Lululemon Plans To Hit $12.5 Billion in Revenue by 2026: Is It Possible?

When one hears the name Lululemon, the image of an athletic woman clad in yoga pants and other athleisurewear may be the first thing that comes to mind. And while that’s the foundation of the brand’s business, expansion plans — and largely successful ones at that — are already underway, as Retail Touchpoints recently reported.

Citing CEO Calvin McDonald’s remarks made during the 2025 NRF Big Show held in January in New York City, the outlet detailed McDonald’s plans to continue the booming growth exhibited by the Lululemon brand while also gesturing toward the stiff competition it faces on its quest to do so.

Lululemon CEO’s 2 Pathways to Increased Profitability

McDonald began by underscoring his belief that Lululemon was far from a completely mature player in all markets and categories, with there being a substantial opportunity for growth in the years to come.

“I believe the brand and its opportunity for growth and innovation is significant,” McDonald said. “I talk a lot about being in the early innings of our opportunity in categories and the way in which the guest is looking for solutions.”

After successfully overseeing his “Power of Three” campaign from 2019 to 2023 — a plan to “double men’s, double digital and quadruple international revenues,” which was achieved ahead of the five-year goal — McDonald started a second project in the exact same vein.

The “Power of Three x2” campaign is set to double the company’s revenue from 2022 to 2026, aiming to reach $12.5 billion, and McDonald says Lululemon is already on course to beat the deadline.

The two paths forward? New categories and expansion into global markets.

“Our men’s business is 25% of our sales in the U.S. and awareness [of the men’s offering] is in the mid-30s. As the brand grows, as the assortment grows, we’re growing away from a yoga brand for her, so in the U.S. the opportunity is to continue to drive awareness as a brand for him. We still see a tremendous amount of growth opportunity in the U.S., through our stores, through our product innovation and category expansion,” McDonald said.

And as for growth, particularly further into China, which is Lululemon’s second-largest market outside of the domestic market, the CEO also laid his thoughts bare: “We have single-digit market share [in China] and low teens in awareness, so I’m super excited about the opportunities. There’s a growing culture there of mindfulness and health and our brand, through community, supports that with differentiated products.”

Under McDonald’s tenure, which began in 2018, Lululemon went from just 10 stores in China to 140.

Jim Cramer: Lululemon Has ‘the Most Momentum of Anyone in Retail Right Now’

Whether one agrees with his analyses or not, the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” Jim Cramer, seems to be especially enthusiastic about Lululemon’s potential upsides.

“There’s a lot of negativity today, so I figured I’d put something positive in. Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) pre-announced its positive upside. Now, they had already delivered a really terrific last quarter. Calvin McDonald is just excelling here. They had just a fabulous season. But they… have the most momentum of anyone right now in retail — quite extraordinary,” Cramer said on a recent broadcast, according to Insider Monkey.

Backing up Cramer’s analysis comes a brief report from Zacks Equity Research, which pegged Lululemon as holding a Rank No. 2, rating it a “buy” while also projecting growth this year of 12.5%.

Lululemon’s Success: The Power of Permission?

Finally, McDonald spoke of the concept of permission, at least as he sees it.

“My observation so far is that when we deliver on an unmet need in an innovative solution, we have permission,” he explained. The CEO spoke to the company’s prior failures in making inroads in the self-care segment (including deodorants and other health and beauty products) as well as the children’s market. Both of these missteps were made before he took the helm at Lululemon, as Retail Touchpoints pointed out.

Where he saw success in having been granted permission to provide solutions to customer needs was in women’s footwear, as well as in menswear. Discussing the former opportunity, McDonald indicated that competitors had made a grievous error in their assessment of the women’s footwear market.

“[Other shoemakers] assume that the feet are the same,” McDonald suggested. “Because we’re obsessed with science and feel, and [men’s and women’s] feet are not the same — there are significant differences between the width and forefront of the foot, the heel, pitch and angle, the narrowness of the back heel — we delayed the launch of men’s so that we could launch and be the first lineup of women’s performance footwear designed on her foot.”

After speaking of the red-and-white brand’s breakout success with its men’s ABC pant, originally designed for trainers but now making waves in the casualwear space, McDonald pivoted to opine more broadly over the company’s continued success.

“What’s really unique about the brand is it has permission across so many wear occasions, just on the performance side of the business,” McDonald said. “Think of the brand when it began — it was a women’s yoga brand. Now, today, we serve both genders and many activities — tennis, hiking, trail and running. It’s a really exciting journey of where product is leading us. It’s still early innings of growth, development and opportunity led by our unique approach to serving the community through differentiated product.”