Athletes have needs that only athletes can understand. Kevin Plank, the founder and current CEO of Under Armour, felt uncomfortable when the cotton shirt he wore under his shoulder pads became heavy and sticky with sweat during his time as a football player at the University of Maryland. "I wanted to develop more high-performance apparel that would allow athletes to maximize their abilities." This desire of Kevin as an athlete was put into action immediately after his graduation. In 1996, in his grandmother's basement, a shirt was born along with the brand Under Armour.