Does anyone even know that Lululemon has a men’s line on sports clothing and equipment? To me, it was shocking for me to find out because it was such a female focused brand that to have a men’s line makes the men’s line slightly … feminine. It is a brand oriented towards sports and athletes after all, it is only normal to design products for both female and male.
If we take a look at the pieces of clothing, it’s actually I would say pretty decent sports wear, given the right prices (in my opinion, it is a little overpriced) I would definitely purchase a few products. However, the main problem is their branding. If my friends ask me where I got that kick-ass sweater from, it won’t be very kick-ass after all if i reveal where I got it from just because Lululemon is very female dominated. People usually associate Lululemon with yoga clothing for females, which it is, this is the case because as more females from the working class and student body picked up yoga, Lululemon saw the opportunity in providing the necessary equipment (tight and bright clothing) and hence became a success after. It portrays how people using the brand usually lead a healthy and sunshine lifestyle, further penetrating into the yoga working class/ students market.
Having said all that, it is quite queer to launch a new men’s line especially when it doesn’t portray a hardcore sports attitude which many of the other brands such as Nike and Adidas is trying to do. REAL ATHLETES won’t go for Lululemon… because most men would much prefer the hardcore dude image. Nevertheless, Lululemon was VERY successful in capturing the people in between, for those of you who love/hate the brand or is just neutral… how would you place Lululemon in your branding map? Will Lululemon’s men’s line ever break free from the female oriented image?
