Lululemon athletica inc. ( ), set up as lululemon athletica , is a Canadian sportswear retailer. Lululemon is a yoga-inspired athletic sportswear company for women and men. The company makes various types of athletic clothing, including performance shirts, shorts, and pants, as well as lifestyle clothing and yoga accessories. The company was originally based in Canada, but has grown to sell its products internationally on both store fronts and through their online platform, lululemon.com. Although the brand is famous for its stylish and high-quality items, the brand is often criticized for "worship, mortal, and overpriced." The brand is trying to adopt a sincere customer education focus, but it has been questioned whether it really practices what it preaches. Major competitors include Athleta, Nike and Under Armor.
Video Lululemon Athletica
Histori
The company was founded in 1998 by Chip Wilson in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Initially, Lululemon was a daytime design studio and yoga studio at night, but eventually turned into an independent shop in November 2000. In 2001, the company began selling yoga clothes. Christine Day, former co-president of Starbucks International, became chief executive officer in June 2008. In December 2013, founder Chip Wilson announced his resignation as chairman, and TOMS Shoes president Laurent Potdevin would become CEO. In February 2014, the company announced plans to open its first full store in Europe with a flagship store in Covent Garden, London. Hari announced his departure as CEO in June 2013 after one of the company's core products, black yellow Luon pants, drawn due to lack and quality of pants. In February 2015, Wilson announced that he had resigned from the council. Michael Casey, chairman of the board, replaces Wilson. On February 5, 2018, Laurent Potdevin resigned as CEO and of the company board.
Maps Lululemon Athletica
Management
According to company sources, seventy percent of managers are internally employed. Store managers are responsible for their store layout, color coordination, and community engagement.
Products
Lululemon sells a wide range of athletic clothes ranging from tops, pants, shorts, sweaters, jackets and underwear in addition to lifestyle items including hair accessories, bags, yoga mats and water bottles. These products are designed to inspire physical activity among consumers. Lululemon developed its products using various technologies and fabrics to improve its product line and enable its ability to cope with a more dynamic customer base. The company uses both waterproof technology, in addition to Silverescent (tags) and a mixture of synthetic and natural fabrics in the manufacture of their products. Waterproof technology rejects water from entering into products, Silverescent fabrics are for odor protection, and natural blend fabrics are used for softness and usability. For example, legon luon is made of 82% nylon and 18% spandex.
Marketing
Holistic Guerilla Marketing Model
It is said that lululemon athletica adopted a holistic guerrilla marketing model to dominate its marketing tactics. The use of holistic guerrilla marketing by companies is by connecting the use of their clothing/products with the feeling of being part of a larger community. So, buying their products and supporting their brand becomes the solution to a problem. Consumer purchases from lululemon become less about commercial transactions, and more about how individuals feel purchases contribute to their personal development.
Lululemon uses social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as one of the company's main marketing methods and products. Through social media like Facebook, he held direct discussions with designers of the brand through posts and comments. It also displays photos and ads for 'today's products', to get its followers interested and actively think about the brand.
Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
Lululemon has shown consistent effort in incorporating sustainability into his business model. The corporate social responsibility strategy, "Community Heritage", is built around five elements: community, sourcing and manufacturing, people, waste efficiency and reduction, and green building space. In these elements, sourcing and manufacturing, efficiency and waste reduction, and green building space contribute to the sustainability of lululemon. Sourcing and manufacturing involve companies that set high expectations for their suppliers and only work with those who share shared values, such as concern for the environment and human health. Efficiency and waste reduction involve firms connecting with environmentalists, implementing environmental guidelines, and reducing their environmental footprint. The green building space involves the company's efforts in designing and building space that creates little or no waste.
Controversy
Fake ads
In November 2007, The New York Times reported that lululemon made a false claim about the clothing product Vitasea ; the company has claimed that Vitasea clothing, made of seaweed, provides "anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hydration and detoxifying benefits" but laboratory tests failed to find any significant differences in mineral levels between cotton T-shirts and Vitasea fabrics. Lululemon was then forced to remove all health claims of seaweed based products marketed in Canada, following a request from a Canadian supervisory agency, the Canadian Competition Bureau. A subsequent report in 2009 showed that some yoga enthusiasts saw the image of corporate yoga as a "fake-nonsense fake symbol" with criticism that its "positive message" was not clear with slogans like "friends are more important than money. "
Product quality issues
There are complaints about poor quality lululemon outfits with some items that are "too thin," as well as having holes popping up and falling apart after some use. In December 2010, lululemon recalls some reusable bags at stores made in China from polypropylene, based on reports of high lead levels and concerns about possible lead poisoning. In March 2013, lululemon was hit by a massive withdrawal of his black yoga pants unintentionally transparent and "too thin"; The recall, which amounts to about 17% of all women's pants sold in his shop, has an impact on his financial results. The financial count on income, and damage to the public image of the lululemon brand is credited with Chief Chief Officer of lululemon, the forced departure of Sheree Waterson.
Controversial statement by the founder
Founder Chip Wilson has made many controversial statements. He said his company does not make clothes for plus-size women because it costs too much money. In an attempt to explain the cause of excessive swelling in brand clothing, he blames some customers for wearing undisputed lululemon clothing or having a body shape that is inconsistent with his outfit. During an interview for Bloomberg TV in November 2013, he said, "To be honest some women's bodies do not really work for it" and "it's really about rubbing through thighs, how much pressure there is over a period of time, how much they use it. "According to one report, comments like this led to Wilson's resignation as chairman. The statements are described in Time as "fat debasement" which caused a lot of criticism among feminist blogs. The report suggests that it is the company's policy to prevent "large size customers" as part of its brand strategy because "no customer is willing to embarrass the officer for a larger measure."
In June 2016, Wilson issued an open letter to lululemon shareholders stating that lululemon had "lost his way" and surrendered his market share to Nike and Under Armor, after he was denied the opportunity to speak at the company's annual meeting. Since then, Wilson has used the elevated lululemon website to share his vision for brands and businesses.
Murder Lululemon
In 2011, employees of Brittany Norwood killed colleague Jayna Murray at the Lululemon Athletica store in Bethesda, Maryland. The case has received intense media attention and is known as the "Lululemon murder". The quarrel started when Norwood tried to steal a pair of Lululemon yoga pants. The scene quickly increased and eventually ended with the use of five different weapons and Murray received 331 different injuries, leading to his death. Murray fought to survive and live through most of the attacks.
Legal disputes
In August 2012, lululemon filed a lawsuit against Calvin Klein and supplier of G-III Apparel Group for breach of three patents of lululemon design for yoga pants. The lawsuit is somewhat unusual as it involves a designer who seeks to assert the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in clothing through patents. On November 20, 2012, lululemon filed a voluntary dismissal notice in Delaware court based on a personal settlement agreement reached between the party that rejected the lawsuit.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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