In partnership with NBA player and current Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, American athletic wear brand Under Armour has launched Curry Brand, a new sportswear label.
Curry Brand is made up of a line of apparel, footwear, and accessories, all of which features Under Armour’s patented product innovations. The label currently has items suitable for a variety of sports, from golf to basketball, however, they already have plans for expansion in the near future, which include running gear and women’s wear.
A major tenet of Curry Brand is that they want to ensure young people, regardless of their socioeconomic background or circumstances, have equitable access to sport. According to Under Armour, only 22% of children who live in low-income homes in the United States currently participate in youth sports. This is a number that Curry Brand believes is far too low, and so their mission is to try and provide opportunities to youth in these under-served communities. More specifically, they are striving to reach over 100,000 youth athletes by 2025.
How do they intend to do this, you may be wondering? Curry Brand will concentrate on forging partnerships that provide opportunities for youth sports in these underserved communities. Partnerships will involve providing apparel and equipment to children, establishing safe places for children to play sports in these communities, and ensuring that all youth sports coaches in these areas are engaged in professional development. By 2025, Curry Brand aims to have created at least 20 safe spaces for children to play sports, supported 125 programs that impact young athletes, and trained over 15,000 coaches.
The label has come up with three impact pillars that will act as focus areas as they begin to roll out their initiative. These three pillars are Safe Places to Play, Programming and Product, and Coaching and Leadership Development. The first will involve creating inspiring spaces to grow on and off the court and will include a number of basketball court refurbishments.
The second pillar will involve working with regional school systems and local organizations to provide the resources and products necessary to get these programs off the ground. Finally, Coaching and Leadership Development pertains to the investment that will be made in recruiting and training quality sports coaches for children in these under-resourced communities.
Curry Brand’s equitable mission will launch in Oakland, where the brand has already partnered with the Positive Coaching Alliance to provide professional development for every youth sports coach in both the Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development department and the Oakland Unified School District.
