As an athletic person and Vancouverite, I have acquired a collection of sports clothes to fit different climates and activities. Much of my time and money goes into finding and buying the best gear for a good price. Nike and Lululemon have been my top two go-to brands for the past few years. Once I heard that Nike would be expanding their line of women clothing to focus more on yoga pants and sports bras I was immediately intrigued.

Nike plans on opening 5,000 pant studios as of November 1st in the US and Canada. The focus on women apparel at Nike isn’t a new concept as they previously opened a women’s only store in Shanghai in 2014. This addition to the Nike brand will add to competitive rivalry amongst the athletic women’s wear industry. This force would benefit the consumer greatly. I hope to see better quality yoga pants coming from Nike. Lululemon has been superior when it comes to athletic pants but at a high price point. The competition should drive down prices. As a result of Nikes dive into the athletic pant sector, there has been a shift in Lululemon’s stock shares.

Townsend, M. (2017, October 26). Nike Coming for Lululemon, Sharpens Focus on Womens Wear. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/nike-coming-for-lululemon-by-ramping-up-investment-in-yoga

Over the past few days, the market shares of Lululemon have been declining in comparison to Nike’s recent surge. There are predictions that Nike has what it takes to override Lululemon. With their product being sold at numerous stores asides from the Nike store they will be able to rail in more customers compare to Lulu who sells exclusively at their store. This movement is pivotal as the athleisure trend is dominating the fashion industry. Morgan Stanley estimated that global activewear sales will rise from $197 billion in 2007 to $350 billion in 2020. Should Lululemon admit defeat?

M. (2015, October 14). Morgan Stanleys projection for global activewear sales. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.theatlas.com/charts/VyPt1DPeg

After taking a survey of girls at UBC on their preference of Lululemon gear or Nike gear the vote was split. All the votes for Lululemon came from Canadians while the votes for Nike were International. Yet, there was a consensus amongst all that if the quality amongst both brands were similar they would choose the cheapest price point. Thus we will have to wait to see which brand will push out the best quality product for the cheapest price.

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