History | lululemon athletica (2024)

FAQs

Why is Lulu so expensive? ›

The company's VP of global product quality once claimed that, “In the testing of the product there's probably 13 to 15 tests that go on. Every single lot of the fabric is tested before it leaves the mill.” That's a lot of quality control, which probably leads to a lot of overhead.

The technological advances lululemon has made in clothing makes it harder for competitors to emulate its success. It also enables lululemon to charge higher prices and have merchandise that rarely goes on sale. lululemon's focus on innovation not only lies within its products but within its stores.

Founded by Chip Wilson in Vancouver, Canada in 1998, lululemon is a yoga-inspired, technical athletic apparel company for women and men. What started as a design studio by day and yoga studio by night soon became a standalone store in November of 2000 on West 4th Avenue in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood.

Athleta and Lululemon Athletica are different companies.

Athleta is a brand owned by Gap Inc., and Lululemon is an independent, publicly traded company. It is not surprising that they get mixed up for each other. They are both activewear companies known for their products for women; both are known for their leggings.

As mentioned above, the quality, longevity, and price are comparable between the two brands. The only main differences are in style and that Lulu offers a quality guarantee while Athleta does not. Also, some Athleta items are priced lower than their Lulu versions, though not by a huge margin.

Sweaty Betty is another rising star in the increasingly competitive athleisure sector, and it's even more expensive than Lululemon.

According to Similarweb data of monthly visits, lululemon.com's top competitor in July 2023 is urbanoutfitters.com with 14.4M visits. lululemon.com 2nd most similar site is shopbop.com, with 3.7M visits in July 2023, and closing off the top 3 is aloyoga.com with 2.7M.

Lululemon Demographic Segmentation

In 2020, 30% of new customers were men. Even so, the bulk of Lululemon sales are attributed to women's products. In 2021, women accounted for nearly $4.2 billion of sales, compared to just over $1.5 billion for men.

The best-selling item at lululemon is leggings—specifically, the Align Pant. These soft, stretchy leggings routinely sell out and have over 6,000 five-star reviews on lululemon's website.

Wilson founded Lululemon in 2000 with a Vancouver brick-and-mortar location and took the growing company public in 2007. He stepped down as chairman in 2013 after his comments that Lululemon's famous stretchy pants “just don't actually work” for some women's bodies, sparked public backlash.

What is the Lululemon logo mean? ›

"The lululemon name was chosen in a survey of 100 people from a list of 20 brand names and 20 logos. The logo is actually a stylized 'A' that was made for the name 'athletically hip', a name which failed to make the grade."

There is a reason that Lululemon is one of the best-known luxury sportswear brands in the world – the quality and fit of the products speak for themselves.

Lululemon (Vancouver, British Columbia) has launched a sister brand dubbed Kit and Ace, the brainchild of Lululemon founder Chip Wilson's wife — former Lululemon lead designer Shannon Wilson — and son J.J.

Lululemon had a strong head start by putting customer insights in the center of everything they did — from product design to branding and selling experience. They've inspired shoppers through brand advocacy and built a cult-like following over several short years.

The Verdict

If you can afford to spend the money on a few key pieces from Lululemon, like one pair of running shorts, one or two sports bras, and the Reversible 5mm The Mat, it's worth the money. If you're on that budget I mentioned earlier, it's best to only buy one of those necessary items at a time as you need them.

The earnings report was strong. Our view that Lululemon's stock is overvalued is based on its current valuation (a price/earnings ratio of about 30) and concerns about the competitiveness of the industry. Lululemon's success has attracted many competitors, many of which are selling similar products.

In this sense, Lululemon as a Yoga-related brand has a more limited audience and as its products are relatively higher priced than e.g. Nike's, Puma's (OTCPK:PMMAF), or Under Armour's products, more price-conscious consumers may look elsewhere for cheaper alternatives.