Imagine playing in one of the biggest games of your life and being held back because of what you wear under your gear. That's how Kevin Plank felt in his football career, always having to change underwear because it made him feel slow on the pitch. Well, in 1995 on the football field at Byrd Stadium, when Kevin Plank was playing for the University of Maryland, he became very frustrated having to change his sweat-soaked cotton shirt four times a game. Such shirts, which weigh six ounces dry, weigh between two and three pounds wet. “The difference between winning and losing is not a huge margin,” Plank said (http://www.jhunewsletter.com). Once his playing days were over, he traveled to New York's famed clothing stores to sample fabrics and prototype a t-shirt that wouldn't retain moisture. He found exactly what he was looking for and put it together. He gave away his tight, shiny T-shirts to former Maryland teammates and NFL friends, and asked what they thought. Following their advice, he went back to work and invented a shirt made with a unique blend of microfibers designed to wick moisture away from the body to the outside of the shirt keeping the player cool, dry and light. Plank founded his own company. in the basement of his grandmother's house in Washington, D.C. and eventually sold his first team to Georgia Tech. In 1997, 12 NCAA Division 1-A teams and 10 NFL teams wore the gear, and Under Armor made its first Super Bowl appearance when the Green Bay Packers defeated the New England Patriots. When this happened, Plank moved his company headquarters to South Baltimore and opened a manufacturing plant six blocks away. That year Under Armor developed five more product lines Cold Gear, Loose Gear, Turf Gear, All season Gear and Street Gear to cover every climate and condition an athlete might face in a year. Plank had not just created a company, but a new sportswear industry. In 1998, NFL Europe signed a contract with Plank's company as the official supplier of technical clothing for its teams. Then, in 1999, Warner Brothers commissioned Under Armor to dress its actors for two upcoming soccer films, Any Given Sunday starring Al Picino and The Substitutions starring Keanu Reeves. The point of putting it in these films was authenticity and Under Armor delivered on that.