case study2
MANDY17
Lululemoncase4.pdf
2/8/22, 3:08 PM Lululemon’s Strategy and Business in 2020
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LULULEMON’S STRATEGY AND BUSINESS IN 2020
Lululemon athletica viewed its core mission as “creating components for people to
live longer, healthier, fun lives.” The company’s primary target customer was
“a sophisticated and educated woman who understands the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle. She is increasingly tasked with the dual responsibilities of career and family and is constantly challenged to balance her work, life and health. We believe she pursues exercise to achieve physical fitness and inner peace.”
In the company’s early years, lululemon’s strategy was predicated on management’s
belief that other athletic apparel companies were not effectively addressing the
unique style, fit and performance needs of women who were embracing yoga and a variety of other fitness and athletic activities. Lululemon sought to address this
void in the marketplace by incorporating style, feel-good comfort, and functionality
into its yoga-inspired apparel products and by building a network of lululemon retail stores, along with an online store at the company’s website, to market its
apparel directly to these women. However, while the company was founded to
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address the unique needs and preferences of women, it did not take long for
management to recognize the merits of broadening the company’s market target to include fitness apparel for activities other than yoga and apparel for population
segments other than adult women.
In 2009, lululemon opened its first ivviva-branded store in Vancouver, British
Columbia, to sell high quality, premium-priced dance-inspired apparel to female youth (ivviva was a word that lululemon made up). The Vancouver store was soon
profitable, and 11 additional company-owned ivviva stores were opened in Canada
and the United States during 2010–13. In 2014–15, the opening of new ivviva stores accelerated. However, in June 2019, lululemon announced the closure of all but
seven of the company’s ivviva stores. Sales of many ivviva branded products were
moved online to the lululemon website, and sales of some ivviva products
continued through other retailers, including Target and Amazon.com. In September
2019, lululemon announced it would close the seven remaining ivviva stores by
mid-2020.
In 2013–14, the company began designing and marketing products for men who
appreciated the technical rigor and premium quality of athletic and fitness apparel. Management also believed that participation in athletic and fitness activities was
destined to climb as people over 60 years of age became increasingly focused on
living longer, healthier, active lives in their retirement years and engaged in regular exercise and recreational activities. Another demand-enhancing factor was that
consumer decisions to purchase athletic, fitness, and recreational apparel were
being driven not only by an actual need for functional products but also by a desire to create a particular lifestyle perception through the apparel they wore.
Consequently, senior executives had transitioned lululemon’s strategy from one of
focusing exclusively on yoga apparel for women to one aimed at designing and marketing a wider range of healthy lifestyle-inspired apparel and accessories for
women and men and dance-inspired apparel for girls. In 2019, men’s product lines
became a major focus of growth for the company.
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In early 2019, lululemon announced a new five-year “Power of Three” strategic plan
featuring three growth initiatives:
Product Innovation. The company sought to pursue a disruptive innovation strategy in its core apparel markets, using what management called a Science of
Feel™ approach to product development that emphasized using fabrics and
technologies that provided both excellent technical performance and feel-good comfort, to introduce new products with innovative features and maintain a
fresh and growing lineup of yoga, running, and training products for both
women and men. The plan also called for the company to continue its product collaborations, expand its popular Office/Travel/Commute line, and pursue new
opportunities such as selfcare.
Omni Guest Experiences. The company sought to become “an experiential brand” and use all of the company’s marketing channels to grow and deepen its
relationship with the guests who patronized its stores and the consumers who
shopped its website, and, further, to create a series of ongoing experiential moments and opportunities where local community members striving to live the
“sweatlife” and lead a healthy, mindful lifestyle could connect and come
together. The company’s concept of integrated “omni guest experiences” thus went beyond just the experiences customers had in shopping, purchasing, and
using the company products to include creating and hosting a variety of local
community events, an innovative membership program, partnerships with local yoga studios and running clubs, and unique store formats (like a 25,000 square-
foot store in Chicago which had a yoga studio, meditation space, a healthy food
and juice bar, and areas for community gatherings). In addition, management intended for the company’s digital ecosystem to become a greater source of
information and communication and a means of inspiring and igniting
community building.
Continuing to Add lululemon Retail Stores in Both Its Core North American
Market and Internationally. Outside North America, China was the company’s primary focus for new store openings, with 16 new stores added in the 2019
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lululemon reported significant progress on its strategic goals in early 2020, stating that the company’s performance was on track to achieve its five-year strategic plan
goals to double online sales, double sales of men’s products, and quadruple
international revenues by year-end 2023 and was well-ahead of its previously set target to reach $4 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2020.
fiscal year and more planned for 2020. One to two new company-operated
stores were being opened in several countries across Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian
countries), and in selected countries in the Asia-Pacific (Australia, Japan,
Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea).
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Product Line Strategy
In 2020, lululemon offered a diverse and growing selection of premium-priced
performance apparel and accessories for women, female youths and men that were
designed for healthy lifestyle activities such as yoga, swimming, running, cycling, and general fitness. Currently, the company’s range of offerings included:
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If you are not familiar with lululemon products, it would be useful to spend a few
minutes browsing the company’s e-store at www.lululemon.com.
lululemon’s Strategy of Offering Only a Limited Range of Apparel Sizes.
In the months following the product recall of the too-sheer bottom pants in March
2013, lululemon officially revealed in a posting on its Facebook page that it did not
offer clothing in plus-sizes because focusing on sizes 12 and below was an integral part of its business strategy; according to the company’s posting and to the
EXHIBIT 3 lululemon athletica’s Product Offerings for Women and Men,
Representative Sample, 2020
Women Men
Sports bras
Tanks
Sweaters and wraps
Jackets and hoodies
Long-sleeve and short-sleeve
tops and tees
Pants and crops
Shorts
Skirts and dresses
Outerwear
Swimwear
Socks and
underwear
Scarves
Gear bags
Caps and
headbands
Sweat cuffs and
gloves
Water bottles
Yoga mats and
props
Instructional
yoga DVDs
Tops
Jackets and hoodies
Pants and shorts
Gear bags and backpacks
Caps and gloves
Swimwear
Socks and underwear
Run accessories
Yoga mats, props, and
instructional DVDs
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postings of lululemon personnel who responded to comments made by Facebook
members who read the lululemon posting:
Our product and design strategy is built around creating products for our target guest in our size range of 2–12. While we know that doesn’t work for everyone and recognize fitness and health come in all shapes and sizes, we’ve built our business, brand and relationship with our guests on this formula.
We agree that a beautiful healthy life is not measured by the size you wear. We want to be excellent at what we do, so this means that we can’t be everything to everybody and need to focus on specific areas. Our current focuses are in innovating our women’s design, men’s brand, and building our international market.
At this time, we don’t have plans to change our current sizing structure which is 2–12 for women.
In 2016, the largest size appearing in the size guide for women on lululemon’s website was 12, which was said to be suitable for a 40” bust, 32.5” waist, and 43”
hips. In 2020, the largest women’s size appearing on the company’s website was 14
(but size 12 was the largest offered for most products). Some women’s products were offered in sizes ranging from XXXS (for a 21” waist, 29” bust, and 32” hips)
to XXL (for a 35” waist, 42” bust, and 45” hips), but most such products were
sized XS to XL.
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Retail Distribution and Store Expansion Strategy
After several years of experience in establishing and working with franchised stores
in the United States, Australia, Japan, and Canada, top management in 2010
determined that having franchised stores was not in lululemon’s best long-term strategic interests. A strategic initiative was begun to either acquire the current
stores of franchisees and operate them as company stores or convert the franchised
stores to a joint venture arrangement where lululemon owned the controlling interest in the store and the former franchisee owned a minority interest. By year-
end 2011, all lululemon stores were company-operated.
As of February 2020, lululemon had 491 company-operated stores in 17 countries:
In fiscal year 2020, management had announced that in new store openings would
come primarily from company-operated store openings in Asia and the United States. Management reported that the company’s real estate strategy going forward
would be to focus on (1) the opening of new company-operated stores, and (2)
expansion of the company’s overall retail square footage through store expansions and store relocations. With sales per square foot of $1,657 in lululemon retail
305 stores in the United States (including 19 factory outlet stores in discount
malls).
63 stores in Canada, including seven ivviva stores slated for closure later on in
2020.
38 stores in the People’s Republic of China, inclusive of six stores in Hong
Kong, two stores in Macau, and one store in Taiwan.
31 stores in Australia.
14 stores in the United Kingdom.
Seven stores in Japan, seven stores in New Zealand, six stores in Germany, five
stores in South Korea, four stores in Singapore, three stores in France, two
stores in Malaysia, two stores in Sweden, and one store in each of the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland.
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stores in fiscal 2019, management believed its sales revenues per square foot of
retail space were close to the best in the retail apparel sector. By way of comparison, the stores of specialty fashion retailers like Old Navy, Banana
Republic, The Gap, and Abercrombie & Fitch typically had 2015 annual sales
averaging less than $500 per square foot of store space.
lululemon’s Retail Stores: Locations, Layout, and Merchandising. The company’s retail stores were located primarily on street locations, in upscale strip
shopping centers, in lifestyle centers, and in malls. Typically, stores were leased and
ranged from 2,500 to 3,500 square feet in size. Most stores included space for product display and merchandising, checkout, fitting rooms, a restroom, and an
office/storage area. While the leased nature of the store spaces meant that each
store had its own customized layout and arrangement of fixtures and displays, each store was carefully decorated and laid out in a manner that projected the ambience
and feel of a homespun local apparel boutique rather than the more impersonal,
cookie-cutter atmosphere of many apparel chain stores.
The company’s merchandising strategy was to sell all of the items in its retail stores
at full price. Special colors and seasonal items were in stores for only a limited time—such products were on 3, 6, or 12-week life cycles so that frequent shoppers
could always find something new. Store inventories of short-cycle products were
deliberately limited to help foster a sense of scarcity, condition customers to buy when they saw an item rather than wait, and avoid any need to discount unsold
items. In one instance, a hot-pink color that launched in December was supposed
to have a two-month shelf life, but supplies sold out in the first week. However, supplies of core products that did not change much from season to season were
more ample to minimize the risk of lost sales due to items being out-of-stock.
Approximately 95 percent of the merchandise in lululemon stores was sold at full price. When certain styles, colors, and sizes of apparel items at lululemon retail
stores were selling too slowly to clear out the inventories of items ordered from
contract manufacturers, lululemon typically shipped the excess inventories to one
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or more of the 19 lululemon Factory Outlet stores in North America to be sold at
discounted prices.
One unique feature of lululemon’s retail stores was that the floor space allocated to merchandising displays and customer shopping could be sufficiently cleared to
enable the store to hold an in-store yoga class before or after regular shopping
hours. Every store hosted a complimentary yoga class each week that was conducted by a professional yoga instructor from the local community who had
been recruited to be a “store ambassador;” when the class concluded, the attendees
were given a 15 percent-off coupon to use in shopping for products in the store. From time to time, each store’s yoga ambassadors demonstrated their moves in the
store windows and on the sales floor. Exhibit 4 shows the exteriors and interiors
of representative lululemon athletica stores.
lululemon’s Showroom Strategy. Over the years, lululemon had opened
“showrooms” in numerous locations both inside and outside North America as a means of introducing the lululemon brand and culture to a community, developing
relationships with local fitness instructors and fitness enthusiasts, and hosting
community-related fitness events, all in preparation for the grand opening of a new lululemon athletica retail store in weeks ahead. Showroom personnel:
Showrooms were only open part of the week so that showroom personnel could be
out in the community meeting people, building relationships with yoga and fitness instructors, participating in local yoga and fitness classes and talking with
Hosted get-acquainted parties for fitness instructors and fitness enthusiasts.
Recruited a few well-regarded fitness instructors in the local area to be “store ambassadors” for lululemon products and periodically conduct in-store yoga
classes when the local lululemon retail store opened.
Advised people visiting the showroom on where to find great yoga or Pilates
classes, fitness centers, and health and wellness information and events.
Solicited a select number of local yoga studios, health clubs, and fitness centers to stock and retail a small assortment of lululemon’s products.
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attendees before and after class, promoting attendance at local fitness and wellness
events, and stimulating interest in the soon-to-open retail store. lululemon used showrooms as a means of “pre-seeding” the opening of a lululemon retail store
primarily in those locations where no other lululemon retail stores were nearby.
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Wholesale Sales Strategy
lululemon also marketed its products to select premium yoga studios, health clubs,
and fitness centers as a way to gain the implicit endorsement of local fitness
personnel for lululemon branded apparel, familiarize their customers with the lululemon brand, and give them an opportunity to conveniently purchase
lululemon apparel.
lululemon management did not want to grow wholesale sales to these types of
establishments into a significant revenue contributor. Rather, the strategic objective of selling lululemon apparel to yoga studios, health clubs, and fitness centers was to
build brand awareness, especially in new geographic markets both in North
America and other international locations where the company intended to open new stores. Wholesale sales to outlet stores were made only to dispose of excess
inventories and thereby avoid in-store markdowns on slow-selling items.
lululemon had entered into license and supply arrangements with partners in the
Middle East and Mexico to operate lululemon athletica branded retail locations in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Mexico. lululemon
retained the rights to sell lululemon products through their e-commerce websites in
these countries. Under the arrangement, lululemon supplied their partners with
lululemon products, training, and other support. As of February 2020, there were four licensed retail locations in Mexico, three in the United Arab Emirates, and
one in Qatar, none of which were included in the company-operated store numbers
in Exhibit 1.
The company’s wholesale sales to all these channels accounted for $340 million in sales, or 8.6 percent of total net revenues in fiscal 2019, versus 9.2 percent of total
net revenues for the company in fiscal 2018.
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Direct-to-Consumer Sales Strategy
In 2009, lululemon launched its e-commerce website, www.lululemon.com, to enable
customers to make online purchases, supplement its already-functioning phone
sales activities, and greatly extend the company’s geographic market reach. Management saw online sales as having three strategic benefits: (1) providing
added convenience for core customers, (2) securing sales in geographic markets
where there were no lululemon stores, and (3) helping build brand awareness, especially in new markets, including those outside of North America. As of May
2020, the company website reached 6 continents and 84 separate countries in
North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. lululemon provided free standard shipping (2–6 business day delivery) on all
lululemon to customers in North America; a flat $30 shipping fee (5–10 business
day delivery) was charged to buyers located in international destinations.
The merchandise selection that lululemon offered to online buyers differed somewhat from what was available in the company’s retail stores. A number of the
items available in stores were not sold online; a few online selections were not
available in the stores. Styles and colors available for sale online were updated weekly. On occasion, the company marked down the prices of some styles and
colors sold online to help clear out the inventories of items soon to be out-of-
season and make way for newly-arriving merchandise—online customers could view the discounted merchandise by clicking on a “we made too much” link.
In addition to making purchases, website visitors could browse information about what yoga was, what the various types of yoga were, and their benefits; learn about
fabrics and technologies used in lululemon’s products; read recent posts on
lululemon’s yoga blog; and stay abreast of lululemon activities in their communities. The company planned to continue to develop and enhance its e-
commerce websites in ways that would provide a distinctive online shopping
experience and strengthen its brand reputation.
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Direct-to-consumer sales at the company’s websites had become an increasingly
important part of the company’s business, with e-commerce sales climbing from $106.3 million in fiscal 2011 (10.6 percent of total net revenues) to $1.14 billion in
fiscal 2019 (28.6 percent of total revenues)—equal to a compound annual growth
rate of 34.5 percent. In April 2020, when the majority of lululemon’s retail stores in North America and elsewhere were closed due to COVID-19, e-commerce
became a vital link between the company and the consumer. Exhibit 4 shows
the growth in quarterly e-commerce sales for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.
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EXHIBIT 4 lululemon’s Quarterly E-commerce Sales, Q1 2018 through Q1
2020
Online Sales Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4
2018 $157.8 million $167.4 million $189.4 million $344.2 million
2019 209.8 million 217.6 million 246.7 million 463.7 million
2020 352.0 million
Source: Quarterly Financial Results, posted in the Investor Relations section at www.lululemon.com.
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Product Design and Development Strategy
lululemon’s product design efforts were led by a team of designers based in
Vancouver, British Columbia partnering with various international designers. The
design team included athletes and users of the company’s products who embraced lululemon’s design philosophy and dedication to premium quality. Design team
members regularly visited retail stores in a proactive effort to solicit feedback on
existing products from store customers and fitness ambassadors and to gather their ideas for product improvements and new products. In addition, the design team
used various market intelligence sources to identify and track market trends. On
occasion, the team hosted meetings in several geographic markets to discuss the company’s products with local athletes, trainers, yogis, and members of the fitness
industry. The design team incorporated all of this input to make fabric selections,
develop new products, and make adjustments in the fit, style, and function of existing products.
The design team worked closely with its apparel manufacturers to
incorporate innovative fabrics that gave lululemon garments such characteristics as
stretch ability, moisture-wicking capability, color fastness, feel-good comfort, and durability. Fabric quality was evaluated via actual wear tests and by a leading
testing facility. Before bringing out new products with new fabrics, lululemon used
the services of leading independent inspection, verification, testing, and certification companies to conduct a battery of tests on fabrics for such
performance characteristics as pilling, shrinkage, abrasion resistance, and
colorfastness. Lastly, lululemon design personnel worked with leading fabric suppliers to identify opportunities to develop fabrics that lululemon could
trademark and thereby gain added brand recognition and brand differentiation.
Where appropriate, product designs incorporated convenience features, such as
pockets to hold credit cards, keys, digital audio players, and clips for heart rate
monitors and long sleeves that covered the hands for cold-weather exercising. Product specifications called for the use of advanced sewing techniques, such as
flat seaming, that increased comfort and functionality, reduced chafing and skin
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irritation, and strengthened important seams. All of these design elements and
fabric technologies were factors that management believed enabled lululemon to price its high-quality technical athletic apparel at prices above those of traditional
athletic apparel.
Typically, it took 8 to 10 months for lululemon products to move from the design
stage to availability in its retail stores; however, the company had the capability to bring select new products to market in as little as two months. Management
believed its lead times were shorter than those of most apparel brands due to the
company’s streamlined design and development process, the real-time input received from customers and ambassadors at its store locations, and the short
times it took to receive and approve samples from manufacturing suppliers. Short
lead times facilitated quick responses to emerging trends or shifting market conditions.
lululemon management believed that its design process enhanced the company’s capabilities to develop top quality products and was a competitive strength.
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Sourcing and Manufacturing
Production was the only value chain activity that lululemon did not perform
internally. Lululemon did not own or operate any manufacturing facilities to
produce fabrics or make garments. In 2019, fabrics were sourced from a group of approximately 76 fabric manufacturers, with five fabric manufacturers supplying 59
percent of the total and the largest single fabric manufacturer supplying 32 percent
of the fabric used. During fiscal year 2019, approximately 46 percent of the required fabrics were sourced from suppliers in Taiwan, 14 percent from suppliers
in mainland China, 19 percent from manufacturers in Sri Lanka, and the
remainder from other regions. Other raw materials used in lululemon products, such as content labels, elastics, buttons, clasps, and drawcords, were obtained from
suppliers located predominantly in the Asia Pacific region.
Garments were sourced from approximately 39 contract manufacturers,
five of which produced approximately 56 percent of the company’s products in fiscal 2019, with the largest of these producing about 17 percent of the total.
During fiscal 2019, approximately 33 percent of the company’s products were
produced in Vietnam, 16 percent in Cambodia, 15 percent in Sri Lanka, 11 percent in China (including two percent in Taiwan), and the remainder in other countries.
The company deliberately refrained from entering into long-term contracts with
any of its fabric suppliers or manufacturing sources, preferring instead to transact business on an order-by-order basis and rely on the close working relationships it
had developed with its various suppliers over the years. lululemon maintained
production relationships with several manufacturers in North America that provided the company with the capability to speed select products to market and
respond quickly to changing trends and unexpectedly high buyer demand for
certain products.
lululemon took great care to ensure that its manufacturing suppliers shared
lululemon’s commitment to quality and ethical business conduct. All manufacturers were required to adhere to a vendor code of ethics regarding quality
of manufacturing, working conditions, environmental responsibility, fair wage
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practices, and compliance with child labor laws, among others. lululemon utilized
the services of a leading inspection and verification firm to closely monitor each supplier’s compliance with applicable law, lululemon’s vendor code of ethics, and
other business practices that could reflect badly on lululemon’s choice of suppliers.
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Distribution Facilities
lululemon shipped products to its stores from owned or leased distribution facilities
in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The company owned a 310,000 square-
foot distribution center in Columbus, Ohio and operated a leased 156,000 square- foot distribution center in Vancouver, British Columbia, a leased 250,000 square-
foot distribution facility in Toronto, Ontario, and a leased 150,000 square-foot
facility in Sumner, Washington. All four were modern and cost-efficient. In 2011, the company began operations at a leased 54,000 square-foot distribution center in
Melbourne, Australia, to supply its stores in Australia and New Zealand. Third-
party logistics providers in China and the Netherlands were used to warehouse and distribute finished products from their warehouse locations to supply the
company’s retail stores in China and Europe. Merchandise was typically shipped to
retail stores through third-party delivery services multiple times per week, thus providing stores with a steady flow of new inventory.
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lululemon’s Community-Based Marketing Approach and Brand-Building Strategy
One of lululemon’s differentiating characteristics was its community-based
approach to building brand awareness and customer loyalty. Local fitness
practitioners chosen to be ambassadors introduced their fitness class attendees to the lululemon brand, thereby leading to interest in the brand, store visits, and word-
of-mouth marketing. Each yoga-instructor ambassador was also called upon to
conduct a complimentary yoga class every four to six weeks at the local lululemon store they were affiliated with. In return for helping drive business to lululemon
stores and conducting classes, ambassadors were periodically given bags of free
products, and large portraits of each ambassador wearing lululemon products and engaging in physical activity at a local landmark were prominently displayed on the
walls their local lululemon store as a means of helping ambassadors expand their
clientele.
Every lululemon store had a dedicated community coordinator who developed a
customized plan for organizing, sponsoring, and participating in local athletic, fitness, and philanthropic events. In addition, each store had a community events
bulletin board for posting announcements of upcoming activities, providing fitness
education information and brochures, and promoting the local yoga studios and fitness centers of ambassadors. There was also a chalkboard in each store’s fitting
room area where customers could scribble comments about lululemon products or
their yoga class experiences or their appreciation of the assistance/service provided by certain store personnel; these comments were relayed to lululemon headquarters
every two weeks. Customers could use a lululemon micro website to track their
progress regarding fitness or progress toward life goals.
lululemon made little use of traditional advertising print or television advertisements, preferring instead to rely on its various grassroots, community-
based marketing efforts and the use of social media (like Facebook and Twitter) to
increase brand awareness, reinforce its premium brand image, and broaden the appeal of its products.
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Store Personnel
As part of the company’s commitment to providing customers with an inviting and
educational store environment, lululemon’s store sales associates, who the
company referred to as “educators,” were coached to personally engage and connect with each guest who entered the store. Educators, many of whom had
prior experience as a fitness practitioner or were avid runners or yoga enthusiasts,
received approximately 30 hours of in-house training within the first three months of their employment. Training was focused on (1) teaching educators about leading
a healthy and balanced life, exercising self-responsibility, and setting lifestyle goals,
(2) preparing them to explain the technical and innovative design aspects of all lululemon products, and (3) providing the information needed for educators to
serve as knowledgeable references for customers seeking information on fitness
classes, instructors, and events in the community. New hires that lacked knowledge about the intricacies of yoga were given subsidies to attend yoga classes so they
could understand the activity and better explain the benefits of lululemon’s yoga
apparel.
People who shopped at lululemon stores were called “guests,” and store personnel were expected to “educate” guests about lululemon apparel, not sell to them. To
provide a personalized, welcoming, and relaxed experience, store educators
referred to their guests on a first name basis in the fitting and changing area, allowed them to use store restrooms, and offered them complimentary fresh-filtered
water. Management believed that such a soft-sell, customer-centric environment
encouraged product trial, purchases, and repeat visits.
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Core Values and Culture
Consistent with the company’s mission of “providing people with the components
to live a longer, healthier and more fun life,” lululemon executives sought to
promote and ingrain a set of core values centered on developing the highest-quality products, operating with integrity, leading a healthy balanced life, and instilling in
its employees a sense of self responsibility and the value of goal setting. The
company sought to provide employees with a supportive and goal-oriented work environment; all employees were encouraged to set goals aimed at reaching their
full professional, health, and personal potential. The company offered personal
development workshops and goal-coaching to assist employees in achieving their goals. Many lululemon employees had a written set of professional, health, and
personal goals. All employees had access to a “learning library” of personal
development books that included Steven Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, and Brian Tracy’s The Psychology of
Achievement.
Chip Wilson had been the principal architect of the company’s culture and core
values, and the company’s work climate through 2013 reflected his business and lifestyle philosophy. Wilson had digested much of his philosophy about life in
general and personal development into a set of statements and prescriptions that
he called “the lululemon manifesto.” The manifesto was considered to be a core element of lululemon’s culture. Senior executives believed the company’s work
climate and core values helped it attract passionate and motivated employees who
were driven to succeed and who would support the company’s vision of “elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness”—a phrase coined by Chip Wilson in the
company’s early years. For a number of years, the company’s shopping bags were
emblazoned with a full print of the manifesto, as a means of sharing its culture and beliefs about life in general with customers, the local community, and the public at
large.
In 2018, to celebrate the company’s 20th year in business, lululemon’s Brand
Creative Director Rémi Paringaux headed an effort to create a freshly designed
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manifesto showcasing lululemon’s long-standing brand values across nine themes:
Integrity, Personal Responsibility, Social Impact, Honesty/Authenticity, Overcoming Fear, Greatness, Purpose, Elevating the World (even on hard days),
and Fun + Laughter, Sweat + The Practice of Yoga. Each phrase included in the
Manifesto, both the original devised by Chip Wilson and the revised version, was intentionally designed to inspire, provoke thought, and spark conversation.
Excerpts from the Manifesto are shown in Exhibit 5.
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EXHIBIT 5 Excepts from The lululemon Manifesto, as Revised in 2018
Source: The lululemon expert, “The lululemon Manifesto: The Controversies (!) and also my favorite Manifesto-
printed items,” www.lululemonexpert.com, September 6, 2019, accessed May 26, 2020.
Breathe deeply
Hope is not a strategy
Put away your phone. The real world is not on hold.
Creativity is maximized when you are living in the moment
Your biggest opportunity for growth is when it all hits the fan
Gratitude is contagious
That which matters most should never give way to that which matters least
Reconnect with nature. The better you know it the less you take it for granted
The most important answers will never be found in a search bar
Open your ears, eyes and heart &Open your mind
Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to
Replace the word Try with Will and watch the magic happen
The pursuit of happiness is the source of unhappiness
Before speaking, ask yourself: Is it kind? Is it necessary? Is it true?
You attract love when you love yourself
Treat goals like coconuts. Hit them hard, crack them open, celebrate
Do one thing a day that scares you
Life is full of setbacks; success is determined by how you handle setbacks
This is not your practice life. This is all there is
Stress is related to 99% of all illness
Friends are more important than money
Vulnerability makes a good leader great
