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If you saw a group of millennials out on a Saturday in the mid-2010s, they were most likely wearing leggingsthe uniform of that era. And there’s a good chance they were Lululemon’s Align leggings. Ten years ago today, Lululemon’s designers developed a new material called Nulu that was buttery soft, thin, and stretchy. It put them into a $98 pair of leggings called Align. The fabric proved so irresistible that women started wearing the pants right out of the yoga studio and into the rest of their lives. On the newly launched Instagram app, you would see twenty- and thirtysomethings wearing the pricey leggings out to brunch, or for school pickups, or on long flights. Some women even wore them to the office with a crisp button-down oxford shirt. If the Align legging didn’t kick-start athleisureblending activewear with everyday outfitsthen it certainly accelerated the trend. And it helped propel Lululemon from a scrappy yoga startup into a global activewear giant. Over the past decade, Lululemon has generated more than $1 billion on its Align franchise. And it has spawned so many copycats from other brands that two years ago it launched an entire “dupe swap” marketing campaign, where it invited people to trade in their dupes to get the real thing. [Photo: Lululemon] Chip Wilson, a yoga obsessive, launched Lululemon in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1998. For its first decade in business, the company remained small and focused on designing high-quality clothing that was perfect for yoga, which was taking off throughout North America. But by 2010, the companys growth accelerated as it went public and began expanding its network of stores. In 2012, Lululemon hit $1 billion in annual revenue. After the Align leggings launched, the company scaled quickly, growing from $1.8 billion to $10.8 billion over the past decade. Today, Lululemon is celebrating the anniversary of the Align pants by launching a range of new products, including a dress and a new version of the pants that offer a seamless construction in the front, developed with customer feedback. But the company is also thinking ahead about how it must evolve beyond this comfortable legging into entirely new categories of clothing. I sat down with Antonia Iamartino, senior director of franchise innovations, research, and product innovation, to hear about how she created the Align pant and how she’s thinking ahead about how to spin out the next billion-dollar franchises for Lululemon. Antonia Iamartino [Photo: Lululemon] Designing a Billion-Dollar Pant Back in 2015, most people went into the yoga studio wearing sweatpants or compression leggings designed for running. Iamartino joined Lululemon in 2005, shortly after she trained as a fashion designer in Vancouver. A decade ago, she was promoted to oversee the yoga category. In this new role, she wanted to design a pair of pants that were ideal for the practice, which involves a variety of physical postures and movements. [Photo: Lululemon] At the time, Lululemon had developed a very specific design philosophy called the “science of feel, which was about creating garments that responded to the way people wanted to feel in a particular moment, rather than the purely technical features of a garment. In focus groups, Iamartino began to get a sense of how yogis wanted to feel throughout their yoga practice. “They talked about wanting softness and warmth,” she recalls. “They wanted pieces that felt cozy and inviting.” [Photo: Lululemon] Iamartino set out to find a material that would meet these specifications. This was a challenge, because many of the fabric mills that Lululemon worked with were used to creating athletic apparel. “Our inspiration was the texture of a rose petal; something that felt soft and textured,” she says. “But it was hard to find this among the nylon fabrics on the market.” [Photo: Lululemon] Over the course of 18 months, she worked with various mills, providing details about what she was looking for. After co-creating 10 different iterations of the material with the mills, she landed on the fabric that would become Nulu. The material had a very soft texture thanks to a process called napping that creates a fuzzy, velvet-like feel on the surface. The matte texture of Lululemons leggings made them different from much of the slick, shiny sports apparel that was popular at the time. The material was also very lightweight and had just enough compression to make the wearer feel gently hugged but not tightly restricted. “When we landed on this material, the feedback was unanimous and quick,” Iamartino remembers. “It was clear we had found something that was very appealing to yogis.” [Photo: Lululemon] Beyond the Yoga Studio When the Align leggings launched, they were an immediate hit. On social media, women raved about how comfortable they were for yoga. But over time, as word about them spread, customers realized they wanted to wear the pants all the time. Iamartino says that Lululemon happened to catch some important fashion trends along the way. For one thing, skinny jeans were in style back then. Black leggings were aesthetically similar, and could be paired with the same tops you might wear with denim. Fashion was also becoming more casual, so some people felt comfortable wearing leggings to college classes or even to some workplaces. Finally, fitness and wellness were taking off, as people invested in their health by working out and doing yoga, creating a $100 billion global industry. But mostly, Iamartino believes Align was successful because of how it made the wearer feel. Store managers began to report about how customers would come out of the changing room and do a little dance in their Align pants, feeling the leggings with their hand and bouncing around. Ultimately, Iamartino believes that staying laser-focused on the goal of creating comfort helped Lululemon achieve a pair of leggings that transcended the practice of yoga. “We likely wouldn’t have gotten the same result if we had set out to design the best casual pant,” she says. “It was really the purity of our intention that helped us achieve this fabric, which had this universal appeal. All the tenets that we designed againstthe quality, the stitching, the texturereally transcended the experience of yoga in the end.” [Photo: Lululemon] But What Comes Next? Over the past 10 years, as the Align pant exploded in popularity, Iamartino helped transform the garment from a single product into a franchise. She worked with her team of designers to develop new products, like shorts and wide-leg pants. Now there’s even an Align dress. The next step is helping Lululemon think about how it can create the next big franchises. In many ways, the COVID-19 lockdowns took clothing to its casual extreme, with people wearing sweatpants for months on end. But in the post-pandemic world, Iamartino believes people are moving in the other direction and opting for clothing that is dressier. In conversations with customers, Lululemon staffers found that fewer people are wearing leggings and joggers to work; they’re looking for pieces that are drawn from a more formal wardrobe, like trousers and blazers. “But what’s different, this time around, is that they are unwilling to compromise on comfort,” Iamatino says. “So pieces need to look more formal on the exterior but feel much more comfortable.” [Photo: Lululemon] Lululemon’s designers are now focused on creating pieces that do just this. The company made its first foray into clothing that could be worn to the office in the mid-2010s, as it launched trousers for both men and women that looked a lot like khakis but were made from technical fabrics. Over the years, as customers began to see Lululemon as a brand that could outfit them for work, the brand has expanded its range of professional garments. This year, one of its bestsellers is its women’s Daydrift trousers, which have the silhouette of old-school mens trousers, with pleats and a waistband. But they’re actually pull-up pants made from a stretchy fabric that’s infused with Lycra. They fel extremely soft to the touch. The trousers have been very popular among working professionals, and Lululemon has been struggling to keep them in stock. Iamartino is now thinking about how Daydrift could also become a franchise. The brand is launching Daydrift shorts for the summer, with more possible products in the pipeline. Lululemon is launching other garments that are designed for the office, and much like with Align, the company spends a lot of time developing the right fabric for these pieces. For its blazer, for instance, Lululemon has created a till fabric with a textured feel akin to cotton or wool that is made from a wrinkle-free synthetic material. Lululemon’s success over the course of its history has come down to innovation. It began as a yoga brand, but over the years it has created garments for a wide range of activities. Now it’s next evolution is to create clothes that allow you to move comfortably through the rest of your life. And the lesson that Iamartino takes from designing the Align pants is that the way to succeed is to thoughtfully design products that make people feel good no matter what they’re doing. “We know people today want to feel polished but also comfortable as they’re moving throughout their life,” she says. “We can design around that.”
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E-Commerce
Nearly two years after catastrophic wildfires destroyed more than 2,000 houses and apartment buildings in Lahaina, Hawaii, only 10 homes have been rebuilt. Hundreds of others are under construction, but the process of rebuilding is painfully slow. One temporary neighborhood is an exception: called Ka Lai Ola, its filled with modular, factory-built houses and is now home to more than 600 people. Hundreds of additional modular homes on the site will soon be ready for occupancy. And it might be a model for other communities that are trying to recover from disastersthough it also raises questions about the cost of building temporary housing. The timeline was unlike anything that weve ever experienced, says Kimo Carvalho, executive director of HomeAid Hawaii, the nonprofit leading the development of the project in partnership with the state of Hawaii. The team secured land in February 2024 and broke ground at the beginning of May. One hundred days later, the first families started moving in. Lahaina, August 10, 2023 [Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images] Vetting 130 modular housing companies Before the fires in Maui, the nonprofit was focused on building housing for the most vulnerable Hawaii residents. (HomeAid Hawaii is the local chapter of a national group created by the building industry to help tackle the affordable housing crisis.) In August 2023, after the wildfires, the nonprofit started working with the state on the disaster response. Immediately after the fires, the state was inundated with calls from modular housing companies; it realized that factory-built modular housing would likely be an important tool in the recovery. So while the nonprofit scoured the area for a place to build temporary housing, the group simultaneously started vetting more than 130 companies that make modular homes. Everyone said, I can absolutely get you 400 homes within three months, Carvalho says. And as a realist, I was able to break that down and ask about the specifics that got us to a true understanding of their timelines, production schedules, transportation, what the work would be looking like on site, and basically coming up with a real budget. They realized that a single company wouldnt be able to supply the 450 homes that they wanted for the project. So the team made a short list of finalists, visiting their factories in person to do due diligence, and ultimately choosing five providers. [Photo: HomeAid Hawaii] Finding a site to build At the same time, they were racing to find land. The 57-acre site they ultimately chose had challenges, including the fact that it was covered in volcanic rock. Preparing the land for construction meant an expensive process of using dynamite to blast through enough rock to install sewer, water, and electrical lines. The land sits on a slope, and engineering the right foundations for the locations was another challenge to solve. The site also has a complex history. The land originally belonged to Hawaiian royalty; it was ceded to the U.S. government when the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, the parcel was part of a larger collection of land that went to the state government, with the intent that it would be used to help native Hawaiians. Now, the state plans to use the site for emergency housing only for five years, as it makes plans to build permanent housing there for Hawaii residents. Its not yet clear what will happen to the modular homes when the five years are up. But the land was relatively close to some employment, a critical factor for fire survivors who were struggling with transportation. So the team moved forward. While the lease for the land was being finalized, the modular providers were getting ready to begin shipping units as soon as possible. [Photo: HomeAid Hawaii] An accelerated timeline Permitting happened quickly, as the government used its emergency declaration to speed up the process. We brought the stakeholders together in one room, so it wasnt five different agencies looking at a permit set that would otherwise take eight months, says Carvalho. We got our grading permit in two weeks. I think the project has demonstrated not only what modular manufacturing can do, but also what government can do to truly just get housing built. Construction also happened quickly. Most of the work on the modular homes happened in factories, with construction crews handling other steps like putting in foundations, steps, and decks. I dont think we would have been able to meet our timeline had modular not been an option, he says. The first families moved into the homes in August 2024, a year after the fire. The homes, which range in size from studios to small three-bedroom houses, are limited to survivors who werent eligible for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has also built some modular housing in Lahaina. The majority of residents are renters. Others are homeowners with specific challenges. For example, one couple didnt qualify for FEMA aid because they had insurance cverage, but their insurance settlement doesnt actually cover the cost of rebuilding their home. Rent at Ka Lai Ola is free until August, and then theyll pay below market rate, helping them save up to cover the cost of rebuilding. [Photo: HomeAid Hawaii] A lifelife for residents For the residents whove been able to move in, the site has been a lifeline. You see a sigh of relief when they receive keys, and know that they dont have to jump around from hotel to hotel for the next four years, says Cesar Martinez, the director at Ka Lai Ola. Martinez and his family also lost their own rental home in the fire. Like others, they didnt get any official warning the day of the catastrophe. Gale-force winds had taken out power and cell service. Martinez and his girlfriend and children fled when smoke filled the air and they started hearing explosions in the neighborhood. Cesar Martinez and Patricia Nebrida [Photo: HomeAid Hawaii] They were able to safely escape by driving up a dirt road into the hills and spending the night at a hotel where Martinez and his girlfriend had worked in the past. But when they returned a couple of days later, everything was gone. We drove to the property where we lived and confirmed with our own eyes that nothing was there, he says. The house theyd rented had burned down. The place where Martinez worked was gone. His childrens school, which had been scheduled to start a new school year the day after the fire happened, was also gone. Like thousands of other Lahaina residents, they stayed temporarily in hotels. But the shortage of housing, and the extreme cost of the little housing that was left, meant that they considered leaving Hawaii. When they were able to move to Ka Lai Ola, they knew that they would have a place to live until 2029, and that was incredibly important for their mental health. Theres a lot of uncertainty, he says. A lot of people who didnt have much, now have even less.” Meeting their new neighbors also helped. The modular homes are arranged in pods of 14 or 16 units. “We placed units strategically in ways where there would be intentional community connections,” says Carvalho. The community also has access to financial literacy classes, mental health counseling, a mobile food bank, and a mobile vet clinic that offers free care for pets. The site itself, with a view of the ocean, is peaceful. The name means “The Place of Peaceful Recovery” in Hawaiian. A steep cost It’s undeniable that the development happened quicklyand for that reason, aspects of the approach could be useful for other areas. Changing permitting rules was key, and so was the use of modular homes. Carvalho has been meeting with groups from California that are currently working on plans to rebuild areas that burned in January around Los Angeles. He has offered, he says, to share HomeAid’s analysis of all of the modular housing companies. But the homes come at a steep cost: The project costs $185 million, or more than $400,000 per home. (The nonprofit says that’s still $52 million less than the state would have spent with typical construction; the project saved $14 million because of donated materials and labor. The Hawaii Community Foundation also contributed $40 million from funds collected from global donors.) Most of the cost went to building underlying infrastructure, from sewer and water connections to grading the land, since it was an undeveloped area; the base cost of each home was only around $122,000. The same infrastructure can later be used to support permanent housing for Hawaii residents, and the modular housing itself can likely be used much longer than the current five-year plan. Still, critics argue that costs were higher than necessary because the developer didn’t get bids from multiple contractors in order to speed up construction. Critics are also concerned that HomeAid hasn’t been transparent about specific costs; the nonprofit acknowledges that it’s behind in providing receipts. And while the project has undeniably helped its residents, 12,000 people were displaced by the fires; one development can’t help everyone. The cost is also a reminder that as climate change makes disasters more common, communities also need to invest more in preventionrepeatedly rebuilding is financially unsustainable. In L.A., for example, the fires this year were 35% more likely because of climate change. The same extreme conditions will happen again, and neighborhoods need to be better designed with that in mind. At a national level, the Trump administration recently shut down a program that helped communities become more resilient in order to limit damage in disasters. But some cities are still trying to do more. In Berkeley, California, for example, homeowners in neighborhoods that are at the highest risk from fire will now be required to clear “defensible space” around their homes so fires can’t spread as easily.
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E-Commerce
In this episode of FC Explains, hosted by Josh Christensen, we break down why the 2024 WNBA Draft is being hailed as the moment that changed everything for women’s sports. From record-breaking viewership and unprecedented media attention to historic endorsement deals and social media buzz, this draft marked a new era for female athletes and the business of sports.
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E-Commerce
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