The first time I walked into a Lululemon, I was pretty sure I wanted nothing to do with the store. I had gone in with my mom, I think that I was a freshman in high school at the time, and as much as she tried to get me to try on the some of the clothes, I was confident that I only wanted to wear Nike, and maybe Adidas.
This was the image I had for guys that wore Lululemon, no offense to those who actually do yoga, but I thought that no way would these work for playing other sports, or even to simply work out in. My opinion did not change; it was really changed for me. I received some Lululemon shorts and a shirt for Christmas that year.
After going to a few of my high school practices and working out a few times in these, I was hooked. Not only did the clothes fit well, I actually felt that I was more motivated to work out when I wore them. An added bonus for the clothes is the silverescent technology, having this in the Lululemon clothing was a big plus for my basketball locker. This silverescent technology fights the stink that occurs in athletic apparel when you work out, silverescent "can stop the naturally occurring bacteria that feeds on your sweat and causes that the bad smells that build up in your clothes over time" (lululemon.com). If you ever been into a high school locker room anything that reduces the smell is a huge plus.
The reason I keep shopping at Lululemon is that it gives me both hedonic and utilitarian motivation. Hedonic motivation is a drive to experience something personally gratifying (Babin and Harris chapter 5), when I purchase something new at Lululemon the gratification that I receive is that I get clothes that I can immediately wear to a variety of different occasions from working out to hanging out with friends.
The utilitarian motivation, "a drive to acquire products that can be used to accomplish something"(Babin and Harris Chapter 5) that I receive from Lululemon is that I have clothes that I can feel comfortable in and that motivate me to do my best during a work out.
Fighting the yoga stereotype is something that I was trying to avoid when I did not know what Lululemon really was, but now that I know what the company and brand is all about, I know that it goes way beyond yoga. While the store near my house in Cincinnati has daily yoga classes, they also have running clubs, workout groups, and sports leagues that they offer to customers. Lululemon is a brand that pushes you to better yourself through every day and every work out and has done an excellent job on changing my view on the person that wears this brand.
Works Cited
Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2014). Chapter 5. In CB: Consumer behavior : Student edition 6 (Student ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Innovation in the science of stink. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.lululemon.com/education/fabricsandtechnologies/silverescent
Albert, great post. I had the same impressions of Lululemon when it first came on the scene. I thought that their clothes were odd to say the least, and that they wouldn't serve any purpose for me. However, as time has gone on my thoughts about it have changed. I still don't purchase their products, but my friends who do have changed my beliefs about their brand. I now know that Lululemon's clothes serve many purposes, and maybe one day I'll join the party!
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