When Under Armour Inc. unveiled an all-white, chunky sneaker for basketball star Stephen Curry this summer, it became the butt of jokes from sports fans and sartorialists alike. This week, the company is hoping to improve its standing among tastemakers with the debut of a high-end clothing line at New York Fashion Week.

Under Armour has its work cut out for itself. Its debut comes years after fashion collections from competitors such as Nike Inc., Adidas AG and Puma SE. And its collection, called Under Armour Sportswear or UAS, is aimed at what the company describes as "ambitious millennials," a group of consumers who may or may not be willing to splurge on $199 wool trousers and $1,500 trench coats.

The Baltimore-based company has made its name in performance sports gear, and is best known for sweat-wicking clothes used by varsity athletes in football, basketball and other sports. With $3.96 billion in revenue last year, the company is roughly a 10th the size of sportswear leader Nike. To maintain its recent double-digit growth rate, analysts said moving off the field is a necessary step.

Ben Pruess and Tim Coppens, the creators of the new collection, said despite the company's history as a maker of athletic wear, the UAS line isn't athleisure. "That word is, well, it's a word, but it is not this," said sportswear executive Mr. Pruess, gesturing at the racks of sport jackets and chinos.

The clothes come with technical bells and whistles like a rubber finish on the buttons. "The thread on the shirt buttons has an elasticity so it has almost no chance of breaking," said Mr. Coppens, who is its creative director. Other features, like zippers, are glued rather than stitched, a technique more common in athletic gear than traditional premium fashion lines.

While rivals' runway collections have leaned more toward streetwear, Under Armour Sportswear focuses on what Messrs. Coppens and Pruess describe as the East Coast young professional look, with trousers, button-downs, and blazers. The collection is aimed at individuals who are growing out of logo-heavy streetwear into professional attire, according to Mr. Pruess.

Morgan Stanley analyst Jay Sole said it is best to consider the fashion line as "a marketing expense" for the near term, but the new line will help the company avoid being considered a midtier brand as it goes forward with a plan to make sports gear available in department-store chain Kohl's Corp.

Under Armour finance chief Chip Molloy told analysts at a retail conference last week that development for the UAS line is a long-term project. "It's going to take a couple years," Mr. Molloy said. "But we firmly believe there's another whole wave of growth to come with that."

The new line will be sold at Barneys New York and Mr Porter, the luxury men's e-tailer, in addition to Under Armour's stand-alone flagship stores. The clothes will also sell on a new website for the line. Consistent with an emerging trend at fashion week, the clothes will be made available for purchase starting Thursday. The distribution of the collection will be limited to the U.S. at first.

Under Armour's leap into fashion-casual clothing follows in the footsteps of Adidas and Puma, which have made big splashes at New York Fashion Week in recent years with Kanye West and Rihanna, respectively. Fashion designer Alexander Wang unveiled a collaboration with Adidas Originals during his runway show on Saturday during fashion week, which began Sept. 8. Nike has also released collaborations with Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci and Public School in recent years.

Earlier this summer, Under Armour faced a rocky launch of its widely panned Curry Two Low "Chef" shoes. The sneakers, a casual version of Under Armour's signature shoe for the National Basketball Association's most valuable player, Mr. Curry, were regarded as clunky and bland-looking by sneaker watchers, a critical snub in an industry which rewards flashiness and pizazz. Mr. Curry defended the shoes during the NBA playoffs, describing them as "fire."

The duo behind the UAS collection—Messrs. Coppens and Pruess —worked together at Adidas. Mr. Coppens then moved on to Ralph Lauren, where he served as design director at its high-performance-wear label, RLX, before launching his eponymous line in 2011. Mr. Coppens, who was born and raised in Belgium, made his name with high-end street-and sports-influenced pieces like bomber jackets and sweatshirts that blend leather, cotton or linen with nylon and neoprene.

To succeed among the fashion-set, Under Armour will have to get beyond its sports-brand reputation, said Clare Varga, active director at trend forecaster WGSN. "Under Armour's success has been built on their performance credentials," Ms. Varga said. "To announce they were moving into fashion was quite a step change and also immediately put them out there to be judged."

Write to Ray A. Smith at ray.smith@wsj.com and Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2016 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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