February 6, 2024
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Is Men’s Footwear a Stretch for Lululemon?
In a step to further position its men’s lineup to match its success in women’s, Lululemon introduced its first line of men’s footwear.
Similar to the launch of women’s footwear in 2022, the men’s Beyondfeel running and trail shoe designs take into account the unique attributes of the male foot, including a wider heel, flatter arch, and more forceful landing when running compared to women.
“We’ve considered every anatomical nuance through biomechanical research of men’s feet through individual foot scans for this launch,” Simon Atkins, senior vice president of footwear at Lululemon, said last week at a press event, according to Footwear News. “Now, many of these elements to accommodate the male foot are hidden in the structural design, but the wearer will feel the differences.”
Lululemon also released its first casual sneaker, Cityverse, available for both genders.
The Vancouver-based yoga-themed retailer, founded in 1998, entered the men’s activewear category in 2014, and men’s reached 35% of sales in 2022. The growth has been boosted by continued innovations, including its breakout ABC men’s pants.
Having a compelling men’s footwear range will better position Lululemon to compete against the biggest men’s activewear players, Nike and Adidas — which are best known for their footwear — as well as upstarts such as HOKA and On.
Just lifting brand awareness will also help. Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald told analysts in December that unaided brand awareness in men was only 13% in the U.S., 12% in Australia, and single digits everywhere else outside of North America. He said, “Building awareness and consideration remains top of mind for us, and we see ample opportunity to increase the media and brand-building commitment to the men’s business.”
Footwear overall remains in a “test and learn” phase for the retailer, but Lululemon is “seeing enough positive signals and response from the guest that we have an opportunity in this category,” said McDonald.
In April 2022, Lululemon set a goal to double its men’s business by 2026 as part of a broader Power of Three ×2 strategy to double overall sales.
Reaching the men’s growth target is not “reliant on footwear,” Lululemon Chief Brand Officer Nikki Neuburger told CNBC. She added, “Doubling the men’s business is absolutely a key growth pillar for us, and while footwear is a relatively small category for us and we’re early in our footwear journey, we’re excited by the prospect of just the role it plays in offering him more choice.”
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Ryan Grogman
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Shep Hyken
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Mark Self
President and CEO, Vector Textiles
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Discussion Questions
How important will establishing a credible men’s footwear offering be for Lululemon to drive relevance and accelerate growth in the men’s space?
What other steps may Lululemon have to take to overcome the challenges of expanding in the men’s category as a women’s-first brand?
Poll
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Lululemon is one of the shining stars of retail and has, over the past five years, had a fantastic run of growth. However, there are limits and while Lulu has quite a lot of runway left, it has to think about how to extract more spending from its core shoppers to keep its sales line healthy. Part of the strategy is to provide customers with head to toe outfit solutions, which is one of the reasons why Lulu has already entered the women’s footwear market. It has seen success with this range so has taken the decision to push into men’s sneakers. While it faces a lot of competition from the likes of Nike, On, and so forth, the market is huge so it only needs to capture a small slice of market share to find success. This is also part of a longer goal to become more dominant in menswear. Currently menswear nets Lulu $1.96 billion in revenue and has grown by 271.6% since 2017. However, womenswear is still the majority of the business bringing in $5.26 billion.
With menswear reaching almost a third of total sales, it’s an important category for Lululemon and adding a shoe offering should only help it accelerate growth. However, despite Lululemon’s strong brand and committed customers, it’s new men’s shoe offering must be of a quality and superiority like the other products that Lululemon fans have come to expect. But even if they develop an excellent product, they still need to compete with some of the biggest global brands and most capable shoe developers in the world in Nike and adidas. Competition aside, Lululemon’s pursuit of the footwear category seems like a natural fit, and their thoughtful approach to product development should improve their chances of success.
Your mission Mr. Phelps…. or maybe this is really more an assignment for Cinnamon Carter, so closely is Lululemon tied to women’s wear? Whichever member of the IM Team you task with this project, I think it will be just that: a challenge. I don’t why they singled out footwear, since, as Tom points out there is more than enough competition out there, but then I think the whole concept is questionable…sometimes being so closely identified with a segment of a market precludes an expansion into the larger elements of it.
Menswear is now almost a $2 billion a year revenue stream at Lululemon. It has a very strong and loyal following of male shoppers, which continues to grow rapidly. So starting out in womenswear has not really been to their detriment. They made the shift to menswear years ago; the range expansion has already happened. Whether footwear is a sensible extension remains to be seen – although this has already worked pretty well with the women’s sneaker range.
While I understand the logic behind this decision, I’m not convinced it’s going to draw the volume it needs to. There is a lot of brand loyalty in the footwear space, plus the fact that consumers so often seek footwear retailers with a wide breadth of brands as options when trying a new shoe. So, I’ll be curious to see how this does.
Lululemon has a solid reputation in good quality mens clothing, starting with the ABC pants several years ago. Footwear is a natural progression, even if only yielding small sales increases.
But the product needs to hit the exact note for the male customer. Lululemon’s footwear should take a page out of both Allbirds and Atoms product and marketing playbooks. Both brands took off like a rocket, gained a passionate following, and operate successfully in this niche space.
In my opinion, establishing a credible men’s footwear offering is crucial for Lululemon to drive relevance and accelerate growth in the men’s space. Footwear is a significant segment within the men’s activewear market, and competing with established players like Nike and Adidas requires Lululemon to offer comprehensive options.
To overcome the challenges of expanding in the men’s category as a women’s-first brand, Lululemon may need to focus on building brand awareness among men, investing in targeted marketing campaigns, and emphasizing the quality and performance of its products.
Additionally, offering a diverse range of styles and ensuring a seamless shopping experience could further attract male customers and solidify Lululemon’s position in the men’s activewear market.
Men’s footwear makes complete sense for Lululemon as they check off categories in the quest for head to toe dressing. And I’m glad they are talking about “activewear” and not yoga. The Lululemon brand promise remains strongly tethered to yoga in my mind, and being too closely tethered to yoga could confine growth over the long term. Every time I see a men’s visual it strikes me as contemporary streetwear as much as it does pure activewear. The ABC pant is a great casual pant aside from being activewear/workout wear. So Lululemon’s growth strategy is as much about broadening their brand promise as it is about broadening the categories they want to sell.
I am not sure what “credible” means. If it means we make a great sneaker uniquely for men…the powerhouse manufacturers also make top-of-the-line performance shoes.
I am actually surprised that the menswear business has been so successful. I have never seen a male with the Lulu logo at the gym. That strikes me as the biggest challenge for Lulu. If we asked men or women what the leading women’s athletic brand is, all would answer Lulu. JHence, their astounding success. I imagine Lulu would not make the list if we asked the same question regarding men’s brands.
I also wonder how many women adore Lulu because it is a uniquely women’s brand.
This feels like a similar conversation that was had a couple of years ago when the industry was assessing whether a strong push into men’s athletic wear was a necessary, or even smart, strategic move for Lululemon. Regardless of pundit views, Lululemon was successful. It doesn’t dominate the men’s space by any means, but walk into a Lululemon store on the weekend, and it’s clear it’s become a player in that category. To me, footwear does seems a little risky, but it’s the next step, and a worthwhile venture (see the unexpected rise in HOKA, On Cloud, etc.). And if the category doesn’t take off, Lululemon has already shown with the Mirror debacle that it’s willing to cut it’s ties and move on.
This feels like a very risky investment for Lululemon. The strength of their brand is Yoga and women’s athletic wear. Not surprisingly, yoga studios are predominantly female, so the affinity for the brand makes sense.
Marketing to men is different. While they’re having some success in men’s categories, I remain unconvinced that there will be enough demand to make a footwear line viable in the long run. If Lululemon can become a credible athletic brand for men and grow beyond being a niche player, I think it’ll be the first women’s brand to cross the gender line at mass successfully. If they can win with males, this will be huge for Lululemon’s growth prospects.
Lululemon is a rare brand that seemingly cannot do anything wrong. And that identifies the threat here…men’s shoes seems like a big stretch to me. Focus on your core customers, there is still a lot of growth there.
But then again, you do not grow by being safe or timid.
Like Gene Detroyer I guess I’m not sure what a credible men’s footwear offering is. If it is a decent product, that’s not enough to justify the line. If is a statement product used to demonstrate that Lululemon offers a complete range of menswear, I sort of get it although, like Gene, I think the brand has a long way to go in its voyage from the yoga mat to the gym. If it’s an athliesure product, I don’t get it at all. As to what steps the brand needs to take that requires an understanding of the long term brand strategy I don’t have.
Lululemon is a ‘technical brand’. That’s a great starting point for their expansion into menswear. Men also tend to be more purpose driven shoppers. And Lululemon is a leader when it comes to enabling filtering by product attributes. So that’s another thing in their favor. What’s more, product attributes have a lot of predictive value, so I have no doubt that Lululemon will use that data to refine their offering over time. It will be interesting to see if they expose even more product attributes to further enable their male online customers.
When I first read the title, I thought maybe LuLu was getting away from what they are best at – changing lanes, which often doesn’t work. However, the shoes are athletic shoes. LuLu won’t put out a bad product. It must match the quality and image they have created. Sure, there is a risk. There’s a lot of competition in the shoe space. However, it is LuLu, and their customer base is loyal. So, let’s see if their footwear initiative is more than an experiment.
I’ve seen the shoes. Very well made and thought out. The science is the story.
LULU has a very loyal and committed following. They will sell a lot of shoes
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Lululemon is one of the shining stars of retail and has, over the past five years, had a fantastic run of growth. However, there are limits and while Lulu has quite a lot of runway left, it has to think about how to extract more spending from its core shoppers to keep its sales line healthy. Part of the strategy is to provide customers with head to toe outfit solutions, which is one of the reasons why Lulu has already entered the women’s footwear market. It has seen success with this range so has taken the decision to push into men’s sneakers. While it faces a lot of competition from the likes of Nike, On, and so forth, the market is huge so it only needs to capture a small slice of market share to find success. This is also part of a longer goal to become more dominant in menswear. Currently menswear nets Lulu $1.96 billion in revenue and has grown by 271.6% since 2017. However, womenswear is still the majority of the business bringing in $5.26 billion.
With menswear reaching almost a third of total sales, it’s an important category for Lululemon and adding a shoe offering should only help it accelerate growth. However, despite Lululemon’s strong brand and committed customers, it’s new men’s shoe offering must be of a quality and superiority like the other products that Lululemon fans have come to expect. But even if they develop an excellent product, they still need to compete with some of the biggest global brands and most capable shoe developers in the world in Nike and adidas. Competition aside, Lululemon’s pursuit of the footwear category seems like a natural fit, and their thoughtful approach to product development should improve their chances of success.
Your mission Mr. Phelps…. or maybe this is really more an assignment for Cinnamon Carter, so closely is Lululemon tied to women’s wear? Whichever member of the IM Team you task with this project, I think it will be just that: a challenge. I don’t why they singled out footwear, since, as Tom points out there is more than enough competition out there, but then I think the whole concept is questionable…sometimes being so closely identified with a segment of a market precludes an expansion into the larger elements of it.
Menswear is now almost a $2 billion a year revenue stream at Lululemon. It has a very strong and loyal following of male shoppers, which continues to grow rapidly. So starting out in womenswear has not really been to their detriment. They made the shift to menswear years ago; the range expansion has already happened. Whether footwear is a sensible extension remains to be seen – although this has already worked pretty well with the women’s sneaker range.
While I understand the logic behind this decision, I’m not convinced it’s going to draw the volume it needs to. There is a lot of brand loyalty in the footwear space, plus the fact that consumers so often seek footwear retailers with a wide breadth of brands as options when trying a new shoe. So, I’ll be curious to see how this does.
Lululemon has a solid reputation in good quality mens clothing, starting with the ABC pants several years ago. Footwear is a natural progression, even if only yielding small sales increases.
But the product needs to hit the exact note for the male customer. Lululemon’s footwear should take a page out of both Allbirds and Atoms product and marketing playbooks. Both brands took off like a rocket, gained a passionate following, and operate successfully in this niche space.
In my opinion, establishing a credible men’s footwear offering is crucial for Lululemon to drive relevance and accelerate growth in the men’s space. Footwear is a significant segment within the men’s activewear market, and competing with established players like Nike and Adidas requires Lululemon to offer comprehensive options.
To overcome the challenges of expanding in the men’s category as a women’s-first brand, Lululemon may need to focus on building brand awareness among men, investing in targeted marketing campaigns, and emphasizing the quality and performance of its products.
Additionally, offering a diverse range of styles and ensuring a seamless shopping experience could further attract male customers and solidify Lululemon’s position in the men’s activewear market.
Men’s footwear makes complete sense for Lululemon as they check off categories in the quest for head to toe dressing. And I’m glad they are talking about “activewear” and not yoga. The Lululemon brand promise remains strongly tethered to yoga in my mind, and being too closely tethered to yoga could confine growth over the long term. Every time I see a men’s visual it strikes me as contemporary streetwear as much as it does pure activewear. The ABC pant is a great casual pant aside from being activewear/workout wear. So Lululemon’s growth strategy is as much about broadening their brand promise as it is about broadening the categories they want to sell.
I am not sure what “credible” means. If it means we make a great sneaker uniquely for men…the powerhouse manufacturers also make top-of-the-line performance shoes.
I am actually surprised that the menswear business has been so successful. I have never seen a male with the Lulu logo at the gym. That strikes me as the biggest challenge for Lulu. If we asked men or women what the leading women’s athletic brand is, all would answer Lulu. JHence, their astounding success. I imagine Lulu would not make the list if we asked the same question regarding men’s brands.
I also wonder how many women adore Lulu because it is a uniquely women’s brand.
This feels like a similar conversation that was had a couple of years ago when the industry was assessing whether a strong push into men’s athletic wear was a necessary, or even smart, strategic move for Lululemon. Regardless of pundit views, Lululemon was successful. It doesn’t dominate the men’s space by any means, but walk into a Lululemon store on the weekend, and it’s clear it’s become a player in that category. To me, footwear does seems a little risky, but it’s the next step, and a worthwhile venture (see the unexpected rise in HOKA, On Cloud, etc.). And if the category doesn’t take off, Lululemon has already shown with the Mirror debacle that it’s willing to cut it’s ties and move on.
This feels like a very risky investment for Lululemon. The strength of their brand is Yoga and women’s athletic wear. Not surprisingly, yoga studios are predominantly female, so the affinity for the brand makes sense.
Marketing to men is different. While they’re having some success in men’s categories, I remain unconvinced that there will be enough demand to make a footwear line viable in the long run. If Lululemon can become a credible athletic brand for men and grow beyond being a niche player, I think it’ll be the first women’s brand to cross the gender line at mass successfully. If they can win with males, this will be huge for Lululemon’s growth prospects.
Lululemon is a rare brand that seemingly cannot do anything wrong. And that identifies the threat here…men’s shoes seems like a big stretch to me. Focus on your core customers, there is still a lot of growth there.
But then again, you do not grow by being safe or timid.
Like Gene Detroyer I guess I’m not sure what a credible men’s footwear offering is. If it is a decent product, that’s not enough to justify the line. If is a statement product used to demonstrate that Lululemon offers a complete range of menswear, I sort of get it although, like Gene, I think the brand has a long way to go in its voyage from the yoga mat to the gym. If it’s an athliesure product, I don’t get it at all. As to what steps the brand needs to take that requires an understanding of the long term brand strategy I don’t have.
Lululemon is a ‘technical brand’. That’s a great starting point for their expansion into menswear. Men also tend to be more purpose driven shoppers. And Lululemon is a leader when it comes to enabling filtering by product attributes. So that’s another thing in their favor. What’s more, product attributes have a lot of predictive value, so I have no doubt that Lululemon will use that data to refine their offering over time. It will be interesting to see if they expose even more product attributes to further enable their male online customers.
When I first read the title, I thought maybe LuLu was getting away from what they are best at – changing lanes, which often doesn’t work. However, the shoes are athletic shoes. LuLu won’t put out a bad product. It must match the quality and image they have created. Sure, there is a risk. There’s a lot of competition in the shoe space. However, it is LuLu, and their customer base is loyal. So, let’s see if their footwear initiative is more than an experiment.
I’ve seen the shoes. Very well made and thought out. The science is the story.
LULU has a very loyal and committed following. They will sell a lot of shoes