Canadian Names And Trade-Marks: lululemon athletica

If you have wandered onto a university campus in the past few years, then you are likely aware of young women’s burgeoning love affair with lululemon ... everything. The yoga-inspired athletic apparel company has now become a mainstay apparel brand for a wide population (including males and the non-athletic) in Canada, the US, New Zealand and Australia. In just fifteen years, lululemon has grown from a boutique store in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a public company with 201 locations and yearly revenue of $1 billion US. Are there secrets to lululemon’s success? Arguably, one of the reasons lululemon is so successful is its unique brand name and insignia. The “lululemon” moniker was selected from a survey of 20 short-listed brand names and logos. It was also chosen with future worldwide marketing in mind. Because many Asian phonetic systems do not include an “L” sound, it was thought that consumers overseas would find the name distinctive and authentically North American. The logo itself, a stylized “A”, is a remnant from “authentically hip”, a contender for the primary trade name but one which was eventually dropped. Another reason for the company’s success is the fact that from the outset lululemon tried to sell more than leggings—it has wanted to give its customers a new lifestyle. Founder Dennis “Chip” Wilson founded the company with a mission to “create components for people to live longer, healthier, and more fun lives”. Wilson ascribes to the “law of attraction”, a central tenet of the popular book The Secret, by which individuals will attract aspects, qualities and people that reflect the type of person they are. The company’s meta-mission is to “elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness”. The company aims to spread its mission by involving itself deeply within its communities and encouraging its customers to buy athletic clothing for athletic purposes. Once a store opens, lululemon connects with local yoga and Pilates instructors who become lululemon “ambassadors”. In exchange for giving free weekly yoga classes to customers in the studio-like stores, ambassadors have their portraits and professional info placed in their local lululemon. Customers, meanwhile, receive coupons for products as a reward for attending the classes. Wilson’s philosophy also trickles down into lululemon’s corporate structure. The “law of attraction” is used in its hiring practices, with employees in part being selected for their adoption of a healthy lifestyle, a team player attitude, and a positive, albeit “type A”, personality. Employees are required to set publically viewable goals for themselves and read books on self-development. Store managers, in turn, are hired internally and treated as small business owners. The managers are able to decide the store’s layout, its colour coordination and the type and degree of its community involvement. The next step for lululemon is geographic and product-based expansion overseas and into areas such as swim-wear and additional menswear. Despite a recent hiccup involving unintentionally sheer workout pants (which achieved widespread publicity), the company appears to have a good sense of its corporate mission. Summary by: Elena Iosef