Thumb Holes are Genius

Hi.  My name is Laura and I am a lululemon addict. I clearly remember, a few years ago, when this was not the case.  I heard about lululemon from my lady bosses.  They raved and raved about it while once in a while commenting how expensive it was.  The fact that the word expensive came out of the mouths of my bosses who probably made 3 times as much as I did was the only deterrent that stopped me from running immediately to the store and try on the "most amazing fitting and comfortable pants that make your butt look awesome."   Miraculous pants below: 

A few years went by, I moved jobs, got into Bikram yoga and this lululemon brand made in appearance again.  All I saw in yoga class was women AND men wearing clothing with the teeny, weeny, infamous lululemon logo:

 That tiny dot, lululemon logo, on those pants (and on any of their clothing) is the only overt reference to the brand you'll find.
   

And the love rang out in the locker rooms for this brand.  People had bags, pants, shorts, tops, mats, pretty much anything they made and were continually going back for more.  Now, I the studio I was doing Bikram in was in Irvine, CA a very affluent suburb of Orange County so of course my thinking went back to well this people can afford it.  I mean they all live in multi-million dollar homes.  Then I became close friends with the studio owner and all the teachers and all they raved about was lululemon.  Apparently, I wasn't going to escape this brand regardless of how much I tried.  So, I finally gave in and went and I did confirm the prices for their items were outrageous coming from the fact that I was accustomed to buying all my workout clothes at outlets and T.J. Maxx.  Then the very convincing sales woman at the store persuaded me to try some of their stuff on and let me tell you it was love at first try on.  Long story short: I came out with about 2 bag fulls of clothes I thought were way out of my price range.  The rumors were true, the fit of the clothes couldn't have been better if I had them custom made.  Actually working out in them was even better because apparently lululemon had thought of all the small nuisances that often irks you about workout clothing AND added even more genius details, like thumb holes (for the sake of keeping your sleeves down and hands warm!!!!)  So who is lululemon and why are all the women so gaga over it?  

lululemon, for those who don’t know, is a clothing store that makes mainly workout clothing and has been vastly successful with a cult like following.  While it’s a tiny brand (about 100 retail stores around the world) I believe they’ve done a great job on how they’ve handled themselves as a brand.  lululemon is much more than just your typical clothing or typical retail store for the following reasons: 

HISTORY
A little history on how the brand began:  Chip Wilson, the founder, was a fan of yoga himself because he felt it helped him stay fit and limber for squash and several other sports. But when he looked around the almost entirely female class, all of whom were wearing men’s clothing but in a smaller cut, he saw an opportunity and began designing women’s yoga clothing.  Today the products have expanded to men and other sports. 

DESIGN

I believe the love at first sight happens with the trial of the clothing because of how its designed.  To say these clothing are designed well is an understatement and every person in love with the brand can confirm.  Not only do the clothes fit like a glove they actually make you look better!  They are meticulous in their design methods.   User feedback is key to the design of its clothing, and so lululemon garments are designed by athletes, for athletes. It doesn’t offer sponsorships per se, but each store provides a select few people from a variety of sports—in different age categories and with varying abilities with clothes in exchange for their views on how each item performs.

The company also holds design meetings in every city where it has a retail presence to get its designers up to speed with that market, what’s being asked for, and what people are wearing. Its people also want to know what competitive offerings are popular. To carry the close connection with its customers one step further, every member of the company’s executive team works one day a week on the sales floor.

In addition to its ambassadors (unique individuals in our store communities who embody the lululemon lifestyle and live their culture), lululemon also lends its support to local athletic communities by providing an R&D (research and development) discount for anybody who is a certified yoga instructor, personal trainer or coach.  “We know a lot of these people. Sometimes it’s not the most lucrative position, but they’re the ones wearing our clothes eight hours a day.”

This mountain of firsthand information helps lululemon continue to be at the forefront of innovation. For example, it recently added silver the metal, not the color as a material (up to seven percent) in nine different pieces of its lineup.

Celebrities wearing lululemon gear

WARNING: MORE LULULEMON LOVE
When I ran my marathon I went into lululemon looking for appropriate clothing for the big day and the reason they ended up selling me into, what I thought was a way overpriced T-shirt is all the design elements that they had built into the shirt.  Now it may look like any other t-shirt but the way it was built & designed (lightweight seamless knit with mesh venting in high sweat areas, Silverescent for anti-stink * anti-static, body shaping with loose fit and long length, seam free to reduce chafing, Lycra for shape retention, wicking)  told me that not only had they thought about everything use wise(how I would use it, what the usual problems are for women and wearing t-shirts to work out in, running for long periods of time, the aesthetic likes of women, etc) but because of it I’d have better running performance overall.  This shirt was a TOTAL SOLUTION for my event as well as future trainings. 

RETAIL
lululemon isn’t just offering up top-of-the-line clothing, it’s selling a way of life and I believe because of this, this is why the people keep coming back to the brand.  They’re looking at lululemon to not only buy their products but to embrace the lifestyle they promote (again they are promoting TOTAL SOLUTIONS, a holistic view on your health vs. just focusing on the clothing itself and the performance aspects as a Nike or Adidas store might do) which ultimately builds more value in the product and the brand.   

As much as a year before it opens in a new market, it sends missionaries to attend every yoga and exercise class they can find, sniffing out and befriending the most influential instructors.  Once a store opens, lululemon formalizes the relationship with its yoga-instructor "ambassadors." The ambassadors get free swag plus a billboard-size portrait in their local lululemon, which helps them expand their clientele. They then complete the karmic exchange by driving clients back to the retailer. "Not only has it helped me build my business," says Leila Cunningham, a Pilates instructor in Hermosa Beach, California, who was courted by Lulu staffers, "but we started becoming friends, hanging out, going to parties. They've become part of the community." Ambassadors hold free weekly classes in the stores, which are meticulously designed to feel like homespun local boutiques, not cookie-cutter outlets from a public company competing against Nike. ("It's designed to be a little bit messy," Christine Day, lululemon's CEO , says of the stores' calculated nonchalance.) Comments from customers who can monitor progress toward their life goals through a Lulu micro Web site are scribbled on chalkboards outside the dressing rooms, then funneled back to HQ every two weeks. Your job is pretty easy when you are authentic with people," says Eric Petersen, lululemon's community director. "They realize you don't have some sneaky agenda.”

In case you wanted to know, I just made a lululemon purchase while writing this post. 


UPDATE: The items I ordered yesterday are already here.  WOW!  That is probably the fastest I've ever gotten an item and I chose their free shipping option which often time means the priority of sending the items out for shipping is pretty much at the bottom of the list and is sent in the slowest method possible.  Ohhhh lululemon, you keep winning me over...I'm already thinking about making another purchase.