Lululemon Athletica: Company background, history, and current operating environment
Lululemon Athletica began after founder, Chip Wilson, attended the first commercial yoga class in Vancouver British Columbia 1998. Wilson had spent the previous twenty years in the surf, skate, and snowboarding industry and felt that yoga inspired the same post activity “high” that board sports gave him. Wilson also noticed that most yoga practitioners used bulky cotton fabric clothes for the activity which did not make sense to him since it got in the way of the poses. The experience birthed the idea of creating a design studio for yoga apparel that moonlighted as a yoga studio to pay the bills. Using Wilson’s experience and passion for technically advanced athletic fabrics a new company that offered yoga appropriate clothes was created.
The company needed a new name and “Lululemon” was chosen from 20 brand names and 20 logos. A survey of 100 people was used to choose the name as well as the logo which is a stylised “A” taken from a different rejected name. Customer feedback was often used in making decisions for Lululemon. From …show more content…
Recalls for the company have included 318,000 Women’s “Dance studio jackets” because their drawstrings could cause damage to the face. They also had a major scandal in 2013 when customers complained that Lululemon yoga pants were so sheer they revealed much more than the customer intended. Adding insult to injury Chip Wilson was quoted in an interview suggesting that some women might be too large around the hips to wear Lululemon pants. Lululemon also faces growing competition from other athletic brands such as Nike and Under Armour and retailers such as GAP who have come up with their own yoga forward brands. The Lululemon stock is down more than 8% this year, with as much as 25% of outstanding shares currently sold
Lululemon Athletica began after founder, Chip Wilson, attended the first commercial yoga class in Vancouver British Columbia 1998. Wilson had spent the previous twenty years in the surf, skate, and snowboarding industry and felt that yoga inspired the same post activity “high” that board sports gave him. Wilson also noticed that most yoga practitioners used bulky cotton fabric clothes for the activity which did not make sense to him since it got in the way of the poses. The experience birthed the idea of creating a design studio for yoga apparel that moonlighted as a yoga studio to pay the bills. Using Wilson’s experience and passion for technically advanced athletic fabrics a new company that offered yoga appropriate clothes was created.
The company needed a new name and “Lululemon” was chosen from 20 brand names and 20 logos. A survey of 100 people was used to choose the name as well as the logo which is a stylised “A” taken from a different rejected name. Customer feedback was often used in making decisions for Lululemon. From …show more content…
Recalls for the company have included 318,000 Women’s “Dance studio jackets” because their drawstrings could cause damage to the face. They also had a major scandal in 2013 when customers complained that Lululemon yoga pants were so sheer they revealed much more than the customer intended. Adding insult to injury Chip Wilson was quoted in an interview suggesting that some women might be too large around the hips to wear Lululemon pants. Lululemon also faces growing competition from other athletic brands such as Nike and Under Armour and retailers such as GAP who have come up with their own yoga forward brands. The Lululemon stock is down more than 8% this year, with as much as 25% of outstanding shares currently sold