lululemon athletica was founded in 1998 in Kitsilano, Vancouver - one of the healthiest places in the world - by a group of visionary athletes. It was created by Chip Wilson as a response to the exponential increase of female participation in sports and the belief that practicing yoga facilitates the maintenance of athletic excellence and health in general as people age.

From the beginning, our designers have relied on guest feedback to create our designs. In our original store, a guest could try on the garments and provide instant feedback on what differences they would love to see in them. That feedback could be taken directly to the drawing board and implemented into designs. To this day, our retail stores still diligently collect design feedback from guest with the philosophy that it is possible to produce exactly what our guests are looking for. Researching and setting the bar for the latest fitness trends and implementing new technical sewing and fabric usage, lululemon features clothing for specialized sports including yoga, running, and personal training.

Our winning formula is in knowing that our people, both within the company and within our store’s communities, are our biggest investments. We invest time and money in developing personal responsibility in our employees who will then take those skills and implement their learning each day with the guests in our stores and communities to help us grow for the future.

naming the company

The lululemon name was chosen in a survey of 100 people from a list of 20 brand names and 20 logos. The logo is actually a stylized "A" that was made for the first letter in the name "athletically hip", a name which failed to make the grade.

the first store

Founded in 1998, lululemon's first real store opened in the beach area of Vancouver BC called Kitsilano, in November of 2000. The idea was to have the store be a community hub where people could learn and discuss the physical aspects of healthy living from yoga and diet to running and cycling as well as the mental aspects of living a powerful life of possibilities. Unfortunately for this concept, the store became so busy that it was impossible to help the guest in this way in addition to selling the product. So the focus of training shifted solely to the lululemon educator or staff person. Our goal was to train our people so well that they could in fact positively influence their families, communities and the people walking into our stores. Although the initial goal was to only have one store, it was soon obvious that to provide a fulfilling life of growth, family, salary and mortgage for our amazing staff, we would have to provide more opportunities. It was really a matter of grow or die because active minds need a challenge. The training program was such a success that the lululemon people have created a life for themselves that most people could only dream of.lululemon is a company where dreams come to fruition.