How Lululemon became a status symbol

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With the new popular fad, athleisure, many people are huge supporters and followers of companies like Lululemon. According to Haley Wilbur, a writer for Mashable, the brand Lululemon has created a “cult-like” following for people and make more and more people want to represent and support the company. With this, Lululemon has created an oligopoly in the athleisure business because many consumers in this industry feel loyal to a certain company, and making it difficult for new companies to start up.

Walking around, you constantly recognize different athleisure companies such as Lululemon and Athleta. If you ask any of these consumers, many will only wear Athleta or only wear Lululemon. How do these companies create such a “cult-like” following? Especially when you look at it, Lululemon isn’t known for their affordable prices, or reliable products, so why do people shop there? Lululemon has significantly increased their prices that is causing tension with consumers. One shopper at Lululemon said, “I could understand a slight increase in prices if quality were increasing, but longtime and loyal customers are well aware that has NOT been the case”. The company is slowly losing long-term shoppers because the company is raising the price while the quality isn’t improving. Some prices have been raised by 22% without much change to their products, yet people are still buying products there.

On top of the raising prices, Lululemon is the 9th most valuable clothing brand. Even with all their negative press and reputation, Lululemon still manages to be a successful company. The store has also had many different recalls for their products such as being see-through as well as piling. I think it's surprising that with the rising prices, and constant recalls that it is still rated high up on valuable clothing brands. Stores like Abercrombie who have also had their negative press wouldn't be noted as a successful company because other stores like Forever 21, H&M, Urban Outfitters, have a much higher ranking. With the new fad and many new athleisure companies starting up, Lululemon is still in the lead.

Future Research Question: Why people stop shopping at these type of stores?