Lululemon Athletica inc., commonly known as lululemon (/ˌluːluˈlɛmən/loo-loo-LEM-ən; styled in all lowercase[2]), is a Canadian-American multinational premium athletic apparel retailer headquartered in British Columbia and incorporated in Delaware, United States.[4] It was founded in 1998 as a retailer of yoga pants and other yoga wear, and has expanded to also sell athletic wear, lifestyle apparel, accessories, and personal care products. The company has 711 stores (as of January 2024) and also sells online.
History
Lululemon was founded in 1998 by Chip Wilson in Vancouver, British Columbia with its first standalone store opening in November 2000.[5][6] In 1997, Wilson had been doing yoga and had an idea to make yoga apparel for women using a proprietary skintight fabric he developed to enhance their appearance.[7] Wilson deliberately chose a name with multiple 'L's (Japanese: ルルレモン, romanized: Rururemon) to sound Western to Japanese buyers, who often have difficulty pronouncing the letter, and that the name otherwise "means nothing". He later remarked that,
The reason the Japanese liked [my former skateboard brand 'Homeless'] was because it had an L in it and a Japanese marketing firm wouldn’t come up with a brand name with an L in it. L is not in their vocabulary. It's a tough pronunciation for them. So I thought, next time I have a company, I’ll make a name with three Ls and see if I can get three times the money. It's kind of exotic for them. I was playing with Ls and I came up with Lululemon. It's funny to watch them try to say it.[8][9]
The company made its initial public offering in July 2007, raising $327.6 million by selling 18.2 million shares.[10][11]Christine Day, a former co-president of Starbucks, assumed her role as the company's chief executive officer in 2008.[10] In December 2010, Lululemon recalled some of the store's reusable bags that were made from polypropylene, based on reports of high levels of lead.[12] In 2012, Lululemon filed a lawsuit against Calvin Klein and supplier G-III Apparel Group for infringement of three of its design patents for yoga pants.[13] The case was settled out of court the same year.[14] In 2013, the company made its third consecutive appearance on Fortune's Fastest-Growing Companies list.[10] In December 2013, founder Chip Wilson announced his resignation as chairman, and that the president of TOMS Shoes, Laurent Potdevin, would become CEO.[15] In 2018, Calvin McDonald became CEO of Lululemon Athletica.[16]
In 2014, Lululemon opened its first store in Europe, a flagship shop in Covent Garden, London.[17] In February 2015, Wilson announced that he was resigning from the board,[18][19] and Michael Casey, former lead director of the board, would replace him.[20] In 2018, Laurent Potdevin resigned as CEO and from the company's board due to misconduct related to a relationship he was having with a then-employee and later contractor.[21][22] In 2013, some customers complained that the clothing was of poor quality, with some items being "too sheer", having holes appear, and falling apart after a few uses.[23][24] The same year, Lululemon recalled its black yoga pants that were unintentionally transparent and "too thin";[25] the recall, which amounted to approximately 17 percent of all women's pants sold in its stores, impacted its financial results.[26] The resulting financial loss and damage to the brand led to the forced departure of the company's chief product officer, Sheree Waterson,[27][10] and of its CEO, Christine Day.[28]
From its founding through 2015, Lululemon incorporated elements of Landmark Forum into its leadership and development training.[29] According to a company source, seventy per cent of managers are hired internally.[30] Store managers are responsible for their store's layout, colour coordination, and community involvement.[30]
Lululemon athletica became a Nasdaq-100 company on December 24, 2018.[31] In 2019, Lululemon announced an investment in MIRROR, a home exercise startup that sells interactive fitness mirrors with a camera and speakers for at-home workouts. Capitalizing on a growing trend of people conducting virtual workouts at home instead of going to a gym due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MIRROR was formally acquired by Lululemon on June 29, 2020, for $500 million and was rebranded as lululemon Studio.[32][33][34] The companies also planned to create new content for the device, starting with meditation classes.[35] Following the acquisition, Lululemon recorded a post-tax impairment charge of $442.7million related to the acquisition at the end of the 2022 fiscal year.[36]
In 2024, Lululemon Athletica Inc. agreed to acquire the operations and retail locations of its franchise partner in Mexico for an undisclosed amount.[37]
Controversies
In November 2007, The New York Times reported that Lululemon made false claims about its Vitasea clothing product; the firm had claimed that the clothing, made from seaweed, provided "anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hydrating and detoxifying benefits"[38] but laboratory tests failed to find significant differences in mineral levels between ordinary T-shirt cotton and Vitasea fabric.[38] Lululemon was subsequently forced to remove all health claims from its seaweed-based products marketed in Canada, following a demand from a Canadian oversight agency, the Competition Bureau of Canada.[39]
Lululemon's founder Chip Wilson has made numerous controversial statements throughout his career.[9] In 2013, Wilson stated that the company did not make clothes for plus-size women because it was too costly.[40] In an effort to explain away excessive pilling in the brand's clothing, he blamed some customers for wearing Lululemon's clothes improperly or for having body shapes inconsistent with the design of the clothing.[41] In an interview for Bloomberg Television in 2013, he stated that some women's bodies were unsuitable for the brand's clothing.[41]Time called the remarks "fat shaming".[42] Comments such as these reportedly led to Wilson's resignation as chairman.[43] In June 2016, Wilson published an open letter to shareholders stating that the company had "lost its way" and given up market share to Nike and Under Armour, after he was denied the opportunity to speak at the company's annual meetings.[44][45] Since then, Wilson has used his website "Elevate Lululemon" to criticise the brand and business.[46]
In 2021, an unnamed company director pushed employees to create an All Lives Matter campaign to be displayed on its website in response to the murder of George Floyd. Employees pushed back but were told to create a mock up with the All Lives Matter copy; however, they also created a Black Lives Matter mock up that was selected instead. The director apologized and subsequently left the company.[47][48]
In May 2023, it was reported that a Lululemon store in Atlanta, Georgia fired two employees for calling the police during a looting,[49] but the company said that they were fired for physically confronting or following the looters.[50] The two employees physically approached the looters, and one of them took a video recording of the looting with her smartphone. They then followed the looters out of the store towards the parking lot. The three looters were arrested within days and charged with felony robbery.[51]
Products and services
Lululemon sells athletic apparel including sporting tops, sports jackets, hoodies, joggers, running shoes, underwear, and leggings including yoga pants and casual wear. Some of the company's best known product lines include the High Rise Align Fit Mini flare leggings, Dance Studio pants, Hottie Hot shorts, Scuba hoodies, and the Define sports jacket.[52][53] Lululemon also sells gloves, mittens, hats, shoes, bags, yoga mats, and water bottles.[54] Lululemon has trademarked several proprietary fabrics, including Luon, Luxtreme, Nulu, Nulux, Everlux, and more.[6] Since then, Lululemon has produced several fabrics for different uses, including compression and moisture-wicking designs.[6]
In order to remain competitive and devise new product lines that can be sold on the commercial sportswear market, Lululemon maintains a research and development lab called Whitespace within its headquarters. It has around 50 employees including scientists and physiologists as part of its research and development personnel.[6][55]
In 2019, the company launched a luxury streetwear brand called Lab in a few of its stores.[56] In the same year, the company announced plans to double its men's clothing business in the next five years beyond its women's athletic apparel and accessory business, competing against other well-known athletic sportswear brands such as Nike and Under Armour.[57]
In March 2022, Lululemon expanded their product line by adding footwear.[58] The original launch consisted of footwear designed specifically for women's feet.[59] The brand has since expanded into men's footwear, currently offering two styles.[60]
Marketing
Two Lululemon stores with their products in exhibition: (left) Promenade; (right) Hong Kong
Originally known for women's yoga apparel, by 2019 Lululemon had grown by acquiring more male customers and adapting its product and marketing strategies accordingly; it plans to increase awareness of its brand among men.[61] The company has been stated to use "holistic guerrilla marketing", aiming to make customers feel that by wearing Lululemon clothing they are part of a larger community.[62] It uses social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as a main method of marketing the company and its products. Lululemon offers fitness instructors 25 percent off their orders.[63]
^Rob Walker, July 21, 2009, "Marketing Pose", The New York Times, Retrieved . "...it's no surprise that some yoga devotees have zeroed in on it as an annoying phony-baloney symbol. Elaine Lipson, a writer and editor in Boulder, Colo., who ..."
^Sinnema, Jodie (December 21, 2010). "Lululemon issues recall for shopping bags due to lead risk". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015. People who purchase yoga pants, hoodies or headbands from the more than 100 Lululemon stores in Canada, the U.S. and Australia often save such bags to carry their lunches to work
