Warriors G Stephen Curry is making his signature Under Armour shoes "available to girls after a nine-year-old fan wrote him, saying she was disappointed her dad couldn't find them on the company's web site," according to Amelia Lucas of CNBC.com. Riley Morrison wrote to Curry in a letter her father posted on social media, and in it she said that she and her father were "disappointed to see there were no Curry 5s under the girls section." Curry responded with a "handwritten letter of his own posted to his Twitter account on Thursday." Curry said that he had "spent the previous two days in talks with Under Armour about the issue." Curry in the letter wrote, "Unfortunately, we have labeled the smaller sizes as 'boys' on the website. We are correcting this now!" Lucas noted Curry's shoes now "appear available under the girls section" of UA's website (CNBC.com, 11/29). ABC's Janai Norman said UA stated "they're correcting a simple, yet critical error" ("GMA," ABC, 11/30).
MAN OF THE PEOPLE: In Baltimore, Lorraine Mirabella noted UA plans to "immediately switch from 'boys' to 'grade school' sizing for its co-gender youth shoes on the website, and starting this spring on boxes of Curry 6." The issues of labeling co-gender shoes as boys "came up at a time when Under Armour is working to attract more women to its brand" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 11/30). CNBC's Sara Eisen said Curry is an "asset for Under Armour for so many reasons and now especially because they're dealing with these cultural problems after it was revealed they were allowed to charge strip clubs to their corporate cards up until February." Eisen: "This is exactly the kind of athlete they need right now." CNBC's Sue Herera: "They need that kind of PR" ("Closing Bell," CNBC, 11/29). ESPN's Rachel Nichols said Curry's "awareness of the next generation of fans is keen as anyone's and bravo NBA Twitter, NBA Instagram for helping this happen" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 11/29).
