Invented athleisure for mainstream America with premium four-way stretch fabrics that solved real problems. Built community-focused stores that created brand evangelists. Revenue rocketed from $353M to $3.3B between 2009-2019.
Leadership chaos started with 2013 see-through pants scandal and founder's fat-shaming comments. Then they chased shiny objects — blowing $500M on Mirror fitness tech that flopped post-COVID. Meanwhile fashion shifted to loose fits and baggy styles, exactly what Lulu doesn't do. Competitors from Nike to hipster startups like Alo ate their lunch.
Still huge but stalled. US same-store sales down 2%. Growth forecast slashed to 8-9%. Stock down 40% from peak. Betting everything on China expansion while the home market feels saturated and stale.
