Under Armour's Story: Building Localization Success with a High-Performance Digital Presence

"Some brands follow industry standards—Under Armour built its own playbook"

Since 1996, Under Armour has redefined how athletes perform—transforming a single innovative idea into a global force in sportswear. What began as a solution to keep athletes cool and dry evolved into a brand known for challenging industry norms and setting new benchmarks in performance apparel and footwear. In less than two decades, Under Armour climbed past global competitors, becoming the second-largest sports brand in the U.S.—a result driven by relentless innovation, strategic partnerships like the one with Stephen Curry, and a clear focus on anticipating what athletes need next.

With a mission to “Make All Athletes Better”, Under Armour continues to lead where performance, sustainability, and inclusivity intersect. Every move reflects a commitment to staying ahead of the game—anticipating what athletes need before they ask for it. Today, Under Armour stands as a benchmark for how vision, technology, and relentless execution can redefine success—not just in sportswear, but in how global brands adapt, compete, and lead.

Under Armour’s expansion strategy has always focused on markets where innovation, youth culture, and digital adoption converge—making Vietnam a standout choice in Southeast Asia’s booming e-commerce scene. By 2022, the market was valued at $16.4 billion, with projections pointing toward $39 billion by 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the region.

For Under Armour, Vietnam represented more than just another market—it was a vibrant, dynamic landscape where localized engagement could unlock significant brand loyalty and revenue growth. Recognizing this potential, the brand made the strategic decision to tailor its online presence to meet the expectations of Vietnamese consumers and capitalize on the country’s booming e-commerce ecosystem.

When Under Armour set out to bring its global presence to Vietnam, the goal was clear—create a website that didn’t just look like their international site, but felt like Under Armour in every click and scroll. It wasn’t about copying design elements; it was about delivering the same bold energy, precision, and performance that defines the brand worldwide.

Turning that vision into reality, however, wasn’t as straightforward.

Shopify provides a strong foundation for e-commerce, but translating Under Armour’s bold brand identity and global design standards required more flexibility than the default editor offered. To truly capture the essence of Under Armour—its dynamic storytelling, product showcase precision, and spirit of innovation—the brand needed more than out-of-the-box tools. It required a tailored approach that could unlock greater design flexibility and deliver a digital experience as distinctive and high-performing as the brand itself.

Then came the question of performance. For a brand built around speed, agility, and high-performance gear, a website has to move just as smoothly. Load times had to be lightning-fast, navigation seamless—because anything less wouldn’t feel like Under Armour. The digital experience needed to match the pace and precision athletes expect from the brand.

And of course, in a mobile-first market like Vietnam, there was no room for compromise. With more shoppers browsing and buying on their phones than ever before, Under Armour’s site had to perform flawlessly on any device. Just like their products are designed to perform under any condition, the website had to look sharp and run smoothly, whether viewed on a desktop or a smartphone.

With a clear vision in mind, Under Armour wasn’t looking for just any service provider—they needed a partner who could truly understand their standards, their pace, and the importance of translating a global brand experience into a localized digital presence without compromise.

It wasn’t enough to know Shopify. The task called for deep expertise in how a website performs beneath the surface—from delivering top-tier speed and seamless user experience, to mastering SEO strategies that would ensure visibility in Vietnam’s competitive e-commerce space.

That’s where Tapita stood out.

As a long-standing Shopify Partner with over a decade of e-commerce experience, Tapita had already built a reputation for helping more than 30,000 merchants worldwide optimize their online stores. But what truly resonated with Under Armour was Tapita’s commitment to precision, performance, and a tailored approach—values that mirrored their own. It wasn’t just about solving technical challenges; it was about enabling Under Armour’s vision to come to life in a way that felt authentic to the brand—fast, powerful, and built to perform on every level.

Confident in this alignment, Under Armour chose Tapita as their partner to lead the localization of their Shopify store—ensuring that every digital interaction in Vietnam would reflect the same excellence athletes around the world associate with the Under Armour name.

Performance isn’t a checkpoint—it’s the framework everything is built on. From the outset, Tapita embedded optimization into every layer of the Vietnam website’s development, ensuring that speed, stability, and responsiveness were integral to its architecture.

Site architecture was defined with performance as a core function. Load times were minimized through structural efficiency, while responsiveness across devices was treated as a baseline requirement, not a feature. Core Web Vitals weren’t targets—they were inherent to how the site was constructed.

We optimized critical rendering paths, reduced unnecessary server requests, and implemented asset compression to ensure that every interaction—whether on desktop or mobile—delivered a seamless experience.

Key page types were structured with clear intent. Product pages were streamlined to prioritize fast content delivery, avoiding bloated media or redundant scripts that could impact load speed. At the same time, these pages maintained the flexibility to showcase Under Armour’s product detail without compromising performance. Collection pages were designed for efficient navigation and fast indexing, using clean URL structures and optimized internal linking to support both user journeys and search engine crawling.

Optimization didn’t stop once the site was live. Continuous performance monitoring was embedded into the operational workflow. Through real-time tracking of Core Web Vitals, load times, and SEO health, Tapita proactively addressed potential slowdowns before they impacted user experience or search rankings. This wasn’t reactive maintenance—it was an ongoing commitment to keeping the site aligned with both evolving technical standards and Under Armour’s brand promise of delivering peak performance.

When it came to creating Under Armour’s Vietnam website, our approach was simple: design a site that communicates the brand's commitment to precision, performance, and speed—just as every product does. Key features we built for Under Armour’s Vietnam website were designed to elevate the user experience while staying true to the brand’s core values.

Navigation needed to be clear and efficient. We built the Megamenu to give users intuitive, flexible navigation with no unnecessary steps, allowing customers to quickly find what they need. The navigation structure supports dynamic content such as sub-navigation, banners, and text, giving users immediate access to the products and promotions that matter most.

It’s about efficiency and speed, much like Under Armour’s own approach to athletic performance. No matter the device, the Megamenu adapts to ensure seamless, frictionless interaction across both desktop and mobile. 

Shopping should be easy and convenient, so we built the Save for Later and Wishlist features to make sure customers can easily track their favorite products, making it simple to pick up where they left off—without missing a step. The Save for Later feature helps users accurately save products in their cart—including attributes like size and color—into their favorites list, making it easier to return and complete the purchase later, while adding convenience, personalizing the experience, and keeping users engaged.

Exploring product options should feel easy and intuitive.That’s how we built Color Swatches to keep variation selection simple and interactive. Customers can effortlessly visualize different styles and colors, making it easier for them to move confidently toward a buying decision. Behind the scenes, it’s structured to optimize SEO—ensuring every option gets the visibility it deserves.

Standard labels weren’t enough, so we customized them to fit both the content needs and the visual rhythm of the site. The shape, style, and placement were adjusted to deliver that familiar sales cue—clear enough to catch attention, but refined enough to stay in sync with the overall layout. The result is a set of labels that do exactly what they should: guide the user’s eye at the right moment, while keeping the interface clean, consistent, and true to the site’s energetic feel.

Every element of the Vietnam website was expected to deliver the same qualities found in their products—speed, precision, and reliability under pressure. That’s exactly what was achieved.

From the moment the site went live, it didn’t just meet technical standards—it embodied them. Pages loaded with the kind of speed you’d expect from athletes pushing limits in Under Armour gear—effortless, responsive, and built to perform. The experience felt light, fast, and focused—because that’s what Under Armour stands for.

Google PageSpeed Insights confirmed what users could feel:

• Performance: 92
• Accessibility: 96
• Best Practices: 96
• SEO: 100

But beyond the numbers, the true result was delivering a platform that felt right—to Under Armour’s team, to their customers, and to us at Tapita. The feedback is exactly what you'd hope for when working with a brand that demands excellence—satisfaction rooted in trust. Trust that every page reflects their identity. Trust that the technical foundation will hold strong as they grow. And trust that whenever refinement is needed, there’s a partner already thinking two steps ahead. Trust that every page reflects their identity. Trust that the technical foundation will hold strong as they grow. And trust that whenever refinement is needed, there’s a partner already thinking two steps ahead.

For Tapita, this project wasn’t just another launch. It was a reminder of why we do what we do—transforming brand expectations into digital realities.

Don’t just take our word for it—go feel the performance‎ in action.