a star player is going to sign with a brand that isn't Nike or Adidas or one of the classic traditional brands.

[David Brown]

We're talking with business reporter Tim Newcombe and let's take a quick time out. When we come back, we'll hear more from Tim on how other big name athletes have split with major brands, namely Roger Federer. And we'll learn about some of the new players in this sneaker game. Stay with us. Hey, welcome back to Business Wars. We're talking with business reporter Tim Newcomb, who's covered this space of sneakers and athletes for some time for various publications. And Tim, I want to ask you about Roger Federer's split with Nike in 2018 to a lot of people's surprise. Roger didn't re sign with Nike. Opted for a $300 million ten year deal with Japanese brand Uniqlo. How did that play out, do you think?

[Tim Newcomb]

Well, we've heard from Roger's agent, Tony Godsick on how this played out and you know, it's funny because you say Roger didn't re sign with Nike. It was actually the other way around. Nike didn't re sign Roger. Roger was fully planning on re signing with Nike. But at the same time, Roger and his agent Tony had certain terms, so to speak, that they wanted met for a new deal and he was nearing the end of his career and Nike didn't feel that it was worth the financial investment to sign an aging near retirement superstar to that kind of money. It obviously worked out exceedingly well for Roger to land the Uniqlo deal. Who at the time, talking about, you know, challenger brands trying to, to break in, was willing to give Roger, you know, really an obscene amount of money to wear clothing both on and off the court whether he was playing or not. And then it allowed him to open the footwear world to himself and, and invest in the brand on which is now doing quite well.

[David Brown]

I'm wondering if this has gotten to be such a big part of establishing yourself as a brand in the sports world. Having to have a lot of money that you can offer someone like Roger Federer, even given the negatives that you were articulating there about what Nike saw, end of his career, that sort of thing. How much of this do you see as the centerpiece going forward for upstarts? Are we nearing a point at which it's just too expensive, it's not going to be worth it? Or is this going to be with us for the foreseeable future?

[Tim Newcomb]

Endorsement deals will always be part of athletics and the bigger the name, the bigger the price tag. But you'll have brands that want to have that name associated with their brand. So they're willing to pay. Different brands have different strategies. Do they try to assign a bunch of young players to smaller deals, hoping one of them hits and then they can keep going? Or if they're a small brand, they only sign smaller names, but they're never going to be able to afford when that player becomes a superstar and then you have other brands that maybe they want one superstar because that's all they can afford, but they're willing to go all eggs in one basket. And then you have other brands where you know, they're, they're rich enough that they can afford A few of them at one time. But it's all a matter of where do they put their marketing dollars. And wherever the consumer eyeballs are, that's where the marketing dollars are going to go.

[David Brown]

I don't want to leave what Federer did here too quickly because Uniqlo doesn't make sneakers. Federer, as you mentioned, went with the Swiss company on which he also owns a stake in, to produce his own signature sneakers. Why did he go that route?

[Tim Newcomb]

That one for him was he's one of the richest athletes in the history of sport, right? So it isn't like he needs to chase a sneaker deal just for the sake of having a sneaker deal. So it allowed him the opportunity to explore. And he lives. And he's from Switzerland. Lives in Switzerland on as a Swiss based, Zurich based company. He met the owners and liked what they were doing. His wife was wearing the shoe, the running shoe. It's a running brand to start and so he decides to invest in the company. And then the next logical step is let's take this running shoe company and let's add a tennis line. And that takes some time, some R and D and whatnot. And that's how it all transpired.

[David Brown]

But it almost seems like it's part of a bigger break. Steph Curry, Roger Federer able to retain their own brand separate from Under Armour and Nike. It does kind of feel like, or at least look from a distance, like a fundamental shift. I wonder if star athletes are going to see themselves as less dependent or reliant on big legacy brands for building out their own brands. I'm wondering if the power dynamic, especially what with China coming on strong, has shifted given all the choices that are out there.

[Tim Newcomb]

Yeah, I think there's an element to that. But at the same time, you have to remember the sheer number of superstars are few and far between. Roger Federer is the biggest name in the history of tennis, arguably. Michael Jordan, the biggest name in basketball history, arguably. Obviously there's a few you could throw in the mix, but these are some of the biggest names the sport has ever seen, able to stand on their own. You're not going to have that with very many athletes. And in order to get there, they're still going to need the legacy brands or the challenger brands to help them get there. Because it takes a career and a long time to get to that mega superstar status. And you will have had the help of brands we've all known the name of along the way.

[David Brown]

I want to put you on the hot seat if you had an opportunity to counsel a younger athlete, what would you tell that person about how they should be thinking about apparel deals and endorsements? Is there a sort of a standard way to go now?

[Tim Newcomb]

If you're a super young athlete with a long lead time toward, hopefully, longevity, at that point, you're maybe looking at a brand that's going to support you in a way and put money into you through sponsorships and through products. That would be a little bit different avenue than a big brand just giving you a blanket check when you see some of these brands are maybe even offering some equity as part of it. These are all business decisions and everything obviously comes with risk, reward. But there is an element of needing to weigh out what's best for me now versus what might be best for me five, ten years down the road.

[David Brown]

I'm curious, are there any other brands, emerging sneaker brands that we should all be watching out for?

[Tim Newcomb]

You have a few different Chinese brands right now that are continuing on that path, using basketball as an entry point. The anta, you have 361 degrees, you have peak. You know, the list continues to grow as more and more brands move into the space.

[David Brown]

I want to circle back to Under Armour because it's been a tough stretch for that brand. They've lost some star athletes and deals with college programs and the MLB and had turnovers and leadership. What do you think got away from them?

[Tim Newcomb]

I think they got too big too fast, which is an easy thing to say, but they didn't have the premium aspect. They weren't considered a quality brand, is my opinion is when you went to buy Under Armour product, you knew the only way you were going to buy it was on sale, it was in stores as discounted online. There were sales all the time. They had a struggle with not only from the top end, with the curry of not having that cultural relevance of considered a stylish brand or a cool brand, but they also had kind of a quality question mark. Not saying the product wasn't quality, but it didn't appear so because of the way it was positioned in the retail space.

[David Brown]

It's one thing when you see a branded footlocker. It's another if you see it on sale at Kohl's.

[Tim Newcomb]

Exactly, yeah.

[David Brown]

What do you think is next for Under Armour? Do you think they can weather this storm? Is there a way to get back to their roots or find something new? Or is that brand sort of permanently damaged? How do you see it?

[Tim Newcomb]

I think Under Armour needs to, like you said, get back to the roots. They need to find what Niche is going to work for them. And, you know, I remember when, when I was younger and you talk about, you know, playing in a cold weather game, you'd ask, hey, are you going to put your Under Armour on before we go out there? You know, and the generic term, right, like Kleenex, they need to own that. They need to own that type of space where it's, we're training gear, we're, we're running gear, we're cold weather gear, we're hot weather gear, we're gear for athletes. And I think you see them going that way, where we're going to focus on the individual that wants to train hard and work hard and give them options from an apparel point of view and a sneaker point of view to make that happen.

[David Brown]

Have you seen anything about their new Halo brand?

[Indra Varma]

The Under Armour Halo isn't just any other sneaker, rather a fleet of innovative footwear crafted to maneuver the complex biomechanics of running, training and everything in between.

[Tim Newcomb]

And that's where you see it. I mean, you have some, what they would consider some premium training running gear with both the sneakers and the apparel and trying to place themselves as the new way to go for if you're going to train and work out.

[David Brown]

I guess the real question is whether or not this running and training sneaker space has got enough room left for, you know, Under Armour to attach itself as, you know, that kind of Kleenex or Band Aid. It's hard for me to imagine, frankly.

[Tim Newcomb]

It is the largest space in athletic wear. The training and running space, it is massive. And so there's always room for one more, but doesn't mean that you get the largest slice of the piece.

[David Brown]

Yeah, yeah. Hey, before we go, I'm wondering if you had your druthers, you had your whole pick of any sneaker from any era, any sport, what would it be?

[Tim Newcomb]

That's a great question, because I could answer it two ways. Way one is I'd go back to the one that I first enjoyed and that is a Rod Laver sneaker. And then answer number two is, well, the Rod Laver sneaker is 50 years old, right? I'd like something that has a little bit more comfort underfoot. So let's do something that's modern, that looks, and that's why you see some of the retros. You know, let's modernize a retro. So let's, let's give us the technology of 2026 with the, with the look of a labor.

[David Brown]

Love it. Love it. Tim Newcombe, thanks so much. For joining us on Business Wars. It's been a real joy.

[Tim Newcomb]

My pleasure, David. I appreciate you having me on.

[David Brown]

Tim Newcombe is a business reporter covering sneakers, sports apparel and tennis. You can check out his reporting in Forbes, Popular Mechanics, Time and Sports Illustrated. Next time on Business Wars, Spotify and Apple battle to dominate the $20 billion music streaming market. Follow Business wars on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Business wars ad free by joining Audible from Audible Originals. This is episode three of Under Armour's attack on Nike. For Business Wars, I'm your host, David Brown. Our senior interview producer is Peter A.R. cooney. Our senior producers are Jenny Blume and Emily Frost. Our producer is Tristan Donovan of Yellowand. Karen Lowe is our Producer Emeritus and Jenny engineered by Sergio Enriquez. Our Managing Producer is Desi Blaylock. Kyle Randall is our Lead Sound Designer Executive Producer for Audible Jenny Lauer Beckman, Head of Creative Development at Audible Kate Navin, Head of Audible Originals North America Marshall Louie, Chief Content Officer Rachel Gyazza Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC Sound Recording Copyright 2026 by Audible Originates LLC.