Clothing and Textiles Industry

Under Armour, which has wooed consumers with sweat-wicking T-shirts and other innovations, is banking on a new fabric that conforms to the foot like a second skin to help the company break into the crowded athletic shoe market.

The Baltimore-based athletic wear maker is promoting its newly developed ClutchFit — a lightweight, stretch material designed to move with the foot without bunching or binding — as one of its latest innovations. And it's betting the technology will revolutionize shoes across multiple sports and pay off in a bigger share of the booming footwear market.

But experts say it's too soon to tell whether the latest footwear will boost the brand's small but...