Lululemon, the right mix of performance and well-being

It's 4:26 a.m. on a Thursday, and Lewis Hamilton strides, very, very determined, down a deserted street. "Lululemon presents" its latest ambassador in a video ad where he's doing a HIIT session. Timer on. Battle ropes, planks, truck tire, jumps, skipping rope, squats, sled push. Cool down. Cross-legged, eyes closed, inhale, exhale. Then, same old game. Battle ropes, planks, truck tire, jumps, skipping rope, squats, sled push. Countdown to zero. Rest. Hamilton sweating, out of breath.

In red on the screen, "No holding back," "Made to feel" (something like "we go all out, we're made to feel things"). "Lewis is a true game changer, on and off the track. His commitment to performance and well-being aligns perfectly with Lululemon's values, " explains Sarah Clark, Senior Vice President of Lululemon EMEA (Middle East and Africa). "We're looking to collaborate with people who push the boundaries, both in performance and style." Since February, a seven-time F1 world champion has been a Lululemon ambassador.

Twenty-seven years ago, when Canadian Chip Wilson created the brand in Vancouver, that wasn't the plan. At the time, it was simply a yoga story, which the entrepreneur started at 40 after a lot of running, swimming, surfing on water and snow, and after having monetized his first company, Westbeach, which sold equipment for all these things. And skateboards, too.

Since February, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton has been an ambassador for Lululemon.

In his Ashtanga class, there are five or six of them, wearing old T-shirts, running shorts, or leggings so thin they can't resist "downward dog." So he asks a trainer if she'd be willing to pay three times as much for a good-quality pair. "Tabernacle, yes," she must have replied, because in 1998, Lululemon Athletica opened. A discreet logo on stylish, high-performance yoga clothes.

A small store on the second floor of another (Chip Wilson put all his money into the products), half-boutique, half-studio, where yoga coaches come to give free classes but wearing Lululemon, especially the leggings that flatter the figure (flattened stomach, lifted buttocks) and cost 90 dollars. High-end that fills a gap and a little healthy extra.

"In an environment that only talked about performance, they talked about quality of life, quality of soul..."

"Lululemon was a pioneer in a certain art of living by integrating a wellness aspect in the 2000s," recalls Vincent Grégoire, trend director at NellyRodi. "They didn't just position themselves as sports equipment suppliers. In a market that only talked about performance, they talked about quality of life, quality of soul, something almost spiritual, both technical and feel good, and that was very well anticipated." The store quickly became the meeting place for Vancouver's yoga community.

Then Chip Wilson starts running into people wearing his brand on the street: Lululemon invented athleisure, training clothes stylish enough to be worn outside of training. A style crowned twenty years later, when the Covid lockdown had passed. But then it was 2000, and the first real store had opened. 4th Avenue West, Kitsilano, Vancouver. It was off and running. It wouldn't stop.

Lululemon invented athleisure—training wear that's stylish enough to wear outside of training. (Lululemon)

Today, the Lululemon brand has more than 700 stores worldwide, a turnover of $12.5 billion forecast for 2026, a multinational listed on the stock exchange since 2007 and the equipment supplier of Canada: 27 podiums at the Paris Olympics. And other medals to come in 2026, at the Winter Games, in Italy. The opportunity to open a first store there, in Milan. "We are only just getting started!" confirms Sarah Clark, while Lululemon has already invested in fitness, running, streetwear and men have become a major strategic focus, with new products and development in golf, tennis, and hiking.

Oh, and Chip Wilson resigned from the board in 2013. Let's just say that, in an inclusive company, which has more than half women on its board and has an "inclusion, diversity, equity and action" program, several of his statements have shown that the 69-year-old entrepreneur wasn't completely inclusive.

But Lululemon's DNA has remained stable on the fundamentals. "One of our greatest strengths is our ability to innovate at the intersection of performance and comfort," continues Sarah Clark. "Our product design process always begins with three questions," explains Chantelle Murnaghan, VP of research and innovation: "What is our customer doing, how do they want to feel, and what is their unmet need? We design from the answers using our technical fabrics, our manufacturing expertise... All of this is based on years of research."

Lululemon has opted for high-end products (you won't find leggings for less than 49 euros) but for durability in both fabric and style: the products never go out of style. "These are not gadgets, not stylish products designed to impress the crowds," says Vincent Grégoire.

Lululemon was Canada's equipment supplier during the Paris Games. (Lululemon)

"But Lululemon is much more than products," Sarah Clark adds. "And that's where we stand out from other brands. Community has been at the heart of our identity from the very beginning." What the NellyRodi trend director translates as "their customers aren't just small-pocketed wallets, but people they often ask questions about, who are very close to them, who feel listened to." And who follow the ambassadors.

Heirs to the yoga teachers from the first boutique studio, there are 1,700 of them, high-level athletes, yes, Lewis Hamilton recently, and Max Homa in golf, Frances Tiafoe in tennis, Alfie Hewett in wheelchair tennis, but above all coaches, in yoga, spinning, bootcamp, responsible for "inspiring movement in all its forms," ​​describes Sarah Clark.

Vincent Grégoire: "When sports equipment manufacturers were buying muses that they overpaid for, who were very vertical, very dominant, Lululemon played the alternative card. They prefer to have passionate people rather than fakes. They have always been about authenticity."