Under Armour Footwear Chief Peter Ruppe to Depart

The head of Under Armour Inc.'s footwear business is leaving, the latest in a series of senior executive departures as the sportswear company struggles with slowing sales of its apparel and sneakers.

Peter Ruppe, the senior vice president of footwear for Under Armour for the past two years, is leaving the company, a spokeswoman confirmed. He will be succeeded by Ryan Drew, who previously served as general manager of Under Armour's basketball division.

Mr. Ruppe, who spent two decades at Nike Inc. before joining Under Armour, declined to comment.

Under Armour originated as a sports apparel brand and has been building up its shoe division to better compete with traditional sport footwear rivals Nike and Adidas AG. The Baltimore-based company unveiled its first signature basketball shoe for NBA star Stephen Curry in 2015, but recent editions of the sneaker have faced underwhelming reviews and backlash. The recent release of the Curry 4 has been marred by shipping delays.

Under Armour's quarterly footwear sales have slowed this year, and still account for less than a quarter of the company's total business. Shoe sales increased just 2% in the most recent quarter to $285 million, compared with quarterly growth of 42% for the same period a year ago.

The departure of Mr. Ruppe follows other high-profile exits in recent weeks. Under Armour's co-founder, chief marketing officer and the heads of its women's, youth and sport fashion divisions have all left since October.

The company this year has posted its first ever losses and sales declines as a public company and initiated restructuring and layoffs in August. CEO and chairman Kevin Plank hired Patrik Frisk, the former CEO of Aldo Group Inc. as president and chief operating officer in June.

Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2017 15:08 ET (20:08 GMT)