Can Lululemon win men over?

Lululemon’s future is not only in little black stretchy pants. When it launched in Vancouver in 1998, Lululemon aimed to be the only premium, performance-based yoga brand in the market; its first retail space was in a yoga studio.

Over the years, those form-fitting leggings (called Align and priced between $98 and $118) turned the brand into a status symbol, becoming code for women of a certain socio-economic tribe who drank matcha, practised yoga and had a high disposable income. The company’s controversial founder Chip Wilson, who stepped down in 2013, even published a book — Little Black Stretchy Pants: The Unauthorized Story of Lululemon (2018) — that paid titular homage.

Today, leggings are still fundamental to the cult of Lulu. It sold a pair of Aligns every four seconds last year; they’re just one of many leggings styles available. The women’s market is undoubtedly Lululemon’s bread and butter — and it will remain so.

But Calvin McDonald, the company’s chief executive since 2018, thinks now is the time to increase its male customer base. “We’ll quadruple our men’s business by 2026,” he says, sitting in a conference room in the company’s shiny London headquarters on The Strand.

His aims are part of a broader strategy, where the company seeks to “double its overall business to $12.5bn, including doubling ecommerce sales, and quadrupling international sales, from 2021-26”. 

It’s a lofty ambition. Especially when, as Sarah Clark, senior vice-president for Emea puts it: “Men don’t really know about us.”

In 2024 the company expects annual revenues to hit about $10.3bn, up 8 per cent from 2023. In the second quarter of this year, women’s products comprised of nearly two-thirds of sales.

Lululemon has “historically been perceived as a women’s brand,” says McDonald. “But we can provide solutions for men that don’t exist elsewhere in the market.” 

We recently innovated a fabric that shows no sweat, and turned it into a men’s casual shirt

Neil Saunders, a retail analyst for GlobalData, commends Lululemon’s desire to look for new opportunities. “It’s approaching a ceiling for womenswear in the US,” he says, adding that growth in North America virtually flatlined in the second quarter of this year. “It still has pockets of growth, but it won’t be able to keep making the same kind of gains it has done over the past few years.”

Headwinds come from slower customer acquisition, declining sales across the athleisure sector in the US and increased competition from brands such as Adanola, Alo Yoga and Varley, which Saunders says are “nibbling” at domestic sales, and smaller labels such as Girlfriend Collective and Tala, which offer more affordable designs and on-trend fits.

“Newer upstarts are expanding and capturing the imagination of [women] customers,” says Saunders, and they’re “spreading their spend around.” In the second quarter of this year at Lululemon, men’s sales grew 11 per cent, compared to 6 per cent in women’s sales.

There’s no quick formula that Lululemon can roll out for menswear, however. In women’s, Lululemon built its reputation in yoga before expanding into other categories. But in men’s, its offering is already broad — it currently offers kit for running, golf, tennis, hiking and yoga, as well as casual wear. 

Its wider men’s focus makes Vuori its main competition — the Californian athleisure brand, founded in 2014, which also sells luxe takes on low-key, gym-ready staples. Lululemon’s offering will appeal to men who look for practicality, performance and an understated style — essentially, guys who like Uniqlo’s aesthetic.

Lululemon’s offering will appeal to men who look for practicality, performance and an understated style

McDonald says that Lululemon wants to “meet men where they’re at . . . it’s about creating the best products in the industry for our customers to work out in, then show them how this comfort can expand across their everyday attire”. 

On the golf course or going to the airport? McDonald suggests the stretchy ABC pants, with drop-in pockets ideal to keep a scorecard — or a passport. Going for a run, or running errands? The Pace Breaker short has plenty of storage for any occasion. Want to look slick in the rain? The navy Venture blazer is work-appropriate and made from water-repellent fabrics. “We recently innovated a fabric that shows no sweat, and turned it into a men’s casual shirt,” says McDonald.

Anthony Fletcher, a biomechanics coach and co-founder of running app Onetrack Club, says: “The clothes work in a few different settings, from going to the gym to a client meeting.” At 6ft 5in, he also appreciates Lululemon’s variety of lengths and sizes available in tops and trousers.

But in order to grow brand awareness — and demonstrate its intention in men’s — visibility will be key. In the Covent Garden shop, which was recently upgraded and relocated to a bigger, multi-floor space, the men’s section is still tucked away upstairs.

My dad, 62 and a keen cyclist who owns a little bit of Rapha but otherwise shops mainstream for sports, has never heard of the brand. “They don’t advertise anywhere I’d come across,” he says.

Unlike its women’s offering, which is known for its age inclusive ethos, Lululemon’s men’s collections have been largely geared towards a younger audience, judging by its advertising.

Hesitation among men also seems to come, in London at least, via its perceived cool factor (or lack of), and price point. One friend, a relatively trendy teacher in his early thirties, said he loved its running shorts and track pants, yet found its brand image too conservative and preferred to spend money on edgier bits of kit. Another, a civil servant in his twenties, said if it wasn’t for the price he’d shop there for all his sportswear. Some still perceive it as a women’s brand. 

According to McDonald, Lululemon’s “female shoppers [often] buy for the men in their lives,” noting it’s been “a big part of how men are introduced to the brand”. Once in the fold, however, he says they are “more likely to become cross-shoppers, choosing Lululemon for both activewear and casual or workwear. They spend more and are more likely to be loyal.”

Lululemon is generally renowned for its quality and reliability; this one-stop-shop approach does appeal to the habitual and safe way in which men buy clothes. “Men are mission-based shoppers,” says McDonald. “They appreciate the convenience of shopping for different needs in one place . . . there’s a lot for him to choose from here.”

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