Yahoo Finance Lululemon Lab New York Launches Capsule
SELF-REFLECTION: Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s New York Lab concept shop has pushed out a capsule collection focused on using a new textile technique.
The Lab store concept — with one in New York and the other in Vancouver — aims at being a place for innovation, which carries merchandise tailored to the specific customer base where the shop is located.
The Reflective Splatter capsule, totaling four stockkeeping units, includes tights, hot shorts, racer-back tank and sports bra. The collection ranges in price from $68 for the tank to $298 for the tights. It will be sold on Lululemon’s U.S., Canadian and U.K. online stores, the Lululemon Flatiron store and the Labs in New York and Vancouver. The company’s Harrods and Kings Road stores in London will also carry the capsule.
“One of the biggest inspiration points really came from rethinking how to approach the technique itself, so how to rethink reflective printing and use of reflectivity in performance garments,” said Lululemon director of future textiles Pascale Gueracague, who joined the company after having worked at companies such as Hood by Air, Alexander Wang and Helmut Lang.
While reflective materials on athletic apparel has a functional use, the Lab also wanted to create a glittery effect for the garments “as opposed to it being so graphic,” Gueracague explained.
The technique, which the firm has not used before, is a double-printing process that includes a base layer of print with a second, superimposed reflective layer on top.
The collection’s launch comes as the city gears up for the New York City Marathon, which is what partially led to the thinking behind the limited distribution strategy.
“One of the great things about Lululemon Labs is that we can try things at a smaller scale and get feedback from the market,” Gueracague said.
Plus, she pointed out, distribution is more in line with the original thinking behind the Lab concept, which is to experiment with textiles, treatments and finishes.
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