Steven Counts for Virgin Galactic
Virgin's billionaire founder Richard Brandson models the new Under Armour spacesuit.
- Under Armour revealed a first look at its spacesuit collection for passengers boarding upcoming Virgin Galactic flights to space.
- As part of the $250,000 tickets, travelers will receive a personalized spacesuit featuring custom tailoring, name badges, and national flags.
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Under Armour is going from the playing field to the galaxy.
On Wednesday, the athletic retailer revealed exclusive designs of the spacesuits passengers will wear aboard forthcoming Virgin Galactic voyages to space. The full collection includes a spacesuit, training suit, shoes, and a limited-edition jacket, which Under Armour and Virgin said in a press release is "the first such collection ever created specifically for private astronauts."
To construct the suits - which will be customized to each traveler with tailoring, name badges, and national flags - Under Armour worked closely with astronauts, pilots, and medical professionals. Tickets with Virgin Galactic will cost $250,000 for a 90-minute flight and are expected to begin next year. As of August, more than 600 people had already signed up.
Becoming the first athletic company in space may serve as a way for the brand to get a leg up on competitors like Nike and Adidas, which have consistently outperformed Under Armour in recent quarters. The effort also reflects Under Armour's larger turnaround strategy, which CEO Kevin Plank first announced in December 2018 to mitigate several quarters of sales dips and $1.3 billion in unsold merchandise.
"Innovation is at the core of everything we do and our team delivered a unique twist on the classic spacesuit utilizing both existing and new UA technologies to define space gear for the future," Plank said in a press statement. "It is an incredible opportunity to showcase our key performance innovations in space at the highest level and continue to push the limits of human performance."
Take a closer look at Under Armour and Virgin Galactic's spacesuit collection, below: