Lululemon Needs a New Story | Exclusive Interview by New Look

Author | Xiaoxia Li
Editor | Qian Qiao

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the birth of lululemon's classic Align yoga pants. However, few people notice that lululemon has been deeply involved in the sports bra field for more than two decades.

In the past decade, lululemon has made systematic investments in breast biomechanics research. In the view of Chantelle Murnaghan, Vice President of R & D and Product Innovation at lululemon, high - support styles of traditional sports bras often sacrifice comfort, and they want to change this situation.

In the relatively extreme women's ultramarathon, lululemon found a solution.

In March last year, 10 female athletes wore customized lululemon gear and completed a 4,635 - kilometer run in six days. This extreme event called "FURTHER" became the toughest "product laboratory" in the brand's history.

Collaborating with athletes to develop products in extreme sports seems to be a trendy trend. Not long ago, Nike designed a racing suit, including sports bras and other categories, for the first female athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes.

The real - time feedback from athletes led to the coexistence of high - intensity support and "bare - feeling" comfort in the Go Further Bra. More notably, its fabric innovation - the Ultralu ultra - light and breathable material and Nulux™ friction optimization technology - transforms the results of biomechanics research into solutions against gravity, sweat, and friction.

"True innovation is not just about functional improvement, but also about reshaping the experience," said Chantelle.

According to the latest financial report data, lululemon's revenue in the first quarter of 2025 was $2.37 billion, a year - on - year increase of 7.3%. Among them, the revenue from women's clothing was $1.54 billion, a year - on - year increase of 7%, still playing an important revenue engine.

According to the conference call information, lululemon's newly launched high - price - point category, the Daydrift high - waisted pants series, performed well in Q1 last year. The price of the Go Further series will be slightly higher than other running products.

It is reported that lululemon has more than 10 styles of women's sports bras for different sports types, and this category is also the first to apply the Asia fit sizing.

In the current competition, lululemon has more and more competitors. With the gradually stable penetration rate of yoga pants, it needs to continuously create new hit products to lead market growth. Will the Go Further Bra and its series of products play such a role?

In early June, lululemon launched the Go Further women's running series. Taking this opportunity, we talked to Chantelle Murnaghan, Vice President of R & D and Product Innovation at lululemon, about how they identified pain points and designed the products. Maybe you can find some answers from it.

The following is an excerpt from the conversation between 36Kr and Chantelle Murnaghan, Vice President of R & D and Product Innovation at lululemon (translated):

Design Beyond Function

36Kr: I know you're a Doctor of Neuromechanics. It sounds really cool. How do you integrate interdisciplinary research such as neuroscience and biomechanics into lululemon's design concept?

Chantelle: Neuromechanics is the core scientific principle of lululemon's "Science of Feel" and the foundation of our innovation concept.

Functionality is a key part of R & D, but we don't just design for functionality. We also want to perfectly combine functionality with the usage scenario. Take the Go Further Bra as an example. It is designed specifically for running, aiming to have both powerful functions and a good wearing experience.

For example, in the Go Further series, we launched 36 innovative products, and one of the core innovative technologies is cooling. We enhance product functionality through new cooling solutions while ensuring that these solutions improve the wearing experience and help athletes perform well in competitions. In fact, many solutions born from the FURTHER project are not only committed to improving product functionality but also taking the overall product experience to a higher level.

36Kr: It seems not easy to have both comfort and performance.

Chantelle: Yes, we've done a long - term research and have been challenging the traditional perception that high support must rely on strong compression and body restraint.

So during the R & D process, we've always been thinking: How can we precisely manage the movement dimensions of key breast areas during exercise, provide sufficient support, and allow the wearer to move freely throughout the process?

We independently developed the dynamic support system "Support Code technology". Through precise data, we designed engineered support structures in specific areas of the bra - just like customizing training plans for different muscle groups, we designed different mechanical solutions for different displacement directions of the breasts.

Beyond technological breakthroughs, we also integrated revolutionary material innovation: the Ultralu fabric. We also paid attention to small details, such as the one - piece design without hooks for easy putting on and taking off. Even in the invisible lining, we carefully configured memory foams of different densities to increase comfort. It is this "precise support" and "bare - feeling comfort" that constitute the unique product philosophy of the Go Further Bra.

Sports Bras Often Sacrifice Comfort

36Kr: How did you identify the pain points of users?

Chantelle: We listen to the voices of athletes, understand their unmet needs, and find inspiration from them to drive us to create new products and experiences.

For example, in the case of sports bras, traditional high - support styles often sacrifice comfort. To achieve high support, traditional designs use many components and multiple layers of materials, which can be very troublesome to put on and take off, such as the common hook design. We want to break this paradigm, that is, to pursue real high support while ensuring comfort, allowing you to have both.

Real high support plus comfort, in my opinion, has not been truly solved in the current market. We use new technologies to achieve the coexistence of high support and high comfort. At the same time, we simplify the structure (such as removing the hook design), use lightweight materials (ultralu), and optimize details (such as comfortable foam padding) to provide female runners with an experience close to bare - feeling.

Throughout the R & D process, we closely collaborated with athletes, tested each prototype, and even conducted extreme verification through the "six - day - six - night women's ultramarathon" (held in March 2024) to ensure that the product performs well under extreme conditions.

36Kr: Will the form of collaborating with athletes continue in future product development?

Chantelle: This is definitely in our brand's DNA! As I mentioned before, we take the voices of our customers as the cornerstone of everything we do. A particularly crucial part of this is that we have established in - depth connections with top - notch athlete ambassadors around the world. We have a global network of elite athlete ambassadors, and this unique partnership runs through the entire process of our product development: from identifying unmet needs, determining product design directions, testing samples, to continuous improvement, athletes are involved in the co - creation process throughout.

Take the Go Further sports bra as an example. We specifically assembled a core co - creation group of top - notch female athletes with a spirit of breakthrough. This in - depth collaboration model is not an exception; it is engraved in the brand gene of every product we make - by testing products in real - life scenarios, we can verify whether our innovative ideas truly solve pain points and fulfill the design promises. This is the unshakable core methodology for all our product innovations.

36Kr: How do these technologies from extreme sports scenarios benefit the mass market?

Chantelle: We always listen carefully to user feedback and test and refine each product through close cooperation with our ambassadors, putting the needs of our ambassadors and customers at the core.

The six - day - six - night women's ultramarathon was also a deep challenge for our team, forcing us to think about every detail where new technologies, materials, and structures could be integrated.

Because when the product is in an extreme - limit scenario, any tiny uncomfortable detail may snowball into a major problem under extreme pressure.

This further urges us to solve every unmet need and collect every piece of feedback. We must polish the product with microscopic precision, ensuring both high - intensity support and excellent performance, as well as maintaining extreme comfort during six days of continuous wearing.

This strict testing in an extreme environment ultimately translates into a guarantee of experience for daily users - we firmly believe that products that have passed this "stress test" will also bring a new experience to customers who wear them every day.

Decoding the "Breast Mechanics Code" in a Decade

36Kr: Why did you choose sports bras?

Chantelle: lululemon has been researching and developing in the sports bra field for a long time. Since the brand's inception, innovation for "her" has been deeply rooted in our genes. For more than two decades, we have always been deeply involved in the sports bra field.

In fact, more than a decade before I joined the team, the innovation exploration of this category had already begun. With this long - term commitment, we are confident that we have become the real industry leader in this field.

In the past decade, we have more systematically carried out breast biomechanics research, deeply exploring how to break through the traditional support model and redefine the breast stability solution in high - intensity sports with cutting - edge technology.

The R & D of the Go Further sports bra has gathered the team's efforts for more than two years. As early as one year before the six - day ultramarathon event from March 6th to 12th last year (2024), we started product innovation. After the event, we simultaneously launched the commercialization process of this product.

36Kr: What kind of scenarios does this product aim to cover?

Chantelle: This product is specifically designed for running. We position it as a high - intensity support running bra, but it is actually suitable for runners at different stages - whether they are novice runners or professional athletes.

36Kr: When will it be mass - produced and launched on the market?

Chantelle: The Go Further Bra is now in mass production and on the market. It is like the first seed of the FURTHER series of products. During the FURTHER event, we created 36 innovative products, specifically designed for athletes participating in the ultramarathon. So we are very excited to launch the Go Further Bra on the market now. We discuss with the product design team every day how to expand it to different regions, try different colors, and how to make it bigger in the future.

36Kr: lululemon has made many products. Are there any experiences and lessons behind the success?

Chantelle: My team and I are very curious people. We wonder how to improve every product we have, how to launch new products that customers will like, how to challenge what exists in the market, and create truly different and differentiated products. This is the most core thing.

When it comes to the FURTHER project, it's not so much about experiences and lessons as it is a case of adjusting the direction when we found innovation opportunities.

For example, when we initially launched the FURTHER project, we originally planned to design only one product for each athlete - one piece of gear per person. But as we listened deeply to their needs and anticipated the unmet needs that athletes might have, considering that no one had ever challenged such an extreme six - day ultra - long - distance event before, we gradually found that one product per person was far from enough.

In fact, we had to build a complete product portfolio system to truly ensure that athletes were fully prepared, in control, and confident throughout the six - day race, regardless of the environment and conditions.

So, this is more like a key adjustment for innovation. We expanded from one product to 36, each product precisely corresponding to the actual needs of athletes, becoming a boost for them to break through limits and create new personal or event records. This transformation from a "single product" to a "systematic solution" actually allowed us to achieve a more influential breakthrough.

Feelings Transcend Regions

36Kr: Are there any differences in preferences between Asian consumers and European and American users?

Chantelle: Most people pursue a better feeling, and this transcends regions. Therefore, we have been continuously expanding the product experience, giving customers more choices, and ensuring that every product launched on the market combines fit, style, comfort, and quality.

36Kr: Does the growth of the Chinese market bring new R & D needs?

Chantelle: One aspect of lululemon's product innovation comes from the team's in - depth understanding of the local market. Take tailoring as an example. Fit is a key factor affecting the wearing experience and sports performance. For this reason, lululemon launched the Asia Fit series specifically designed for Asian body shapes, meeting local needs through precise tailoring and providing more size options.

We are always listening to the voices of customers in different markets, starting from unmet needs, and exploring solutions for product innovation. More feedback means more innovation opportunities.

36Kr: From your perspective, what challenges does lululemon face in product innovation and R & D?

Chantelle: The market is changing, and so are consumers' expectations. To continuously meet market needs means that we need to create before new "un - explored needs" are discovered, and this is also the key to driving brand innovation. Consumers need products that can not only meet functionality but also combine style and provide a better feeling. There are many opportunities to explore in the market.

36Kr: How do you maintain creativity?

Chantelle: Always stay curious and keep asking: How can we exceed customers' expectations? How can we create a never - before - seen wearing experience for customers? This motivation is one of the inspirations for our continuous innovation.