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High-end fitness brand lululemon has been described as developing a " cult-like " following over the years.

But how did it achieve such a massive fanbase?

Today we will take a deep dive into lululemon's marketing strategy by looking at the company's history, website and social media to find out exactly how this company went from a small yoga studio to over 500 stores worldwide in 2021.
In this article we'll be covering:

The History of lululemon

lululemon's Social Media Strategy

lululemon's Website and SEO

Key Learnings and Takeaways

History of lululemon

To understand the lululemon marketing strategy, we should first take a look at its history.

In a previous blog, we covered how BrewDog made some controversia l headlines that looked to be parts of a tactical marketing strategy and helped their brand.

lululemon similarly has made a few controversial headlines, but as they don't have much to do with the marketing strategy, they won't be covered here. (There's a link for any curious folk.)

Known fully as " lululemon Athletica", the brand was founded in Vancouver, Canada in 1998, with the goal of not only being a fitness wear brand but also a community where people could learn and discuss fitness, mindfulness and healthy living.

lululemon's first store opened in 2000 and was a design studio in the daytime and a yoga studio at night, creating a physical community hub for their fans and customers.
Image via lululemon.co.uk
Its first product range was yoga wear for women but over the years it's grown to accommodate running, cycling and general fitness training.

lululemon's founder, Chip Wilson, already had 20 years in the surfing, skateboard and snowboard business, but after trying yoga for the first time he realised there was a gap in the market for luxury yoga gear.

lululemon is known for high-quality fitness gear and set itself up well from the start by asking the yoga instructors at the company's studio to test out the clothes and give feedback.

With stores around the world, lululemon now sits as one of the top luxury fitness brands globally. But how did it get there?
Let's take a look.
lululemon's Social Media Strategy

It's rare for companies not to have social media accounts these days. It's a great way to connect with existing and potential customers in a more human way, depending on how you use it.

It's social media, after all.

lululemon's marketing strategy includes a lot of social media content across many platforms, with the main account and regional offshoots. We'll be focusing on their main accounts in this section of the article.

Instagram

lululemon's biggest audience is on Instagram, with 3.8 million followers. According to Social Blade, it has an average engagement rate of 0.30%, with the average in the industry being 2.56%, so they could certainly improve there.

It is important to note that the larger the account, the lower the engagement rate, so it's unlikely the company could hit the industry average because of their huge following.

That said, competitor Gymshark has 5.5m followers and an engagement rate of 0.77%, so lululemon doesn't really have an excuse.

The content on lululemon's Instagram page covers all bases. They have professionally shot imagery alongside user-generated content and they are making use of all Instagram's features, including the all-important Reels.

Judging by the jumps in engagement on the posts, it's likely lululemon has been putting money behind some posts that have performed well or that are speaking about a new product launch or a campaign.

Going back to the user-generated content, lululemon has given itself a great foundation to work from by encouraging customers to use #thesweatlife in their posts about lululemon. By doing this, customers feel part of a community, the 'Sweat Life' community, and will want to share photos with others in said community.

There are currently over 1.4 million Instagram posts using #thesweatlife, and not all the accounts posting wear lululemon gear, so the hashtag has taken on a life of its own.

Facebook

In 2021 lululemon only posted to its Facebook around once per month. This is probably because every time it posts to Facebook, it gets an influx of comments from angry customers.

Nearly all the comments on Facebook are negative, which is a big change to Instagram where most of the comments are positive, with a few negative, which is expected of any brand.

The comments are mostly disgruntled customers, with a few spam comments in there too. It seems like lululemon has answered some of the comments but not all, and often the spam comments are left without being deleted.

It's not a good look for the company at all.

If potential customers visit the Facebook page to take a look at products or reviews, they're more than likely to come across these negative comments and it could put them off purchasing altogether.

Despite the lack of posts and general negative sentiment in the comments, lululemon actually has 2.7m followers on Facebook but posts only receive around 0.01% engagement, whereas the industry standard is 0.10%. This could well be because the post frequency is too low, once a month just isn't enough to get the posts regularly pushed to fans.

Twitter

lululemon's Twitter seems to be used mostly for motivational quotes. It's nice to see the company using the platform in a different way to the rest of the lululemon social media accounts.

The account has nearly 990,000 followers, and an engagement rate of 0.04%, which is close to the industry average of 0.05%. This could be increased by adding more visual content alongside the motivational quotes, but not too much as the formula the account has now does appear to be working well when it comes to engagement.

Every moment is an opportunity to begin again. See you at the starting line.

- lululemon (@lululemon) December 13, 2021

But...there are negative comments here too. Lots of comments about missing orders, healthcare discounts being taken away and other complaints. There are more positive comments here than on Facebook, but the negative sentiment is still very loud.

TikTok

Lululemon's TikTok account is performing fairly well and it looks like it's making the most of the platform.

The company is repurposing user-generated content and doing a good job of jumping on trends that are related to the brand, and the content feels a lot more playful than the Instagram content. This could be because lululemon is trying to appeal to the younger audience on TikTok - a whole new generation of lululemon customers.

@lululemon Just in time for Halloween... 🙃 #lululemon #halloween2021 #halloweencostumes ♬ Original sound - witch fingers

@lululemon Catch us on the runway. #whattowear #firstdayofschool #lululemon #backtoschool ♬ original sound - daniel willson ‼️

There are still negative comments here, but they are less about issues with orders and more to do with them removing discounts for some healthcare workers, and the community is making their opinion known!

Overall, lululemon has a good presence on social media and creates good content, but it's the complaints that are letting the company down.

Although these complaints are unlikely to be the fault of whoever is managing the company's social media, lululemon needs to ensure that these complaints are being responded to, to show that the company cares about its customers.

Realistically though, if people are taking to social media to complain, they have probably tried other avenues and felt like they haven't gotten anywhere with their complaints, so are taking to social media to complain. This is an issue with the wider company, not the social media accounts themselves.

lululemon's Website and SEO

For this part of the article, we'll be focusing on lululemon's UK website.

Homepage

lululemon's homepage is fairly standard, and surprisingly normal for the time of writing - one week before Christmas and there's no festive cheer in sight- although they have added a 'Gift Ideas' section to their menu.

Here it's important to question the use of space on the "above the fold" section of their site, and if they're making the most of it.

They've opted to go for two menus, one along the top and one down the left side which don't deviate massively from one another. The calls to action, "Shop Women's What's New" and "Shop Men's What's New" (try saying that five times fast) are also just repetitions of the left side menu.

The recommendation here would be to remove the left side menu to add more space for the images, as they sell a physical product and images are important.

It would also be great to see a benefits bar on their site - the clothes are expensive but there's no clear reason from the above the fold section why someone landing on this page should buy from them over a competitor.

It's difficult to find creative CTA's when it comes to eCommerce, but here it probably would be better to put the bestsellers front and centre here as that is a great place for new customers to start, rather than new products.

lululemon also has a newsletter sign up...but for a company priding itself on community and education, the call to action really doesn't reflect these elements at all.

"Be the first to know" seems to point only towards new products and following it up with, "Get lululemon emails direct to your inbox" seems redundant.

If you're signing up to an email list, you'd expect said emails to go directly into your inbox, rather than being sent somewhere else or via carrier pigeon.

lululemon could really push the community and education side of its business here, with a CTA such as "Join our Community" or "Start your health and wellness journey" followed up by "Join our community of like-minded people".

That's far more enticing to someone at the top of the lululemon sales funnel who is still researching their purchase. Using a mailing list to nurture them at this stage is ideal, rather than asking them right away to stay up to date with new products - when they don't even know if they like existing products!

If you're stuck on writing good CTAs, we have just the video for you.

Category and Product Pages

Using the Women's Wear category page as an example, let's take a look at how lululemon set out the category and product pages.

The call to action on this page is "Gifts for Her" which is ideal for this time of year (mid-December).

This is then followed by "Outwear Wear", which also fits with the time of year. Despite not going for much of a " festive" feel on the site, lululemon still optimised its category pages for gift buyers and those looking for warmer workout wear during the winter months.

These sections are then followed by other products, such as leggings, yoga mats and fitness equipment, the normal type of thing you expect to see on a category page.

Despite the community tab at the top though, which is full of educational content, it's surprising that there isn't any of that scattered throughout this page.

You'd expect tips and workouts, such as keeping warm while you workout outside, in which they can include actionable advice and links to their products.

But, there's nothing but links to products on this page, no blogs or other content.

So far on their website, it's been hard to see where they bring the community element into their site, other than the community tab. This may sound like a daft complaint to make as the community tab is right there, but you'd really expect to see more of their community content on other parts of their site, not just in a dedicated section.

Clicking through to the "Gifts for Her" subcategory, you are greeted with four different categories based on the type of fitness you, or the person you're buying a gift for, might be into. This is very helpful, especially for gift-givers who have just been told, " get me a surprise from lululemon". If you don't know where to start, these options help guide you.

There are a lot of good things to say about lululemon's product pages.

Taking a look at this long sleeve top, each colour has a different model wearing it and in most cases, there is a lot of diversity from model to model.

The product images themselves feature a wide range of angles and poses so you can get a good view of the product. They've also added a 'top gift' note in the corner to help out gift-givers during this holiday season.

Most notably though, the model's clothing size and height are listed on the product image. This is hugely helpful to potential shoppers to help them make comparisons to their own body types. Also included is lululemon's True Fit calculator, which helps customers find out what size they are in lululemon's clothing.

What's great about these product pages is that you get nearly all the information you need from the above to fold section. You can easily see the product, reviews, a very short description, colours and the sizes available.

If you have more questions about the product, such as the materials and features, you can scroll down and see more product info.

This section is very neat, and being able to open up the sections rather than being bombarded with information is also a bonus.

The product features are short bullet points - they don't feel the need to over-explain themselves. This is good for the most part, but they could link to pages explaining some of the technology or words further, such as the "Silverescent Technology" or "Sweat-wicking" as new customers may not be familiar with these terms.

As you scroll down you are followed by a sticky menu at the top that once clicked, takes the customer back to the top of the page where to purchase the product. This is a constant reminder to make a purchase as you scroll. It's not too intrusive and is a good way to keep the call to action - purchasing - right in front of the customer.

Looking to improve your own product pages? Start with this video.

Mobile Site

There isn't much of note to say about lululemon's mobile site, other than the above the fold image taking up the full width of the screen, unlike the desktop website where it feels quite small because of the double menu.

When you click through to the "New In" category page, you are greeted with an empty space and a low-resolution image reminding you to place orders by the 19th to get them in time for Christmas.

Considering the double menu and small photos on the desktop website, it would be expected that the site was optimised for mobile with desktop as a bit of an afterthought, but this makes it look like the desktop site is their main priority.

Community

The community tab on the lululemon website is where they house all their interactive content including workouts, info about their ambassadors, events, goal setting, and lululemon's impact statements.

It has content that caters to all sides of its audience, from yogis to runners. There are blogs, videos, training guides and even workout playlists.

lululemon's online studio has a wealth of content based around a variety of workouts and promoting their visitors to use #thesweatlife if they are sharing their workout journey on social media.

They have 47 yoga videos in a YouTube playlist, but nothing new has been added since February 2021. It's a similar story with the rest of their playlists for other workout styles.

They include info about their ambassadors, as well as photos of the ambassadors from each store so customers know exactly who to speak to if they have questions about a specific topic. Each ambassador's store is listed as well as their fitness topic of interest.
There is also an events section, but when you click on each location to see the events in your area, you get sent to a Facebook 404, which is a bit odd.

However, when you go to the goal-setting section and click "Find a goal session near me", you get taken to the general events pages. It's confusing and likely to put off anyone who is trying to get involved with lululemon in person.

For a business that started off with such a focus on community, it seems like that has taken a back seat when it comes to lululemon's website.

Despite this, with the Coronavirus pandemic still ongoing at the time of writing, it's good to see that they have a good range of at-home workout content.

Search Engine Optimisation

Now we've looked at how the website operates on the front end, let's take a look at what's going on in terms of SEO (search engine optimisation) on lululemon's website.

lululemon's Website Traffic

lululemon is estimated by SE Ranking* to be getting over 304,000 visitors to its website each month and paid traffic (PPC campaigns on Google, Facebook and Instagram) is estimated to be costing the company around £183,000.

We can see that the website had a big traffic increase around February 2021, so it's very possible it started running paid ads around this time to hit a wider UK audience.

Taking a look at other big-name fitness wear brands in the UK, we can see that Gymshark is receiving 1.7m monthly visitors to its site, as well as spending over £700,000 on PPC, so lululemon does have a way to go if it wants to compete with Gymshark.

Another competitor, with similarly priced leggings, is Sweaty Betty. It is getting a similar amount of traffic to lululemon - 307,000 visitors but it's estimated to be spending slightly less on PPC at £173,000.

It appears that lululemon is performing about average for its price point, but will need to improve if it wants to compete with the likes of Gymshark.

lululemon's Keyword Optimisation

lululemon is ranking for over 23,000 search terms. The site is in the first position on Google for many branded search terms, which is great to see as it shows lululemon has a strong brand, and specific products connected to that brand that potential customers are searching for.

As expected, searches for " lululemon leggings" are one of its highest volume search terms when it comes to a specific product, with an estimated search volume of 9.9k, but considering the company's yoga roots, other search terms like " lululemon yoga mat" or " lululemon yoga pants " are much lower, at 2.9k searches and 590 searches for these terms respectively.

There is room for lululemon to improve on the traffic it is getting for certain branded search terms, especially if it wants to position itself as more than just a leggings brand.

This could be done via digital PR campaigns focusing on the other products. lululemon does create blog content around fitness and its products, but it certainly seems like the company needs an external push to help boost its brand presence and increase the volume of a wider variety of branded search terms.

Digital PR can be very lucrative for all businesses.

Looking at where lululemon is placing for non-branded search terms, it's in position one for a high number of low traffic search terms. This is a great example of why using SEO to target lower volume keywords can be lucrative - although the individual keyword has a small search volume, if you rank first place for a lot of them, the traffic starts to stack up.

Where lululemon can improve is on its " page two search terms". These are search terms that the company is appearing on page two of Google for, and these are always a great place to start for any company looking to improve their organic search ranking.

We can see in SE Ranking* that lululemon is ranking position 11, so the top of page two of Google, for high volume, unbranded search terms such as " long sleeve yoga top", " racerback top" and " sweatpants men ".

If lululemon optimised its website content for these keywords or created new content which could include these keywords and their variations (it's not exactly easy to put " sweatpants men" into a sentence, so instead you'd go for " sweatpants for men" or " men's sweatpants") they could certainly see a position increase on Google and make it to page one, meaning more traffic for the website as it's rare anyone goes to the second page of Google.

To be real, when was the last time you visited the second page or even scrolled to the bottom of page one?

It's a more effective strategy to try and optimise your " page two content " over the content that's ranking page 100, as moving from page two to page one is likely to be easier than moving from page 100 to page one.

If you're not sure where to start with your own keyword research, give this video a watch.

lululemon's Metadata

Lastly, let's take a look at lululemon's metadata.

The meta title for their homepage is "lululemon UK | Yoga and Activewear | The Official Site". This is great as it covers their offering of yoga and activewear and ties it to their brand.

The inclusion of "The Official Site" probably wouldn't normally be necessary, but it's possible they had imitation websites being set up and wanted to include this to combat that. For the most part, you don't need to include "official site" in your title.

"lululemon UK" could also be moved to the end of the title, so that the keywords, yoga and activewear are right at the front, grabbing the searcher's attention when they are reading the search results, as well as helping the page rank for the correct terms on Google.

They may not know who lululemon is, and might not get as far as reading the full title if they are just quickly scanning the results.

Their homepage meta description is "lululemon makes technical athletic clothes for yoga, running, working out, and most other sweaty pursuits. As always, shipping & returns are free."

It's great to see them include the benefit of free shipping and returns in this description, as it's a great selling point that they may have over competitors. It also instantly takes away an objection before the searcher clicks through to the site - they know right away that if they are not happy with the purchase they can return it easily for free.

They also include keywords in the description such as "yoga", "running" and "working out", which although won't help with SEO as much as the meta title does, will help with getting clicks from customers who are searching for those products.

If you want to perfect your own metadata, check out this video.

Taking a look at the metadata on a product category page, namely the leggings page since that's the most popular product, we can see that they have optimised their meta title here too.

"Leggings | Yoga, Run & Train | lululemon UK"

This time lululemon has made the decision to move the brand name to the end of the title, meaning the keywords are right at the front which will help the page rank better for these words on Google search.

The meta description, "Our women's leggings are designed to make you feel your best, whether you're running, practicing yoga or at the studio. Free shippings & returns."

Again, the benefit of free shipping and returns has been included, although this time they did make a spelling mistake which could be off putting to a new customer who doesn't already associate the company with luxury.

Key Learnings and Takeaways

So what can we take away from lululemon's marketing strategy and add to our own marketing strategies? There was a lot to take in, so here are the key points.

Use Social Media Platforms to Their Full Extent

lululemon uses every part of Instagram - photos, videos, Reels, stories and user-generated content by other Instagram users. The company uses every feature Instagram has to offer, adding huge variety to the content being shared, as well as cultivating a community with a hashtag.

Adapt Your Content

lululemon's content adapts to the platform it is being posted on. Instagram is very visual, whereas Twitter is more text-based so lululemon has played to that. The company has also found a niche on TikTok where more light-hearted content is helping lululemon reach a younger audience.

Deal With Complaints ASAP

Don't let your social media become full of complaints. Where you can, communicate with other teams to try and come to a solution and express how damaging it can be to the company to have social media comments full of negative experiences.

Optimise Your Call to Action

Your call to action is key! Make sure it guides the customer to the next step, as well as making it appealing and concise. Think about the next step you want your website visitors to take and then work from there. Don't be afraid to use heat mapping software or even conduct interviews with your demographic and see what they think of your website. If they struggle to understand the next step they should be taking, or express that the call to action is not appealing enough, then it's time to make changes.

Make Purchasing Easy

The lululemon product pages are a great example of how to help a customer with a purchase. Make it easy for them to find their size, show plenty of photos and use a variety of models in your photography. If your products have specific sizing, a calculator could be a great addition to your product pages. This is another place you can use heat mapping software and feedback sessions to see what people outside of the company think of the pages.

Improve Page Two Content

If you're looking for quick SEO wins, improving page two content is a great strategy. It's much easier to move from page two to page one than it is to try and improve pages ranking on the 100th page of Google. Focus your efforts where you can make a big change. Yes, it would be nice to gain ranking on keywords you're ranking page 100 for, but it's going to take a lot longer than moving from page two to page one.

If you've read all the above and are thinking, "I want the success lululemon has had but I don't know where to start", then we have just the suggestion for you. Why not request one of our website and digital marketing reviews? They're totally free, and there are no strings attached either.

Free Website, SEO, and Marketing Review
*Some links within this article are affiliate links which Exposure Ninja receives a fee for promoting (these links are not sponsored). Exposure Ninja only promotes services we already use within our marketing stack.

Jess is a Digital Marketer here at Exposure Ninja. She splits her time between social, video and blogging with some live streaming and gaming on...

High-end fitness brand lululemon has been described as developing a " cult-like " following over the years.

But how did it achieve such a massive fanbase?

Today we will take a deep dive into lululemon's marketing strategy by looking at the company's history, website and social media to find out exactly how this company went from a small yoga studio to over 500 stores worldwide in 2021.
In this article we'll be covering:

The History of lululemon

lululemon's Social Media Strategy

lululemon's Website and SEO

Key Learnings and Takeaways

History of lululemon

To understand the lululemon marketing strategy, we should first take a look at its history.

In a previous blog, we covered how BrewDog made some controversia l headlines that looked to be parts of a tactical marketing strategy and helped their brand.

lululemon similarly has made a few controversial headlines, but as they don't have much to do with the marketing strategy, they won't be covered here. (There's a link for any curious folk.)

Known fully as " lululemon Athletica", the brand was founded in Vancouver, Canada in 1998, with the goal of not only being a fitness wear brand but also a community where people could learn and discuss fitness, mindfulness and healthy living.

lululemon's first store opened in 2000 and was a design studio in the daytime and a yoga studio at night, creating a physical community hub for their fans and customers.
Image via lululemon.co.uk
Its first product range was yoga wear for women but over the years it's grown to accommodate running, cycling and general fitness training.

lululemon's founder, Chip Wilson, already had 20 years in the surfing, skateboard and snowboard business, but after trying yoga for the first time he realised there was a gap in the market for luxury yoga gear.

lululemon is known for high-quality fitness gear and set itself up well from the start by asking the yoga instructors at the company's studio to test out the clothes and give feedback.

With stores around the world, lululemon now sits as one of the top luxury fitness brands globally. But how did it get there?
Let's take a look.
lululemon's Social Media Strategy

It's rare for companies not to have social media accounts these days. It's a great way to connect with existing and potential customers in a more human way, depending on how you use it.

It's social media, after all.

lululemon's marketing strategy includes a lot of social media content across many platforms, with the main account and regional offshoots. We'll be focusing on their main accounts in this section of the article.

Instagram

lululemon's biggest audience is on Instagram, with 3.8 million followers. According to Social Blade, it has an average engagement rate of 0.30%, with the average in the industry being 2.56%, so they could certainly improve there.

It is important to note that the larger the account, the lower the engagement rate, so it's unlikely the company could hit the industry average because of their huge following.

That said, competitor Gymshark has 5.5m followers and an engagement rate of 0.77%, so lululemon doesn't really have an excuse.

The content on lululemon's Instagram page covers all bases. They have professionally shot imagery alongside user-generated content and they are making use of all Instagram's features, including the all-important Reels.

Judging by the jumps in engagement on the posts, it's likely lululemon has been putting money behind some posts that have performed well or that are speaking about a new product launch or a campaign.

Going back to the user-generated content, lululemon has given itself a great foundation to work from by encouraging customers to use #thesweatlife in their posts about lululemon. By doing this, customers feel part of a community, the 'Sweat Life' community, and will want to share photos with others in said community.

There are currently over 1.4 million Instagram posts using #thesweatlife, and not all the accounts posting wear lululemon gear, so the hashtag has taken on a life of its own.

Facebook

In 2021 lululemon only posted to its Facebook around once per month. This is probably because every time it posts to Facebook, it gets an influx of comments from angry customers.

Nearly all the comments on Facebook are negative, which is a big change to Instagram where most of the comments are positive, with a few negative, which is expected of any brand.

The comments are mostly disgruntled customers, with a few spam comments in there too. It seems like lululemon has answered some of the comments but not all, and often the spam comments are left without being deleted.

It's not a good look for the company at all.

If potential customers visit the Facebook page to take a look at products or reviews, they're more than likely to come across these negative comments and it could put them off purchasing altogether.

Despite the lack of posts and general negative sentiment in the comments, lululemon actually has 2.7m followers on Facebook but posts only receive around 0.01% engagement, whereas the industry standard is 0.10%. This could well be because the post frequency is too low, once a month just isn't enough to get the posts regularly pushed to fans.

Twitter

lululemon's Twitter seems to be used mostly for motivational quotes. It's nice to see the company using the platform in a different way to the rest of the lululemon social media accounts.

The account has nearly 990,000 followers, and an engagement rate of 0.04%, which is close to the industry average of 0.05%. This could be increased by adding more visual content alongside the motivational quotes, but not too much as the formula the account has now does appear to be working well when it comes to engagement.

Every moment is an opportunity to begin again. See you at the starting line.

- lululemon (@lululemon) December 13, 2021

But...there are negative comments here too. Lots of comments about missing orders, healthcare discounts being taken away and other complaints. There are more positive comments here than on Facebook, but the negative sentiment is still very loud.

TikTok

Lululemon's TikTok account is performing fairly well and it looks like it's making the most of the platform.

The company is repurposing user-generated content and doing a good job of jumping on trends that are related to the brand, and the content feels a lot more playful than the Instagram content. This could be because lululemon is trying to appeal to the younger audience on TikTok - a whole new generation of lululemon customers.

@lululemon Just in time for Halloween... 🙃 #lululemon #halloween2021 #halloweencostumes ♬ Original sound - witch fingers

@lululemon Catch us on the runway. #whattowear #firstdayofschool #lululemon #backtoschool ♬ original sound - daniel willson ‼️

There are still negative comments here, but they are less about issues with orders and more to do with them removing discounts for some healthcare workers, and the community is making their opinion known!

Overall, lululemon has a good presence on social media and creates good content, but it's the complaints that are letting the company down.

Although these complaints are unlikely to be the fault of whoever is managing the company's social media, lululemon needs to ensure that these complaints are being responded to, to show that the company cares about its customers.

Realistically though, if people are taking to social media to complain, they have probably tried other avenues and felt like they haven't gotten anywhere with their complaints, so are taking to social media to complain. This is an issue with the wider company, not the social media accounts themselves.

lululemon's Website and SEO

For this part of the article, we'll be focusing on lululemon's UK website.

Homepage

lululemon's homepage is fairly standard, and surprisingly normal for the time of writing - one week before Christmas and there's no festive cheer in sight- although they have added a 'Gift Ideas' section to their menu.

Here it's important to question the use of space on the "above the fold" section of their site, and if they're making the most of it.

They've opted to go for two menus, one along the top and one down the left side which don't deviate massively from one another. The calls to action, "Shop Women's What's New" and "Shop Men's What's New" (try saying that five times fast) are also just repetitions of the left side menu.

The recommendation here would be to remove the left side menu to add more space for the images, as they sell a physical product and images are important.

It would also be great to see a benefits bar on their site - the clothes are expensive but there's no clear reason from the above the fold section why someone landing on this page should buy from them over a competitor.

It's difficult to find creative CTA's when it comes to eCommerce, but here it probably would be better to put the bestsellers front and centre here as that is a great place for new customers to start, rather than new products.

lululemon also has a newsletter sign up...but for a company priding itself on community and education, the call to action really doesn't reflect these elements at all.

"Be the first to know" seems to point only towards new products and following it up with, "Get lululemon emails direct to your inbox" seems redundant.

If you're signing up to an email list, you'd expect said emails to go directly into your inbox, rather than being sent somewhere else or via carrier pigeon.

lululemon could really push the community and education side of its business here, with a CTA such as "Join our Community" or "Start your health and wellness journey" followed up by "Join our community of like-minded people".

That's far more enticing to someone at the top of the lululemon sales funnel who is still researching their purchase. Using a mailing list to nurture them at this stage is ideal, rather than asking them right away to stay up to date with new products - when they don't even know if they like existing products!

If you're stuck on writing good CTAs, we have just the video for you.

Category and Product Pages

Using the Women's Wear category page as an example, let's take a look at how lululemon set out the category and product pages.

The call to action on this page is "Gifts for Her" which is ideal for this time of year (mid-December).

This is then followed by "Outwear Wear", which also fits with the time of year. Despite not going for much of a " festive" feel on the site, lululemon still optimised its category pages for gift buyers and those looking for warmer workout wear during the winter months.

These sections are then followed by other products, such as leggings, yoga mats and fitness equipment, the normal type of thing you expect to see on a category page.

Despite the community tab at the top though, which is full of educational content, it's surprising that there isn't any of that scattered throughout this page.

You'd expect tips and workouts, such as keeping warm while you workout outside, in which they can include actionable advice and links to their products.

But, there's nothing but links to products on this page, no blogs or other content.

So far on their website, it's been hard to see where they bring the community element into their site, other than the community tab. This may sound like a daft complaint to make as the community tab is right there, but you'd really expect to see more of their community content on other parts of their site, not just in a dedicated section.

Clicking through to the "Gifts for Her" subcategory, you are greeted with four different categories based on the type of fitness you, or the person you're buying a gift for, might be into. This is very helpful, especially for gift-givers who have just been told, " get me a surprise from lululemon". If you don't know where to start, these options help guide you.

There are a lot of good things to say about lululemon's product pages.

Taking a look at this long sleeve top, each colour has a different model wearing it and in most cases, there is a lot of diversity from model to model.

The product images themselves feature a wide range of angles and poses so you can get a good view of the product. They've also added a 'top gift' note in the corner to help out gift-givers during this holiday season.

Most notably though, the model's clothing size and height are listed on the product image. This is hugely helpful to potential shoppers to help them make comparisons to their own body types. Also included is lululemon's True Fit calculator, which helps customers find out what size they are in lululemon's clothing.

What's great about these product pages is that you get nearly all the information you need from the above to fold section. You can easily see the product, reviews, a very short description, colours and the sizes available.

If you have more questions about the product, such as the materials and features, you can scroll down and see more product info.

This section is very neat, and being able to open up the sections rather than being bombarded with information is also a bonus.

The product features are short bullet points - they don't feel the need to over-explain themselves. This is good for the most part, but they could link to pages explaining some of the technology or words further, such as the "Silverescent Technology" or "Sweat-wicking" as new customers may not be familiar with these terms.

As you scroll down you are followed by a sticky menu at the top that once clicked, takes the customer back to the top of the page where to purchase the product. This is a constant reminder to make a purchase as you scroll. It's not too intrusive and is a good way to keep the call to action - purchasing - right in front of the customer.

Looking to improve your own product pages? Start with this video.

Mobile Site

There isn't much of note to say about lululemon's mobile site, other than the above the fold image taking up the full width of the screen, unlike the desktop website where it feels quite small because of the double menu.

When you click through to the "New In" category page, you are greeted with an empty space and a low-resolution image reminding you to place orders by the 19th to get them in time for Christmas.

Considering the double menu and small photos on the desktop website, it would be expected that the site was optimised for mobile with desktop as a bit of an afterthought, but this makes it look like the desktop site is their main priority.

Community

The community tab on the lululemon website is where they house all their interactive content including workouts, info about their ambassadors, events, goal setting, and lululemon's impact statements.

It has content that caters to all sides of its audience, from yogis to runners. There are blogs, videos, training guides and even workout playlists.

lululemon's online studio has a wealth of content based around a variety of workouts and promoting their visitors to use #thesweatlife if they are sharing their workout journey on social media.

They have 47 yoga videos in a YouTube playlist, but nothing new has been added since February 2021. It's a similar story with the rest of their playlists for other workout styles.

They include info about their ambassadors, as well as photos of the ambassadors from each store so customers know exactly who to speak to if they have questions about a specific topic. Each ambassador's store is listed as well as their fitness topic of interest.
There is also an events section, but when you click on each location to see the events in your area, you get sent to a Facebook 404, which is a bit odd.

However, when you go to the goal-setting section and click "Find a goal session near me", you get taken to the general events pages. It's confusing and likely to put off anyone who is trying to get involved with lululemon in person.

For a business that started off with such a focus on community, it seems like that has taken a back seat when it comes to lululemon's website.

Despite this, with the Coronavirus pandemic still ongoing at the time of writing, it's good to see that they have a good range of at-home workout content.

Search Engine Optimisation

Now we've looked at how the website operates on the front end, let's take a look at what's going on in terms of SEO (search engine optimisation) on lululemon's website.

lululemon's Website Traffic

lululemon is estimated by SE Ranking* to be getting over 304,000 visitors to its website each month and paid traffic (PPC campaigns on Google, Facebook and Instagram) is estimated to be costing the company around £183,000.

We can see that the website had a big traffic increase around February 2021, so it's very possible it started running paid ads around this time to hit a wider UK audience.

Taking a look at other big-name fitness wear brands in the UK, we can see that Gymshark is receiving 1.7m monthly visitors to its site, as well as spending over £700,000 on PPC, so lululemon does have a way to go if it wants to compete with Gymshark.

Another competitor, with similarly priced leggings, is Sweaty Betty. It is getting a similar amount of traffic to lululemon - 307,000 visitors but it's estimated to be spending slightly less on PPC at £173,000.

It appears that lululemon is performing about average for its price point, but will need to improve if it wants to compete with the likes of Gymshark.

lululemon's Keyword Optimisation

lululemon is ranking for over 23,000 search terms. The site is in the first position on Google for many branded search terms, which is great to see as it shows lululemon has a strong brand, and specific products connected to that brand that potential customers are searching for.

As expected, searches for " lululemon leggings" are one of its highest volume search terms when it comes to a specific product, with an estimated search volume of 9.9k, but considering the company's yoga roots, other search terms like " lululemon yoga mat" or " lululemon yoga pants " are much lower, at 2.9k searches and 590 searches for these terms respectively.

There is room for lululemon to improve on the traffic it is getting for certain branded search terms, especially if it wants to position itself as more than just a leggings brand.

This could be done via digital PR campaigns focusing on the other products. lululemon does create blog content around fitness and its products, but it certainly seems like the company needs an external push to help boost its brand presence and increase the volume of a wider variety of branded search terms.

Digital PR can be very lucrative for all businesses.

Looking at where lululemon is placing for non-branded search terms, it's in position one for a high number of low traffic search terms. This is a great example of why using SEO to target lower volume keywords can be lucrative - although the individual keyword has a small search volume, if you rank first place for a lot of them, the traffic starts to stack up.

Where lululemon can improve is on its " page two search terms". These are search terms that the company is appearing on page two of Google for, and these are always a great place to start for any company looking to improve their organic search ranking.

We can see in SE Ranking* that lululemon is ranking position 11, so the top of page two of Google, for high volume, unbranded search terms such as " long sleeve yoga top", " racerback top" and " sweatpants men ".

If lululemon optimised its website content for these keywords or created new content which could include these keywords and their variations (it's not exactly easy to put " sweatpants men" into a sentence, so instead you'd go for " sweatpants for men" or " men's sweatpants") they could certainly see a position increase on Google and make it to page one, meaning more traffic for the website as it's rare anyone goes to the second page of Google.

To be real, when was the last time you visited the second page or even scrolled to the bottom of page one?

It's a more effective strategy to try and optimise your " page two content " over the content that's ranking page 100, as moving from page two to page one is likely to be easier than moving from page 100 to page one.

If you're not sure where to start with your own keyword research, give this video a watch.

lululemon's Metadata

Lastly, let's take a look at lululemon's metadata.

The meta title for their homepage is "lululemon UK | Yoga and Activewear | The Official Site". This is great as it covers their offering of yoga and activewear and ties it to their brand.

The inclusion of "The Official Site" probably wouldn't normally be necessary, but it's possible they had imitation websites being set up and wanted to include this to combat that. For the most part, you don't need to include "official site" in your title.

"lululemon UK" could also be moved to the end of the title, so that the keywords, yoga and activewear are right at the front, grabbing the searcher's attention when they are reading the search results, as well as helping the page rank for the correct terms on Google.

They may not know who lululemon is, and might not get as far as reading the full title if they are just quickly scanning the results.

Their homepage meta description is "lululemon makes technical athletic clothes for yoga, running, working out, and most other sweaty pursuits. As always, shipping & returns are free."

It's great to see them include the benefit of free shipping and returns in this description, as it's a great selling point that they may have over competitors. It also instantly takes away an objection before the searcher clicks through to the site - they know right away that if they are not happy with the purchase they can return it easily for free.

They also include keywords in the description such as "yoga", "running" and "working out", which although won't help with SEO as much as the meta title does, will help with getting clicks from customers who are searching for those products.

If you want to perfect your own metadata, check out this video.

Taking a look at the metadata on a product category page, namely the leggings page since that's the most popular product, we can see that they have optimised their meta title here too.

"Leggings | Yoga, Run & Train | lululemon UK"

This time lululemon has made the decision to move the brand name to the end of the title, meaning the keywords are right at the front which will help the page rank better for these words on Google search.

The meta description, "Our women's leggings are designed to make you feel your best, whether you're running, practicing yoga or at the studio. Free shippings & returns."

Again, the benefit of free shipping and returns has been included, although this time they did make a spelling mistake which could be off putting to a new customer who doesn't already associate the company with luxury.

Key Learnings and Takeaways

So what can we take away from lululemon's marketing strategy and add to our own marketing strategies? There was a lot to take in, so here are the key points.

Use Social Media Platforms to Their Full Extent

lululemon uses every part of Instagram - photos, videos, Reels, stories and user-generated content by other Instagram users. The company uses every feature Instagram has to offer, adding huge variety to the content being shared, as well as cultivating a community with a hashtag.

Adapt Your Content

lululemon's content adapts to the platform it is being posted on. Instagram is very visual, whereas Twitter is more text-based so lululemon has played to that. The company has also found a niche on TikTok where more light-hearted content is helping lululemon reach a younger audience.

Deal With Complaints ASAP

Don't let your social media become full of complaints. Where you can, communicate with other teams to try and come to a solution and express how damaging it can be to the company to have social media comments full of negative experiences.

Optimise Your Call to Action

Your call to action is key! Make sure it guides the customer to the next step, as well as making it appealing and concise. Think about the next step you want your website visitors to take and then work from there. Don't be afraid to use heat mapping software or even conduct interviews with your demographic and see what they think of your website. If they struggle to understand the next step they should be taking, or express that the call to action is not appealing enough, then it's time to make changes.

Make Purchasing Easy

The lululemon product pages are a great example of how to help a customer with a purchase. Make it easy for them to find their size, show plenty of photos and use a variety of models in your photography. If your products have specific sizing, a calculator could be a great addition to your product pages. This is another place you can use heat mapping software and feedback sessions to see what people outside of the company think of the pages.

Improve Page Two Content

If you're looking for quick SEO wins, improving page two content is a great strategy. It's much easier to move from page two to page one than it is to try and improve pages ranking on the 100th page of Google. Focus your efforts where you can make a big change. Yes, it would be nice to gain ranking on keywords you're ranking page 100 for, but it's going to take a lot longer than moving from page two to page one.

If you've read all the above and are thinking, "I want the success lululemon has had but I don't know where to start", then we have just the suggestion for you. Why not request one of our website and digital marketing reviews? They're totally free, and there are no strings attached either.

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Jess is a Digital Marketer here at Exposure Ninja. She splits her time between social, video and blogging with some live streaming and gaming on...

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High-end fitness brand lululemon has been described as developing a " cult-like " following over the years. But how did it achieve such a massive fanbase? Today we will take a deep dive into lululemon's marketing strategy by looking at the company's history, website and social media to find out exactly how this company went from a small yoga studio to over 500 stores worldwide in 2021.

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&#151; -- Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, who is stepping down from the yoga clothier's board, is no stranger to eyebrow-raising statements.

He said today he is resigning from the board of the firm he founded in 1998 to help his wife, former lead designer at Lululemon, and son with their clothing company, which uses luxury "technical cashmere" material. The company, based in Vancouver, Canada, has more than 250 stores.

"By stepping away from lululemon I will now have more opportunity to work with my wife and son as they grow their new business, Kit & Ace," Wilson said in a statement. "I am so excited for Kit & Ace because it is where street clothing is going. Shannon and JJ have caught the next wave."

In January 2012, Wilson left his position as Chief Innovation and Branding Officer at Lululemon and began a sabbatical in Australia where he was away from day-to-day management. In 2013, he was asked by Lululemon's board to return to help handle a crisis that occurred while he was away and position the company towards longer-term corporate objectives.

"Chip took a small yoga company from Vancouver, and inspired a team of people to dream big," Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin said in a statement. "This vision and entrepreneurial spirit is woven through all that we do at lululemon, and we are entirely focused on the journey that lies ahead. With strong leaders in place, and a passionate dedicated team, we remain committed to inspiring our guests in their sweaty pursuits and bringing the best of lululemon to communities around the globe."

Lululemon Athletica's stock closed down about 1 percent today to $65.52 a share. Over the past year, its stock increased more than 40 percent. In December, the company reported $419.4 million in revenue in its third quarter, up about 10 percent from a year ago, and $60.5 million in net income, down 8 percent from a year ago.
1. Sheerness
In an interview on Nov. 5, 2013, Wilson attributed the "sheerness" of Lululemon's yoga pants to women buying too-small pants or their thighs rubbing together.

"Frankly, some women's bodies just don't actually work [for the yoga pants]," Chip Wilson said on Bloomberg TV's "Street Smart" program. "It's more really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it."
2. Awkward Apology
After the comments about sheerness, in a 50-second apology video posted on YouTube and Lululemon's Facebook page, Wilson apologized, not to the customers he may have offended, but to his own employees.

"I'm sad for the people at Lululemon who I care so much about that have really had to face the brunt of my actions," Wilson said. "I take responsibility for all that has occurred and the impact it has had on you. I'm sorry to have put you all through this."
3. Japanese Pronunciation
When Wilson was CEO, he made comments in 2005 saying that it was funny that Japanese people couldn't pronounce the "L" in Lululemon.

"It's funny to watch them try and say it," he told Canada's National Post Business Magazine when asked about the Japanese pronunciation of his company's name.

Wilson denies saying it, according to the New York Times.
4. Rise of Divorce
In a blog post in 2009 titled "How Lululemon came into being," Wilson wrote, "The pill immediately transformed the sex lives of anyone under the age of 40, particularly teenagers."

"Women's lives changed immediately. Men's lives didn't change however and they continued to search for a stay-at-home wife like their mothers. Men did not know how to relate to the new female. Thus came the era of divorces," Wilson wrote.
5. Breast Cancer and the Pill
In the same blog post in 2009, Wilson described what he believed was a link between breast cancer and birth control.

"Breast cancer also came into prominence in the 1990's. I suggest this was due to the number of cigarette-smoking Power Women who were on the pill (initial concentrations of hormones in the pill were very high) and taking on the stress previously left to men in the working world," Wilson wrote.

"Ultimately, Lululemon was formed because female education levels, breast cancer, yoga/athletics and the desire to dress feminine came together all at one time," he wrote. "Lululemon saw the opportunity to make the best technologically advanced components for the Super Girl market."

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Lululemon Founder Chip Wilson's Most Outrageous Quotes

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151; -- Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, who is stepping down from the yoga clothier's board, is no stranger to eyebrow-raising statements. He said today he is resigning from the board of the firm he founded in 1998 to help his wife, former lead designer at Lululemon, and son with their clothing company, which uses luxury "technical cashmere" material.

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lululemon athletica worldwide

Since they were founded in 1998, lululemon has successfully expanded throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. As of January 2022, the United States held more than half of the enterprise's international stores. At just over 60, Canada used to account for the second-highest number of locations, however, the country has recently been taken over by China, which held nearly 90 stores. The number of lululemon retail stores worldwide came to a total of more than 570 that year.

Over the years, lululemon's e-commerce segment had grown exponentially. 2020 marked the first time the company had generated more of its net revenue through its direct-to-consumer channel than with its corporate-owned stores. DTC sales made up just over half of the total, while the company's physical stores generated less than 40 percent of the revenue. While the coronavirus pandemic may have had a positive impact on lululemon's online sales that year, the spike was not simply a fad, as the DTC segment remained just as lucrative as the physical store segment in 2021.

lululemon's global revenue has been growing steadily with each consecutive year since 2008 and reached approximately 6.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, which is a jump of nearly two billion compared to the previous year. Some 70 percent of these sales were generated in the headquarters' neighboring country of the United States alone. Only about 15 percent of the company's sales were made outside of North America. This distribution of net revenue also reflects lululemon's global workforce: of the roughly 29,000 people employed by lululemon athletica, an estimated 60 percent were based in the United States. And similar to the customer base, the majority of the company's workforce was made up of women.

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Since they were founded in 1998, lululemon has successfully expanded throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. As of January 2022, the United States held more than half of the enterprise's international stores. At just over 60, Canada used to account for the second-highest number of locations, however, the country has recently been taken over by China, which held nearly 90 stores.

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On Monday December 23, 1985, in the small city of Sparks, Nevada, Raymond Belknap and James Vance had spent most of the day drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and listening to heavy metal records.

Among the albums that Belknap and Vance are believed to have listened to that day was Stained Class, the fourth album by seminal British metal band Judas Priest. As the sun slowly set across the small desert city just outside Reno, Belknap and Vance, who were 18 and 20 at the time, decided to visit a nearby playground.

It was at that playground that the two young men shot themselves with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Belknap went first. After successfully killing himself with a single gunshot wound to the head, Vance took the shotgun from his friend's hands and attempted to end his own life. Unlike his friend, Vance did not die immediately, instead sustaining serious facial injuries that left him disfigured. Vance died of complications stemming from the failed suicide attempt three years later.

Belknap and Vance's families sued Judas Priest's label, CBS Records, for $6.2 million (approximately $14.2 million in 2017). They argued in court that the pair had been driven to commit suicide by auditory signals concealed in Judas Priest's cover of the Spooky Tooth song, "Better By You, Better Than Me." The plaintiffs claimed that the song contained a subliminal message - "Do it" - urging listeners to take their own lives.

The suit was eventually thrown out, but not before putting the perceived dangers of subliminal messaging front-and-center in the minds of concerned parents across the country. Other performers, including Ozzy Osbourne and 2 Live Crew, would also find themselves defending their music in court on similar charges before the hysteria gradually faded from the public's mind.

It isn't just rock stars who allegedly dabble in what the judge presiding over Belknap/Vance vs. Judas Priest called "subliminals" and what the media called "backward masking" for years. Many advertising campaigns have leveraged this controversial practice to make their ads and branding even more persuasive. In this post, we'll take a look at seven such cases of subliminal advertising.

First, though, let's take a moment to explain what subliminal messages actually are.

What Is Subliminal Advertising?

Subliminal messages are visual or auditory stimuli that the conscious mind cannot perceive, often inserted into other media such as TV commercials or songs. This kind of messaging can be used to strengthen or heighten the persuasiveness of advertisements, or to convey an altogether different message entirely.

True subliminal messages cannot be observed or discovered by the conscious mind, even if you're actively looking for them. This is because stimuli to which we respond every day - the things we see and hear around us - are above the threshold of conscious perception, unlike subliminal messages, which are below this threshold.

What makes subliminal messaging so insidious is that even though we're utterly unaware of the message hidden in whatever we're watching or listening to, part of our subconscious mind cannot help but respond to this concealed stimuli - it happens entirely without our knowledge or consent.

How Are Subliminal Messages Used in Advertising?

Although the term "subliminal" has been widely used for many years, it wasn't until 1957 that the practice became known beyond scientific and academic circles, when Vance Packard's book, The Hidden Persuaders, brought the concept of subliminal messages to the mainstream.

The book detailed the results of a study conducted in the 1950s that claimed Coca-Cola had used subliminal advertising in movie theaters to drive sales of sodas and popcorn at concession stands. The study claimed that by splicing single frames of visual messages like "Buy Coca-Cola" and "Buy popcorn" into movie reels, sales of those products had increased by 57% and 18%, respectively.

Unfortunately for Packard, the study was completely bogus. It had been fabricated in its entirety, as its disgraced author James Vicary admitted years after its publication, in an attempt to part advertisers from their money.

Despite the shaky factual foundation of The Hidden Persuaders, the book popularized the concept of subliminal messaging and its potential uses. Coca-Cola might not have been engaged in a campaign of psychological manipulation aimed at America's moviegoers (in that specific instance), but this particular application of subliminal messaging - leveraging the power of the subconscious mind to increase sales - is among subliminal advertising's primary functions.

Subliminal messaging has also reportedly been used to further certain political agendas. During the bitter fight for the U.S. presidency between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000, Gore accused Republican campaign managers of including a subliminal message in an attack ad focusing on Gore's proposed healthcare policies.

Gore alleged that, in the video, the word "RATS" appears onscreen for a fraction of a second before the ad shows a visual featuring the word "Bureaucrats." Personally, I think it's impossible to miss, especially if you're looking for it:

Today, the use of subliminal messaging is banned in many countries. Unsurprisingly, the United States does not expressly forbid the use of subliminal messages in advertisements, though their use does fall under federal law enforcement jurisdiction.

Now let's see some examples of subliminal advertising in action.

1. Playing Games with Husker Du

Husker Du (the board game from which the rock band takes its name) was released in the early 1970s and marketed as a family game by its maker, Premium Corporation of America. The company paid for a series of TV ads for the game to be created, which featured single frames that read, "Get it."

An executive for Premium Corp. later admitted responsibility for the inclusion of the frames, which the FCC investigated following viewer complaints.

The incident prompted the FCC to declare that subliminal messaging in TV ads was "contrary to the public interest" and forbade the practice.

The board game might be a forgotten relic of a bygone age, but the incident is believed to be the first example of subliminal messages being utilized in TV ads, securing it a strange yet unique place in advertising history.

2. Marlboro's Subliminal Barcode

Despite attempts to curb cigarette advertising around the world, Marlboro remains one of the best-known American brands. We may not see the famous "Marlboro Man" on TV anymore - tourism to Flavor Country has declined sharply in the past 20 years - but Marlboro is still among the world's best-known cigarette brands, a coveted position Marlboro sought to retain through the use of subliminal ads.

In the late '90s and early 2000s, many professional sporting organizations and regulatory bodies expressed concern about the prevalence of cigarette advertising in Formula 1 racing. Until that point, virtually all of the world's top drivers raced in cars emblazoned with cigarette brand logos, but the sudden ban on cigarette company sponsorship in Europe precipitated an exodus of cigarette brands leaving the sport.

To circumvent this inconvenient restriction, the marketing team at Marlboro came up with a dastardly ingenious idea; they would use subliminal visual messaging to convey the Marlboro brand without using the typographical logo of the company itself.

Marlboro accomplished this by using a barcode-style design that, at the high speeds at which F1 cars travel around the track, was almost as recognizable as the logo itself.

While clever, Marlboro's attempts to get around the advertising ban were short-lived. The European Public Health Commission applied considerable pressure to European lawmakers, who ruled that the design was indeed too close to the banned Marlboro design.

Hilariously, Marlboro told The Wall Street Journal in 2010 that, "The barcode was never intended to be anything other than a neutral design, one that was not linked to the sale of tobacco products. It was never intended to be a reference to the Marlboro brand in any way."

3. Seriously Suggestive Ads
Warning: The three following ad examples all feature strongly suggestive content that should be considered NSFW. The worst offending ads themselves are not shown, but readers may still want to exercise caution.
Benson & Hedges

Marlboro may have raised a few eyebrows with its supposedly neutral barcode design, but this was far from the first time that a cigarette company used subliminal visual clues to sell smokes.

In the late 1970s, British tobacco brand Benson & Hedges launched an advertising campaign in the United States. The campaign's primary goal was to raise awareness of the brand's new cigarette packaging; B&H was among the first tobacco brands to adopt cigarette packs that used hard card, rather than the thin paper packaging that cigarette manufacturers favored at that time.

Here's the ad as it appeared in print:

I'd call this one truly subliminal; it's hard to see the "hidden message" until it's highlighted. If you want to see a side-by-side comparison of the ad, complete with hidden visuals highlighted, you can see it here. (You were warned!)

The ad doesn't leave much to the imagination once you've noticed it.

Gilbey's Gin

Although British distillery Gilbey's lacks the name recognition of other brands of gin such as Beefeater and Gordon's, Gilbey's gin has been helping people temporarily forget their problems since 1857. Gilbey's itself may not be the most famous distillery in the world, but Gilbey's signature gin certainly left an impression on people back in the late '70s when it launched a controversial ad campaign.

Like many of our examples, Gilbey's chose to experiment with subliminal advertising in an attempt to sell more bottles of gin. And, like many of our examples, it's surprisingly easy to spot - once it's been pointed out to you, of course.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola was also accused of similarly risqué ads in the mid-1980s, when a member of the public spotted what appeared to be a strongly suggestive image when they saw it on the back of a truck.

To avoid offending any of our readers, we've decided against including the ad in this post. If you want to see it for yourself, you can see it here.

Legend has it that the artist responsible for the artwork included the visual as a joke, and that Coca-Cola was unaware of it until the initial complaint. The incident prompted Coca-Cola to fire the artist and instigate legal proceedings against him. It also forced Coca-Cola to recall millions of items of collateral and promotional material.

Today, examples of this particular ad are highly sought-after by collectors of rare vintage advertising memorabilia.

4. Food Network's Fast-Food Fracas

In 2007, during the broadcast of an episode of Food Network's enormously popular cooking show, Iron Chef America, the image of the McDonald's logo was flashed on-screen for a fraction of a second - short enough to slip by most viewers unnoticed, but long enough for more than a few eagle-eyed cooking fans to notice.

Both the Food Network and McDonald's denied the accusation that they had colluded on a secretive subliminal ad campaign. Food Network spokesperson Mark O'Connor said that, "It was a technical error on our part and not a subliminal message as suggested by a website running the slow-motion playback."

McDonald's was even more blunt in its dismissal of the allegations, merely stating "We don't do subliminal advertising."

5. Wendy's Family Values

Speaking of major fast-food franchises, our next example comes courtesy of Wendy's.

When Wendy's redesigned its classic, yet somewhat disturbing logo a few years ago, people immediately noticed a rather subtle detail - the apparent inclusion of the word "Mom" in the logo. As with Amazon's A-to-Z or the FedEx arrow, it's impossible to miss once it's been pointed out to you:

This example of subliminal messaging is a little different than our previous examples. It doesn't use an existing slogan or strapline in the message. Rather, it attempts to leverage word association to create a favorable mental image in the mind of the observer.

However, just because this particular example isn't pushing the hard sell doesn't make it any less creepy. Let's face it - you couldn't get much further away from delicious, home-cooked family meals or meaningful family relationships than a nationwide burger joint.

6. KFC's 12th Secret Ingredient

Since we're on the topic of creepy, overly familiar fast-food mascots, our final example of subliminal advertising comes from The Colonel, or rather, his restaurant franchise, KFC.

In 2008, a keen-eyed TV viewer caught something in a visual of KFC's then-new Snacker sandwich:

Yes, that's a dollar bill hidden in the lettuce.

This example proved particularly controversial at the time. For one, there's the fact that the guy who claimed to be the first to notice the bill concealed amid the sandwich's garnish is believed to have actually fabricated the entire incident to create business for his market research company - American entrepreneurship at its finest. Then there's the fact that this wasn't the first time KFC had experimented with this kind of promotion, having ran a similar campaign two years previously in 2006 for its Buffalo Snacker sandwich.

It's unclear whether KFC has resorted to such trickery in the decade since its first foray into subliminal messaging, but since the effectiveness of subliminal advertising has called into question repeatedly, it's also unclear whether it would be worth it.

KFC certainly has a sense of humor when it comes to its branding. Allen recently drew the attention of the WordStream content team to KFC's Twitter profile - specifically, the accounts KFC is following.

KFC is following just 11 accounts: all five former members of British '90s pop sensation, the Spice Girls, and six guys named Herb.

Get it? 11 Herbs and spices?

What other examples of subliminal messaging have you come across? Do you think this kind of messaging can work?

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6 Examples of Subliminal Advertising, from Spooky to NSFW

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On Monday December 23, 1985, in the small city of Sparks, Nevada, Raymond Belknap and James Vance had spent most of the day drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and listening to heavy metal records. Among the albums that Belknap and Vance are believed to have listened to that day was Stained Class, the fourth album by seminal British metal band Judas Priest.

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Lululemon is a high-end activewear chain that offers yoga-inspired athletic apparel for most sweaty pursuits. While the brand claims to be dedicated to sustainable practice, does Lululemon really put its best foot forward for people, planet and animals? Or is it a s-t-r-e-t-c-h to call it ethical? Read on to find out what its impact is really like.

Environmental Impact

While Lululemon is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and claims sustainability as one of its core principles, its environmental impact is simply 'not good enough'.

Lululemon only uses a low proportion of eco-friendly materials. While it has set an absolute target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated from its owned operations by 100% by 2021, it is unclear whether it has set a supply chain target. There is no evidence it has taken meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals, nor does it have adequate policies or initiatives on water reduction.

On the sustainability section of its website, Lululemon talks about ways to improve environmental impact. Although this is positive, in reality, it doesn't reflect any meaningful action. For a global brand such as Lululemon, there really is no excuse not to do its part for the environment.

Labour Conditions

When it comes to workers, Lululemon falls short again, with a 'not good enough' rating. It has a Code of Conduct that covers all of the ILO Four Fundamental Freedoms principles and traces some of its supply chain, but the good news ends there.

There is no evidence the brand has any worker empowerment initiatives such as collective bargaining or rights to make a complaint, and it has made little to no progress toward payment of a living wage. To top it all off, it sources its final stage of production from countries with extreme risk of labour abuse!

Animal Welfare

Lululemon once again gets a 'not good enough' rating for our animal friends. While it does not use fur, angora, or exotic animal skin, there is no evidence it has an animal welfare policy. It uses down feathers accredited by the Responsible Down Standard, which is a plus, but it also uses leather, wool, and exotic animal hair without stating sources, so we can't be sure how the animals are treated.

Overall Rating: Not Good Enough

Based on information from our own research, we've given Lululemon an overall rating of 'not good enough'. When it comes to labour, we're glad to see some level of transparency in the supply chain, but it still falls short. If the brand's employees aren't being paid a living wage, it's simply not good enough to be considered truly ethical conduct. On the environment and animal front, we'd like to see less talk and more action!

Luckily there are numerous ethical activewear brands that have our full support which you can see below!

Good Swaps

Ethical alternatives to Lululemon

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Lululemon is a high-end activewear chain that offers yoga-inspired athletic apparel for most sweaty pursuits. While the brand claims to be dedicated to sustainable practice, does Lululemon really put its best foot forward for people, planet and animals? Or is it a s-t-r-e-t-c-h to call it ethical?

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The Lululemon store in Regent St, London. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Lululemon, an athleisure brand whose £88 leggings are worn by celebrities and Instagram influencers, are sourcing clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they are beaten and physically assaulted.

The Canadian brand recently launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to reduce stress levels and promote the mental health of aid workers.

Yet young female workers at a factory in Bangladesh making clothing for the label gave detailed accounts of how they struggled to survive on meagre wages and faced physical violence and regular humiliation at the hands of their managers, who called them "whores" and "sluts". The factory is owned and run by the Youngone Corporation, which supplies Lululemon.

Workers allege that:

Some labourers are paid 9,100 taka a month (£85) - less than the price of one pair of their leggings, which sell for as much as £138.50. The sum is well below the 16,000 taka unions have been demanding and falls far short of living wage estimates

They are forced to work overtime to hit targets, saying they sometimes felt immense pressure not to leave their work stations

Lululemon said it has a strict code of practice, and does not tolerate any violations of this. The company said it would immediately launch an investigation. "There are currently no orders planned for this factory, and we will take appropriate action based upon the findings of our investigation," a spokesperson said.

A UN Foundation spokesperson said: "We believe all workers should be treated fairly and welcome Lululemon's investigation."

One worker at the factory claimed she was slapped for leaving work early, after feeling unwell. "I was sick, so one day I left work at 5pm but I informed the line supervisor. He told his bosses I left without telling anyone and the next day, when I went to work, the technician in charge of my line slapped me," she said.

She added: "He slapped me so hard my cheeks turned red and everyone asked me what happened. I couldn't tell them the actual story. I just told them I had allergies." The worker claimed she did not complain as she felt no one would care. She added that female workers were also called "prostitutes".

"During last Ramadan, they created a new line and recruited new female workers. One day, a technician hit a label operator so hard on her chest. We could see she was in pain the whole day ... She was lying in the back of the line for hours but our bosses did nothing about her."

Lululemon launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation (UNF) on 8 October, saying that for the last three years the leggings company and the UNF have been working together to develop a curriculum of evidence-based mindfulness, yoga and self-care training, and have conducted pilot testing to more than 500 aid workers in eight countries to date, including the United States.

The company has upped its sales and profit outlook and is now forecasting that it will haul in $3.8bn (£3.02bn) to $3.84bn in sales in 2019. Lululemon, which was started in 1998 by Canadian billionaire businessman Chip Wilson, as a purveyor of yoga pants, has been expanding and introducing new product lines.

But the clothes it produces are purchased from a range of developing countries where labour is cheaper, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Vietnam, among other parts of the world.

The company's website says: "We don't own our manufacturing facilities so we take great care selecting our manufacturing partners. Our approach is to build relationships with factories that are aligned with our values and meet our sourcing expectations."

It notes: "Our Vendor Code of Ethics applies to all countries where our products are manufactured, including Bangladesh, and ensures that our partners follow a single set of policies, regardless of legal and cultural differences."

Lululemon was criticised in 2013 for taking months to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord, after the factory disaster in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,130 people. A petition was launched for them to stand by their commitment to sustainability and ethics.

The Guardian spoke to one male worker at the factory, who claimed he had witnessed female workers being called "whore", "prostitute" and "slut".

He further alleged: "They treat men badly too. Sometimes they beat male workers too. I never got beaten myself but I have seen other people get beaten up."
#MeToo Bangladesh: the textile workers uniting against harassment
Workers also raised concerns about not being able to leave when they are sick, with one girl who had jaundice reportedly granted time off by the medical team at the factory but told by her production manager she had to keep working.

They claimed that they are sometimes understaffed, putting immense pressure on workers who needed to meet targets. "So workers have to work more. They can't eat food or take rest properly which is very bad," a labourer said.

Tuomo Poutiainen, country director for ILO Bangladesh: "Any type of violence and harassment at work is unacceptable ... There is a need in the garment industry in Bangladesh to continue to raise awareness on sexual harassment in the workplace and establish active measures to address it."

Anna Bryher, advocacy director for the campaign group Labour Behind the Label, said: "Women at the bottom of supply chains bear the brunt of fashion's unrelenting push to be fast and cheap ... It's obscene."

She added: "As outrageous as this story is, this isn't a one-off. Women making our clothes in Bangladesh are routinely and systematically abused and harassed."
Exploitation in focus
Bryher said that a recent survey found 80% of Bangladeshi workers making clothes from international companies said they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace.

A Lululemon company spokesperson said: "A responsible supply chain starts with us and we are committed to upholding ethical sourcing practices globally. Our Vendor Code of Ethics consists of best in class industry standards. We require that all vendors share our values and uphold a consistent set of policies that live up to our Code. We do not tolerate any violation of this Code. Upon learning of the reports about a facility in Bangladesh, we immediately launched an investigation. There are currently no orders planned for this factory, and we will take appropriate action based upon the findings of our investigation."

Youngone Corporation said it is fully committed to providing a working environment in all its facilities that is safe, fair and just. It said employees are encouraged to share their opinion or launch a complaint through many different channels. The company said that when grievances have been found they have been addressed and led to disciplinary proceedings. An internal review has been launched.

* This article was amended on 16 October to clarify that Lululemon's partnership is with the UN Foundation, not the UN, as a previous version stated.

Exclusive: Upmarket brand that recently launched partnership with UN Foundation opens investigation as women in Bangladesh factory say they suffer regular abuse

An employee serves a customer at the Lululemon store in London. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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Workers making £88 Lululemon leggings claim they are beaten

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Lululemon, an athleisure brand whose £88 leggings are worn by celebrities and Instagram influencers, are sourcing clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they are beaten and physically assaulted. The Canadian brand recently launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to reduce stress levels and promote the mental health of aid workers.

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33 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2022

Date Written: January 12, 2022

Abstract

Social movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, powered by social media, have given rise to heightened corporate activism on social issues. It has also drawn attention to the importance of addressing diversity issues for the workforce rather than simply at the board or even management level. This article argues that although the focus on such social issues is desirable and indeed necessary, myopic responses to social media pressures can be counter-productive. Instead, it proposes that corporate decisions and actions should be geared towards addressing issues that help the companies' stakeholders in the long term. Further, it argues that long-term policies that improve corporate culture will ultimately bear results because employees cannot be won over by mere virtue-signalling or short-term policies. Besides, both negative and positive information about firm culture will ultimately make its way out, especially through employee output either on social media or on anonymous forums like Glassdoor surveys, thus affecting corporate reputation. Apart from proposing measures that companies might adopt to address issues of harassment and discrimination, this article also advocates the use of flexible work options and argues that Covid-19 lockdowns might have already shown that "working from home" is indeed possible.

The article contributes to the nascent strand of literature on the impact of social movements that use social media on corporate governance by flagging the issue of corporate short-termism on social justice issues as a concern. It also contributes to the literature on diversity in corporations by identifying solutions that will bring sustained improvement to diversity in the entire workforce (as against just the board of directors, which has been the subject of recent laws and shareholder activism ).

Keywords: MeToo, BlackLivesMatter, social movements, diversity, short-termism

Kamalnath, Akshaya, Social Movements, Diversity, and Corporate Short-Termism (January 12, 2022). Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, 2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4007404

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Social Movements, Diversity, and Corporate Short-Termism

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Social movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, powered by social media, have given rise to heightened corporate activism on social issues. It has also draw

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How sustainable is Lululemon?

Bluesign System Partner

Fair Labor Association

Science Based Targets Initiative

Lululemon is a Canadian athletic apparel brand that offers technical solutions for yoga, running, fitness and more. The company doesn't publish a sustainability report and its website offers only little insight into its operations and its performance regarding our pillars. Lululemon is relatively transparent about its supply chain and publishes a list of finished goods suppliers. But in terms of material sourcing, there's not enough information about what materials the company uses and where it originates. Without transparency on this topic, there is a risk that animals are being harmed for the manufacturing of its products, but it also leaves us without information about the environmental performance of its sourcing policy. The same goes for Lululemon's carbon footprint. Even though the Canadian brand states that it reports yearly emissions with the Carbon Disclosure Project, the CDP website states that Lululemon has declined to participate in the previous few years. If you look closely enough, there's some climate action though. The company has joined RE100 and has a target for 100% renewable energy in 2021 for its owned and operated facilities. It has also set a Science Based 60% reduction target for its entire supply chain by 2030, which is very ambitious. It's not that the ambition is not there, there is just a lack of transparency in its reporting at the moment. Workers' rights remain a complicated and closed topic in our research for which we largely have to rely on the information the company provides itself. A proper Code of Conduct that covers decent workers' rights is the first step a company usually takes and Lululemon has this in place. But then the question is: how do these codes and standards translate to the real world? Lululemon conducts a large amount of audits itself, but is also a member of the Fair Labor Association, which conducts some independent audits. The Canadian brand produces in many high-risk countries and it appears that a Code of Conduct and a Fair Labor Association membership are no guarantees for the upholding of workers' rights in its supply chain. In a 2019 Guardian investigation, the newspaper found workers' rights were being violated in factories where Lululemon manufactured. The journalists found that workers' monthly wages were less than the price of one pair of its leggings, which is obviously lower than a living wage. The Bangladeshi workers said that they were being abused in the workplace and forced to work overtime.

Publication date: May 18th 2020

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Bluesign System Partner Fair Labor Association Science Based Targets Initiative Lululemon is a Canadian athletic apparel brand that offers technical solutions for yoga, running, fitness and more. The company doesn't publish a sustainability report and its website offers only little insight into its operations and its performance regarding our pillars.

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Nicky J Sims/Getty Images

In a now (smartly) deleted letter, Wilson shared that he named the brand Lululemon because it had three L's, which were difficult for Japanese people to say, and he thought it was funny. In a later interview, Wilson continued sharing his take on Japanese culture and his brand name, "I was playing with Ls and I came up with Lululemon. It's funny to watch them try to say it," (via Financial Post). Um, slightly rude, disrespectful, and insulting? That would be putting things mildly!

The extent of Wilson's off-putting behavior reaches far beyond naming his yoga empire, and ultimately caused him to part ways with the brand. Indeed, in 2015 Wilson left the company, following his resignation as chairman of the board the year before, and his departure as chief branding and innovation officer three years prior. Still, Lululemon's name hasn't changed since Wilson left, and continues to be a mega-selling brand in the yogasphere.

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The Bizarre Reason Lululemon Got Its Name

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Unfortunately critiquing women's body shape is only the beginning of Wilson's bizarre, and at times creepy and offensive behavior. Just take the misguided (and downright offensive) reason for the brand's name: because it had three L's, which were difficult for Japanese people to say.

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Secrets Lululemon Doesn't Want You To Know

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Jan 27, 2017 - Because of Lululemon's sordid history, the brand can be quite polarizing. Here are secrets the brand doesn't want you to know or wishes you would forget.

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This story is part of a group of stories called

Chip Wilson, the founder and former CEO of the yoga apparel brand Lululemon, has written a tell-all book about his life and the business he built - and it is one wild read.

Little Black Stretchy Pants, which comes out on November 27, is being marketed as "the unauthorized story of Lululemon" - fitting given that the famously controversial Wilson stepped down as chairman of the board in 2013, and hasn't been on the company's board since 2015. (Lululemon has also distanced itself from its rogue founder; Wilson's name isn't even on its " our story " page, and Lululemon declined to comment about the book to Vox.)

Wilson's Lululemon kick-started the athleisure market boom. Its $100 "Wunder Under" spandex leggings became ubiquitous in the fitness world, and the company convinced wealthy women they needed its luxury gear for working out. In the 20 years since its inception, Lululemon has developed a cult following; women and men alike swear by its products, to the point where there are underground markets dedicated to buying used Lululemon goods.

Under Wilson's stewardship, the company has also been dogged by controversy and media blunders, and developed a reputation for being insular, pretentious, and eerie at times, due to the company's obsession with developing employees under the self-help movement Landmark Forum.

I have covered Lululemon for almost five years, writing about the company's products, fan groups, marketing efforts, and workplace culture. I read Wilson's book in part to learn if the media's depiction of him as being " socially inept," unfiltered, and arrogant was unfair.

I found little to convince me he has been mischaracterized. This is, after all, a man who said in a videotaped interview that Lululemon pants weren't made to be worn by all women; scolded a reporter for being late and invoked the phrase "Jewish Standard Time"; and checked out a woman's butt while being interviewed by another reporter. (His book's front cover, it's worth noting, is a photo of a butt, in Lululemon leggings.)

In the book, he's similarly tactless, and it's often cringeworthy to read; there are whole sections devoted to taking down specific Lululemon executives he disagreed with, and he claims to have singlehandedly invented the concepts of stretchy pants, minimalist marketing, and reusable shopping bags. He also refuses to take any responsibility for calamities he caused along the way, and instead paints himself as a victim of clueless CEOs, salacious media reporters, and disloyal board members.

Here are a few major takeaways about the world of Lululemon from Wilson's account.

Lululemon was made to make women's butts look good

Wilson sold his former snowboarding apparel business Westbeach Snowboard in 1997 and was living in Vancouver when he took his first yoga class. He'd been having back issues due to participating in triathlons, and he took a class at a local gym. Wilson noticed the instructor was wearing clothes from a dance apparel company, which was thin and sheer.

He says that made him think about starting a yoga apparel company and "believed that if I could solve the transparency problem, address camel-toe, and thicken the fabric to mask any imperfections, I could create a perfect athletic garment for women." At the time, brands like Adidas and Nike were using the "shrink it and pink it" philosophy to turn men's athletic clothing into gear that could be sold to women. His idea was to create clothing designed specifically to emphasize women's figures.

Wilson goes on:

Accentuating what made people feel confident - wider shoulders, smaller waists, slimmer hips - meant Guests would feel and look good in our clothing. I realized that the shape of our logo provided a perfect contour to enhance the natural shape of a woman's body. ... There was a huge debate about where to set the seam lines on pants. Women told me they preferred side seams because when they looked in the mirror, side seams slimmed their hips. I wanted to move the side seams to the back to frame the bum and make the bum appear smaller. I persisted because I believed that eventually, men would tell women the pants looked great without really understanding why.

In executing the design of Lululemon stores, Wilson also writes that "the lighting would be perfect, and each room had to have a three-way mirror so a woman could be self-critical of her back side."

Lululemon was created for "Super Girls"

Throughout the book, Wilson oscillates on whom Lululemon was created for. Initially, he talks about the opportunity to dress people who practice yoga regularly but also mocks that world, calling Yoga Journal a "mediocre publication wallowing in the depths of the granola world." He also says Lululemon was propelled by "wealthy women" who could "'buy' time in their lives and were consequently often in great shape and very healthy."

What he does make clear, though is that the brand was meant for a very specific type of customer: a demographic he calls "Super Girls." This shopping segment were the daughters of "Power Women," a group Wilson defines as a "female market segment in the 1970s and 1980s" who were divorced - which he claims was a result of the rise of birth control.

Men "had no idea how to relate to this newly independent woman" who "suddenly had significant control over conception," and "thus came the era of divorce." These daughters, he claimed, had single dads who got them involved in sports, and wanted to be like the male characters they saw in Saturday morning cartoons, "wearing capes and stretch fabric outfits."

This demographic, Wilson writes, was "the best of the best." For a 22-year-old college graduate, he believes "utopia was to be a fit, 32-year-old with an amazing career and spectacular health. She was traveling for business and pleasure, owned her own condo, and had a cat. She was fashionable and could afford quality."

Wilson came up with the name Lululemon because he believed it would attract Japanese people

There's long been a rumor that Wilson invented the name Lululemon because he thought it would be funny to listen to Japanese people pronounce it, and this comes up in the book.

Wilson writes how he came up with 20 names and logo possibilities, with one of them being Athletically Hip (the stylized A of the Lululemon logo comes from this original business name). He then recalls how he sold the name of a skateboard brand, Homless Skateboards, to Japanese buyers for a large amount of money because, he believed, "Homless" was a desirable brand name: "it seemed the Japanese liked the name Homless because it had the letter L in it, and the Japanese language doesn't have that sound. Brand names with Ls in them sounded even more authentically North American/Western to Japanese consumers, especially the 22-year-olds."

He goes on to write how he "played with alliterative names with Ls in them, la la la, jotting down variations in my notebook" until he came up with Lululemon. Wilson doesn't explicitly say he created this name as a way to exploit Japanese shoppers or make them stumble, but elsewhere in the book, he makes fun of Japanese tourists for traveling to Canada and buying Roots clothes. Lululemon's first ad was a photo of three girls wearing glasses and a Roots sweatshirt, with the tagline, "Trendy Clothing for Rich Japanese Tourists," which Wilson said was message for his "Super Girls," that they'd "understand the nuances and subconsciously want to be a part of the Lululemon 'tribe.'"

Wilson had a vendetta against soda

One thing Wilson makes clear in his book is that Lululemon is not meant for soda drinkers. In the original set of brand values that were printed in stores and on Lululemon's ubiquitous red shopping bags - the company "manifesto," which he admits comprised "random statements about how I lived my life" - he initially stated that "Coke, Pepsi, and other pops will be known as the cigarettes of the future. Colas are NOT a substitute for water. Colas are just another cheap drug made to look great by advertising."

Wilson writes that "Coke and Pepsi threatened to drown Lululemon in lawsuits," but agreed to cut the line from the manifesto only after a Lululemon employee pointed out that the line made the company look dated, since soda wasn't aligned with health anyway (though he writes that he "wanted our Super Girl market to know the Lululemon brand was not for soda drinkers").

He goes on to say that in 2012, he was upset to find soda cans popping up in the office, because being anti-soda "was fundamental to our health culture."

Wilson also refuses to refer to Lululemon as an "athleisure" brand because he is personally not a fan of the term, as he believes it connotes "a non-athletic, smoking, Diet Coke-drinking woman in a New Jersey shopping mall wearing an unflattering pink velour jumpsuit."

Wilson only wanted to hire people who want children

As a workplace, Wilson writes, Lululemon "screened for people who wanted families." He writes how the company wanted to thrive off of family values, but he also doesn't see a problem with forcing his narrow idea of relationships and family.

He writes how "we wanted our people to meet the perfect mate, we wanted people to have children, and we wanted the family nucleus to be an energy generator."

In his original manifesto, Wilson also included this line: "Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them. Children are the orgasm of life."

Wilson goes on to write about how Lululemon initially hired a type of employee he calls "Balance Girls," who were "type-A Wall Street personalities," but the company had to get rid of them because "they had been working 14-hour days in finance, were not dating, and could see no prospects for marriage or children."

The stores have an extremely particular rule of how to talk to customers

Throughout the book, Wilson's account of how he developed the business illustrates some autocratic tendencies, with specific rules for how employees should approach goal-setting and lifestyle. The most striking example is his 6/13 rule, which was an exact formula of how and when store associates, or "Educators," as they are called, could talk to customers.

The rule was that "if a Guest was looking at a product for six seconds, an Educator had a thirteen-second window to educate them about the item. Barring any follow up questions, the Educator would then leave them alone until they looked at another item for around six seconds." Wilson writes that this method would work because "our Educators [would] impress customers with their sheer knowledge of and enthusiasm for the item." While it might sound like a shopping nightmare for some, it also might explain how Lululemon's sales per square foot were in line with Apple and Tiffany & Co.

The brand has a long history of controversy

In his account of the Bloomberg interview in which he said Lululemon pants weren't right for women whose thighs rub together, Wilson says the publication edited his words and presented them out of context. (For the record, Bloomberg did not isolate that portion of the interview, and Wilson did say that "it's really about the rubbing of the thighs.")

He also insists that Luon, the proprietary fabric used for Lululemon leggings, which many people complain pills after many wears, didn't pill because of poor quality but because women were squeezing into sizes that were too small for them.

Wilson takes no responsibility for offending women; instead, he insists the media is rooted in sensational reporting. He points to another time in 2007 when the New York Times challenged him on a clothing line called VitaSea, which he claimed was made with "seaweed-based technology ... that would make the shirts anti-stink, as well as moisturizing for the skin of the person wearing it."

The Times published test results that showed the clothing had no seaweed in its particles. Wilson calls this "mean-spirited" in the book but does not offer an explanation for the results; instead, he pivots to claim the story was probably planted by an investor who wanted to short the Lululemon stock, and that the reporter probably received "a backroom payoff."

In one especially bizarre chapter, Wilson basically defends Nike, which in 2001 was accused of using child labor. He says he "felt bad for Nike," and sides with the company over the reports.

"In North America, I noticed there were some kids not made for school, who dropped out with nowhere to go," Wilson writes. In Asia, if a kid was not "school material, he or she learned a trade and contributed to their family. It was work or starve. I liked the alternative."

Wilson boasts that to respond to the Nike story, he decided to make the whole thing into a joke. He appeared in an ad in Yoga Journal with a few Lululemon employees, "dressed in diapers and baby outfits at sewing machines in one of our factories."

In the book, Wilson writes that "if we were ever accused of child labour, I would just agree." He then goes on to joke that "my own children have worked in the business from the age of five with no pay; working young is excellent training for life" - a tone-deaf take on child labor, especially coming from a white, Western billionaire.

Elsewhere in the book, Wilson mentions that "stores created tongue-in-cheek windows with a controversial political or social point of view." When the brand opened its first store in Vancouver, he took out an ad in the paper promising free clothes to anyone who showed up to the store naked - and plenty did, including some who he said "couldn't have been been older than fourteen." Wilson describes this type of publicity as "worth millions and so much more fun than a standard press release."

Lululemon's $12 headbands are actually just scraps

In Wilson's account of how Lululemon went on to sell yoga apparel outside of women's leggings, he tries to paint a picture of resourcefulness. When searching for the best type of material that would later become Lululemon's $68 yoga mats, he admits he scrounged in the trash of a supplier to find the address for a source of materials in Asia.

In another anecdote, Wilson writes how he saw bits of fabric being discarded inside factories and he was trying to think of ways to use them: "One of the seamstresses used to take the ends of the pants she cut off and wear it as a headband because her hair got in her eyes while sewing. We thought, 'what a great idea! Let's take these pant ends and sell them!'"

Headbands, Wilson goes on, ended up becoming one of the brand's best-selling items, thanks to "young girls who used them to differentiate themselves amidst a sea of school uniform."

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Lululemon's ex-CEO wrote an outrageous "unauthorized" history of the brand. Here's what we learned.

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This story is part of a group of stories called Chip Wilson, the founder and former CEO of the yoga apparel brand Lululemon, has written a tell-all book about his life and the business he built - and it is one wild read.

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Lululemon sales soared in the most recent quarter.

The clothing giant is benefiting from people wanting to wear more comfortable clothing.

Consumers are favoring more casual styles as they return to the workplace too, an analyst said.

Pandemic-driven comfort dressing continues to prevail.

Athleisure giant Lululemon reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, with sales soaring 63% in the US and Canada and 49% internationally. This put it on track to surpass its 2023 revenue target by the end of this year, the company said.

Customers favored comfortable clothing while working from home during the pandemic - but Lululemon's momentum shows no sign of slowing down even as the world begins to return to normal life, experts say.

"Casual and comfortable are still the order of the day," GlobalData Retail managing director Neil Saunders said in a note to clients earlier in the summer.

"While we expect working from home to wane somewhat over the next year and believe that there will be a surge in the purchase of more formal styles as it does, we think that the more casual stance is here to stay for a while," he said.

This is helpful for Lululemon, Saunders said - alongside its core products, it has casual collections of dresses for women and pants for men. These are comfortable, but also suitable for the office, he said.

According to a recent New York Times report, Lululemon's stretchy men's ABC (Anti-Ball Crushing) pants have already become popular attire for men working on Wall Street.

"The days of people having to wear the uniform of a coat, tie, and suit are over," John Florsheim, an executive at legacy shoemaker Florsheim, told The Times. "It's going to continue to get more comfortable and casual."

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Lululemon sales surge 63% as the pandemic-driven casual clothing boom shows no signs of slowing, even as people return to the office

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Lululemon sales soared in the most recent quarter. The clothing giant is benefiting from people wanting to wear more comfortable clothing. Consumers are favoring more casual styles as they return to the workplace too, an analyst said. Pandemic-driven comfort dressing continues to prevail.

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Lululemon Athletica will be hurt by a large recall of black yoga pants that were unintentionally see-through.

"The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the pants remain the same, but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women's black Luon bottoms that falls short of our very high standards," the company said in a statement late Monday. "We want you to Down Dog and Crow with confidence and we felt these pants didn't measure up."

Lululemon said the recall, which amounts to 17% of all women's pants sold in its stores, will cause shortages of this staple and have a significant impact on its financial results.

Before the recall, the company said it was on track for an 11% increase in sales at stores open at least a year, with revenue in the first quarter expected to come in between $350 million and $355 million. Now it expects only a 5% to 8% sales gain, and revenue of between $333 million and $343 million.

The company said the problem occurred despite there being no change in manufacture or the ingredients used to make the fabric.

How Lululemon quintupled its stock price

The store has been a fast-growing success story. Sales have tripled in the past three years; results for the most recent fiscal year are due Thursday. The stock is up 1,800% over the past four years.

Lululemon shares were down about 5% Tuesday morning, and are down 17% for the year.

CNNMoney (New York) First published March 19, 2013: 7:19 AM ET

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"The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the pants remain the same, but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women's black Luon bottoms that falls short of our very high standards," the company said in a statement late Monday.

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Image credits: Bloomberg.com

If you are reading this, chances are you either own clothing from Lululemon or know someone who does. For the past few years, Lululemon has been posing as a "green" brand to lure in trend-chasing young people. With its glossy ad campaigns featuring influencers, its futuristic looking stores, and its promises of being environmentally and health-conscious, Lululemon has won over the hearts and the minds of its consumers.

The company does not want you to know that behind the closed glass doors of its stores, its business practices are the complete opposite of its ideals. On the surface, Lululemon seems to make healthy living trendy. Upon closer examination, however, it has hidden its abuses of the environment, labor, and its customers under the guise of being "green" for years.

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Lululemon: Hiding Its Abuses Under the Guise of Being "Green"

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If you are reading this, chances are you either own clothing from Lululemon or know someone who does. For the past few years, Lululemon has been posing as a "green" brand to lure in trend-chasing young people.

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Is Lululemon Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is almost never as simple as yes or no. But, by looking at Lululemon's materials, shipping practices, and certifications, we can get a sense of this brand's efforts and accomplishments.

Product Materials
What we're looking for:
Anything that's not petroleum or plastic-based like nylon, polyester, spandex. These materials drive the use of fossil fuels and shed microplastics in the wash.

Instead, we're looking for natural and plant-based materials like organic cotton and wool, rayon/viscose bamboo and TENCEL.
What we're finding:
Lululemon has series of six "Natural Blends" including:

Boolux - a blend of bamboo rayon, TENCEL, and cashmere

Cotton fleece - a blend of cotton and polyester (not ideal)

Pima cotton - cotton paired with spandex for use in t-shirts

Stretch French Terry - cotton Terry mixed with petroleum based LYCRA (not ideal)

TENCEL - soft fabric made from wood pulp

VITASEA - a blend of cotton, spandex and SEACELL - yarn made with seaweed (pretty cool!)

Some of these are more sustainable than others and it seems Lulu can't help but weave a little petroleum into everything. Further, for every "Natural Blend" fabric there seems a handful of synthetic ones.

In fact, a search all women's clothing items using "Natural Blends" materials (cotton, Pima cotton, French Terry and wool) brings up 72 results out of 759 total women's clothing items. That's less than 10% of its online collection.

Men have even fewer options with just 38 out of 426 items featuring "Natural Blends" fabrics.

Lululemon product material goals

Lululemon set a series of goals to use "percent sustainable materials for our products" by 2025. However, they're not all that inspiring. Here's why:

The material goals rely heavily on plastic recycling, which is a hot mess, an little on organic and natural materials

The circular design goals are incredibly vague, with almost no detail

There seems to be little progress

Other athleisure companies are doing now what Lululemon plans to do by 2025

Shipping and packaging

In 2019, Lululemon set a goal for "60 percent intensity reduction of GHG emissions in purchased goods and services and upstream transportation and distribution (2018 base year)" by 2030. There isn't much information regarding how they plan to reduce these emissions. Regardless, it's a meaningful goal and I hope they are able to achieve it.
However, this 2019 report from Motley Fool isn't exactly inspiring. "Roughly 67% of Lululemon's products are manufactured in China and the remaining 33% are manufactured in the U.S., Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Indonesia, and India ... However, a mere 6% of the company's finished goods are actually imported from China, as the rest are either shipped to other countries or remain in China to be sold there."
Not only is Lulu outsourcing a majority of its labor overseas - which raises several red flags - it busses its products around first to avoid tariffs.
Not a great move in terms of sustainability.
And in terms of eco-friendly packaging, Lulu's not doing so hot. I find packaging to be a good indicator of a company's commitment to sustainability. It's entirely controllable and there are plenty of eco-friendly and non-plastic options.

While Lululemon has made the switch to Forest Stewardship Council certified paper packaging materials, it's still using plastic polybag mailers. The company acknowledges that these mailers are wasteful and hard to recycle, but has nothing more than plan to "continue to explore ways of reducing polybags and improving content and recyclability."

Lululemon certifications and partnerships

Lululemon is part of the following industry, NGO and government partnerships:

The company also has aggressive goals to reduce its overall carbon emissions, conserve water, and use more sustainable materials.

Bottom line

This is all great, and I hope Lululemon achieves its goals. However, what bothers me, is how late to the party Lululemon is, and how little its efforts are showing up on the front end.

For example, it takes some serious effort to find Lulu products that aren't made with a heavy dose of synthetic fibers. Also, there is little reporting, at this time, on the company's progress in achieving its goals.

How far toward 75% recycled nylon are they?

How much water are they saving per year?

What percent of GHG emissions have they reduced since 2018?

As an American consumer, it seems the most likely outcome of ordering from Lululemon is receiving a plastic-infused garment in a plastic polybag that was made in China and took a detour on the way to the United States.
Things may change in the next few years, but, for now, it's hard to take Lululemon seriously in terms of sustainability.

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Is Lululemon Greenwashing? See Which Brands Are Eco Approved "

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Greenwashing is almost never as simple as yes or no. But, by looking at Lululemon's materials, shipping practices, and certifications, we can get a sense of this brand's efforts and accomplishments. What we're looking for: Anything that's not petroleum or plastic-based like nylon, polyester, spandex.

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Lululemon, an athleisure brand whose £88 leggings are worn by celebrities and Instagram influencers, are sourcing clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they are beaten and physically assaulted.

The Canadian brand recently launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to reduce stress levels and promote the mental health of aid workers.

Yet young female workers at a factory in Bangladesh making clothing for the label gave detailed accounts of how they struggled to survive on meagre wages and faced physical violence and regular humiliation at the hands of their managers, who called them "whores" and "sluts". The factory is owned and run by the Youngone Corporation, which supplies Lululemon.

Workers allege that:

Factory workers who break any rules or leave earlier than expected are verbally abused by management and hit. Some said they had been made to work despite ill-health

Some labourers are paid 9,100 taka a month (£85) - less than the price of one pair of their leggings, which sell for as much as £138.50. The sum is well below the 16,000 taka unions have been demanding and falls far short of living wage estimates

They are forced to work overtime to hit targets, saying they sometimes felt immense pressure not to leave their work stations

Lululemon said it has a strict code of practice, and does not tolerate any violations of this. The company said it would immediately launch an investigation. "There are currently no orders planned for this factory, and we will take appropriate action based upon the findings of our investigation," a spokesperson said.

A UN Foundation spokesperson said: "We believe all workers should be treated fairly and welcome Lululemon's investigation."

One worker at the factory claimed she was slapped for leaving work early, after feeling unwell. "I was sick, so one day I left work at 5pm but I informed the line supervisor. He told his bosses I left without telling anyone and the next day, when I went to work, the technician in charge of my line slapped me," she said.

She added: "He slapped me so hard my cheeks turned red and everyone asked me what happened. I couldn't tell them the actual story. I just told them I had allergies." The worker claimed she did not complain as she felt no one would care. She added that female workers were also called "prostitutes".

"During last Ramadan, they created a new line and recruited new female workers. One day, a technician hit a label operator so hard on her chest. We could see she was in pain the whole day ... She was lying in the back of the line for hours but our bosses did nothing about her."

Lululemon launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation (UNF) on 8 October, saying that for the last three years the leggings company and the UNF have been working together to develop a curriculum of evidence-based mindfulness, yoga and self-care training, and have conducted pilot testing to more than 500 aid workers in eight countries to date, including the United States.

The company has upped its sales and profit outlook and is now forecasting that it will haul in $3.8bn (£3.02bn) to $3.84bn in sales in 2019. Lululemon, which was started in 1998 by Canadian billionaire businessman Chip Wilson, as a purveyor of yoga pants, has been expanding and introducing new product lines.

But the clothes it produces are purchased from a range of developing countries where labour is cheaper, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Vietnam, among other parts of the world.

The company's website says: "We don't own our manufacturing facilities so we take great care selecting our manufacturing partners. Our approach is to build relationships with factories that are aligned with our values and meet our sourcing expectations."

It notes: "Our Vendor Code of Ethics applies to all countries where our products are manufactured, including Bangladesh, and ensures that our partners follow a single set of policies, regardless of legal and cultural differences."

Lululemon was criticised in 2013 for taking months to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord, after the factory disaster in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,130 people. A petition was launched for them to stand by their commitment to sustainability and ethics.

The Guardian spoke to one male worker at the factory, who claimed he had witnessed female workers being called "whore", "prostitute" and "slut".

He further alleged: "They treat men badly too. Sometimes they beat male workers too. I never got beaten myself but I have seen other people get beaten up."
#MeToo Bangladesh: the textile workers uniting against harassment
Workers also raised concerns about not being able to leave when they are sick, with one girl who had jaundice reportedly granted time off by the medical team at the factory but told by her production manager she had to keep working.

They claimed that they are sometimes understaffed, putting immense pressure on workers who needed to meet targets. "So workers have to work more. They can't eat food or take rest properly which is very bad," a labourer said.

Tuomo Poutiainen, country director for ILO Bangladesh: "Any type of violence and harassment at work is unacceptable ... There is a need in the garment industry in Bangladesh to continue to raise awareness on sexual harassment in the workplace and establish active measures to address it."

Anna Bryher, advocacy director for the campaign group Labour Behind the Label, said: "Women at the bottom of supply chains bear the brunt of fashion's unrelenting push to be fast and cheap ... It's obscene."

She added: "As outrageous as this story is, this isn't a one-off. Women making our clothes in Bangladesh are routinely and systematically abused and harassed."

Bryher said that a recent survey found 80% of Bangladeshi workers making clothes from international companies said they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace.

A Lululemon company spokesperson said: "A responsible supply chain starts with us and we are committed to upholding ethical sourcing practices globally. Our Vendor Code of Ethics consists of best in class industry standards. We require that all vendors share our values and uphold a consistent set of policies that live up to our Code. We do not tolerate any violation of this Code. Upon learning of the reports about a facility in Bangladesh, we immediately launched an investigation. There are currently no orders planned for this factory, and we will take appropriate action based upon the findings of our investigation."

Youngone Corporation said it is fully committed to providing a working environment in all its facilities that is safe, fair and just. It said employees are encouraged to share their opinion or launch a complaint through many different channels. The company said that when grievances have been found they have been addressed and led to disciplinary proceedings. An internal review has been launched.

* This article was amended on 16 October to clarify that Lululemon's partnership is with the UN Foundation, not the UN, as a previous version stated.
Topics

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Workers making £88 Lululemon leggings claim they are beaten

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Lululemon, an athleisure brand whose £88 leggings are worn by celebrities and Instagram influencers, are sourcing clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they are beaten and physically assaulted. The Canadian brand recently launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to reduce stress levels and promote the mental health of aid workers.

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Lululemon on Flickr
Lululemon's internal culture has a reputation for being like a cult.

"It's the first time I've heard of anyone almost directly using the techniques of cults and applying them to their business," Douglas Atkin, author of The Culting of Brands, once told Fast Company.

We talked to a former employee about the culture at Lululemon.

Hope*, a 23-year-old, worked at Lululemon as an entry-level store associate for more than a year in 2009.

From what employees read to how meetings went down, we learned all about what it's like to work at Lululemon.
*Name has been changed to protect identity.

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You Really Do Have To 'Drink The Kool-Aid' To Succeed At Lululemon

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Lululemon's internal culture has a reputation for being like a cult. "It's the first time I've heard of anyone almost directly using the techniques of cults and applying them to their business," Douglas Atkin, author of The Culting of Brands, once told Fast Company. We talked to a former employee about the culture at Lululemon.

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Anti-capitalist event held by capitalist Lululemon

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Anti-capitalist event held by capitalist Lululemon

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The aspirational athletic-wear maker Lululemon, famous for its expensive leggings sported by young urban professionals, is facing vigorous criticism for promoting a yoga workshop billed as an opportunity to "resist capitalism".

The Canadian-headquartered international company, valued at $45bn, suggested participants will be able to learn how "gender constructs across the world have informed culture and the ways violent colonialism has erased these histories to enforce consumerism".

Objections to the company's promotion of the tutorial, due to be hosted by yoga instructor and company brand "ambassador" Rebby Kern later this month on Zoom, center on apparent contradictions between aims of a class teaching people how to "resist capitalism" and Lulelemon's multibillion-dollar market capitalisation.

Shares in Lululemon, which went public in 2007, have more than doubled since March, to $320 a share, giving it a $45bn valuation. Online sales have soared 157% during the pandemic as millions have stayed home from work and declined to dress in formalwear.

But the "athleisure" manufacturer, which has sold millions of $100-plus leggings, was not banking on a sharp pushback against its "five to watch" promotion of Kern's "decolonizing gender" workshop.

"Lululemon IS capitalism. It is literally a privately-owned corporation that raked in half a billion dollars in pure profits last year, merely by selling overpriced yoga pants to women willing and able to pay for this luxury. All this begs the question ... WUT?" wrote Amy Swearer with the rightwing Heritage Foundation.

Others followed. "Lululemon hosting a workshop to resist capitalism while selling us $180 yoga pants is peak 2020," wrote Kevin Duffey on Twitter.

Mattea Merta also pitched in: "WHY are you pushing an anti-capitalist Marxist workshop when you ONLY exist because of capitalism?"

Lululemon is no stranger to controversy. In 2013, founder Chip Wilson was forced to resign after saying the company's signature leggings were not made for women "without a thigh gap".

Last year, the Guardian revealed that Lululemon sourced some clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they were beaten and physically assaulted.

The report came after the brand had launched a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to reduce stress levels and promote the mental health of aid workers.

But young female workers at a factory in Bangladesh making clothing for the label gave detailed accounts of how they struggled to survive on meagre wages and faced physical violence and regular humiliation at the hands of their managers, who called them "whores" and "sluts".

Lululemon subsequently ordered an investigation. "There are currently no orders planned for this factory, and we will take appropriate action based upon the findings of our investigation," a spokesperson said at the time.

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Billion-dollar Lululemon under fire for promoting 'resist capitalism' event

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The aspirational athletic-wear maker Lululemon, famous for its expensive leggings sported by young urban professionals, is facing vigorous criticism for promoting a yoga workshop billed as an opportunity to "resist capitalism". The Canadian-headquartered international company, valued at $45bn, suggested participants will be able to learn how "gender constructs across the world have informed culture and the ways violent colonialism has erased these histories to enforce consumerism".

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Lululemon former CEO dating scandals with employees 

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Lululemon former CEO dating scandals with employees 

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Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin resigned suddenly on Monday.

The company released a statement suggesting that Potdevin engaged in poor conduct.

CNBC reported on Wednesday that his resignation could be linked to his relationship with a female designer. Souces familiar with the matter confirmed this to Business Insider.

The mystery of Lululemon's CEO's sudden resignation is beginning to unravel.

Lauren Potdevin, who had been CEO of the brand since 2014, resigned on Monday. The company released a statement that suggested Potdevin had engaged in poor conduct.

"Lululemon expects all employees to exemplify the highest levels of integrity and respect for one another, and Mr. Potdevin fell short of these standards of conduct," the company said.

CNBC reported Wednesday that his departure was linked to a relationship he had with a female designer at the company. Potdevin was having a relationship with this woman before she resigned in 2014. She was re-hired as a contractor later on, and this contract was not renewed in January 2018.

Sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Business Insider that this relationship was one of several instances where Potdevin felt short of standards of conduct. They also confirmed that the relationship was one of the reasons for his departure.

Former employees described the company culture under Potedevin's leadership as "toxic," CNBC reported.

Lululemon declined Business Insider's request for comment.

Analysts say that not the company's choice not to confirm these details will be detrimental to the brand's image.

"Lululemon owes it to investors and to customers to be clear about the reasons Mr. Potdevin was made to depart," Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consulting firm GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note to clients. "As a company that prides itself on transparency and openness, we would expect it to have an honest conversation with stakeholders."

He added: "Failure to do so will likely lead to speculation which could ultimately harm the brand."

The company is now searching for a replacement CEO and will be run by three members of senior management during the interim period.

"We expect little operational impact as three of Lululemon's senior leaders are being elevated and are taking
on additional responsibilities," Bridget Weishaar, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said in a note to clients.

She added: "Although we acknowledge that there is always brand risk associated with such allegations, we think the board's swift and decisive action will likely mitigate this. In our opinion, the board successfully got in front of this story and took a firm stance both in word and action about the brand's commitment to the highest levels of integrity and respect."

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Lululemon CEO's sudden departure is tied to his relationship with a former employee

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Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin resigned suddenly on Monday. The company released a statement suggesting that Potdevin engaged in poor conduct. CNBC reported on Wednesday that his resignation could be linked to his relationship with a female designer. Souces familiar with the matter confirmed this to Business Insider.

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The video is on the home page of Lielielemon website. Unfortunately, it can not be uploaded to padlet for free. Please click the link to view. 

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The video is on the home page of Lielielemon website. Unfortunately, it can not be uploaded to padlet for free. Please click the link to view. 

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Stickers representing the capitalistic nature of Lululemon with the £ signs to resemble their current logo

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Premier Rush Adobe Video Editing Software, used to Create Lielielemon Video 

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Premier Rush Adobe Video Editing Software, used to Create Lielielemon Video 

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Adobe Premiere Rush is the free mobile and desktop video editing app for creativity on the go. Wherever you are, from your phone to your computer, you can shoot, edit and share high-quality videos. Fun, intuitive and as fast as social media, it's the easiest way to star in your followers' feeds.

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Video editing app | Mobile video editing | Adobe Premiere Rush

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Use Adobe Premiere Rush to create videos anywhere. Shoot, edit and share videos with this free all-in-one video editing app for mobile and desktop.

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Clips taken from videos for Lielielemon Video 

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Clips taken from videos for Lielielemon Video 

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Exploited garment workers in Bangladesh | DW Documentary

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Clips Taken From video for Lielielemon Video

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Clips Taken From video for Lielielemon Video

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The True Cost: Who Pays the Real Price for YOUR Clothes | Investigative Documentary

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Clips taken from video for Lielielemon video 

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Clips taken from video for Lielielemon video 

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Fleeing climate change — the real environmental disaster | DW Documentary

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Clips Taken From Video For Lielielemon Video 

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The price of fast fashion? Chile’s desert dumping ground for unwanted clothes • FRANCE 24

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Clips Taken From Video To Make Lielielemon Video 

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Clips Taken From Video To create Lielielemon Video

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Clips Taken From Video To create Lielielemon Video

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This could be a social media post as well as a poster that mocks the lack of morals and professionalism the former CEO displayed while running the company.

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Software Downloaded to take footage off Youtube to make Video on Premier Rush 

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Software Downloaded to take footage off Youtube to make Video on Premier Rush 

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4k Video Downloader is a cost-free video downloader that is trusted by millions of users worldwide. It supports tons of popular video sites that enable you to save video and audio from YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, SoundCloud, Bilibili, Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, DailyMotion, Naver TV, Likee, and Tumblr.

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Transform photos & make gorgeous graphics | Adobe Photoshop

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Gorgeous images, rich graphics, and incredible art - you can do it all with Photoshop.

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Industry-leading vector graphics software | Adobe Illustrator

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Adobe Illustrator is vector based graphics software that lets you scale down your artwork for mobile screens or scale up to billboard size - and it always looks crisp and beautiful.

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The Leader in Website Creation | Create Your Free Website | Wix.com

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Make your vision come to life with Wix. Choose a template you love and customize anything with the most innovative drag and drop website builder. Create a website for your business, portfolio, online store or blog today.

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Collaborations with Tiffany Watson, Vegan Influencer and Made In Chelsea Star -- perfectly fits the Lululemon demographic

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Collaborations with Tiffany Watson, Vegan Influencer and Made In Chelsea Star -- perfectly fits the Lululemon demographic