Luon — A trademark of Lululemon

Qinshu Yang
Aug 27, 2017 · 4 min read

Lululemon, a yoga-inspired, professional athletic apparel company, now design for yoga, running, cycling, training and most other sweaty pursuits for both guests, ambassadors and elite athletes. The market for athletic apparel is highly competitive based on brand image and recognition as well as product quality, innovation, style, distribution, and price. Lululemon successfully obtains premium brand image which focuses on women and technical product innovation under the competition with the established companies which expands product line and the new entrants to the market. (CSIMarket, 2017) Luon, which is trademarked by the brand, is generally a nylon/spandex blend fabric used in tanks, pants, bras and jackets. It’s an important part of Lululemon’s secret sauce.

Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWMqkrC3W28

Lululemon do not own any manufacturing facilities, nor does it operate any. It sources necessary fabrics from a select group of up to 65 suppliers. The champion yoga fabric - luon is the largest fabric requirement, making up about 30% of the company’s total fabric use (Soni, 2014). Lulu only sources the luon fabric from Eclat Textile Co, in Taiwan, which Lululemon has used for the past decade. The Luon fabric is marketed as a four-way stretch fabric that is sweat-wicking and cottony soft, providing serious stretch and recovery. The spandex ensure that the fabric will never “stretch or bag out”, while the nylon provides coverage (Bhasin & Lutz, 2013). There are also a bunch of variations of luon that Lululemon uses, like full-on luon, which is a tighter weave intended to address the sheerness issue. Light luon, that is a lightweight version for better performing while hot climates and even hot workouts, and the seriously light luon, which is basically sheer. They’re all trademarked too, and Lululemon announced that these variations “all have the same performance characteristics” as the regular version, but a bit different.

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO27UsN4zxY

Owning the fancy-named signature fabrics, Lululemon attracts the yoga lover, and the professional performance of the fabrics and the unique design of the pattern draw the customer back. People who are interested in the fabrics and the technology innovation can find some details and explanation in the Lululemon official website, which make people involving and understanding the brand value and culture. The brand, now have be the champion of the yoga apparel. The cheap labor, quickly cycle time of the supplier is necessary for the lululemon to catch up with the skyrocketing demand as an emerging retailer. Lululemon sold its products at prices much expensive than competitors precisely because it warranted that its products were of “superior” quality, as they claimed its product quality was “the highest in the industry”.

The Luno manufacturer Eclat Textile Co. not only work for Lululemon, since Eclat developed a flexible knit fabric and lauched commercial production in 1983, it successful developed long-term relationship with big global names such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour. While its primary focus is apparel for jogging and yoga, it has expanded its lineup to design for golf, tennis, rugby and other sports. Eclat sets up branch office in 1989 to service north American industry, providing warehouse option at low minimum for local market in-stock programs with signature fabrications, ex. Luno fabric (Eclat, 2009). While Eclat helps USA market start up, mid size and growing companies to stable growth, it obtains good reputation for developing high-quality fabrics in a way of understanding clients’ needs and promptly customizing the products accordingly, which enabled Eclat to avoid being dragged into cost-cutting competition (Nikkei, 2017).

As the demand goes up, the quantity begins to take precedence, quality need to be carefully managed. When outsourcing companies are far away from their foreign manufacturing centers, their ability to keep a watchful eye over production is hindered, sometimes at the risk of their product (Booton, 2013). Lululemon recalled its black luon yoga pants in 2013 because they’re too see-through, which makes up 17 percent of all women’s bottoms sold at the apparel retailer. As Luon pants are technical product to manufacture with the complex specs, the production process requires a much closer professional supervision rather than electronics where errors are easier to spot. Making strict specs,and diversifying the supplier base to decrease the dependency on the single source may be both helpful to maintain high-quality standards.

References

Bhasin , K., & Lutz, A. (2013, March 19). Here’s What’s So Special About Lululemon’s “Luon” Fabric. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-luon-2013-3

Booton, J. (2013, March 22). Lululemon Athletica Inc’s Competitiveness. Retrieved from http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2013/03/22/lululemon-debacle-reveals-how-cheap-labor-can-backfire.html

CsIMarket. (2017). Lululemon Athletica Inc’s Competitiveness. Retrieved from https://csimarket.com/stocks/compet_glance.php?code=LULU

ECLAT. (2009). Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.eclatusa.com/about.php

Nikkei Asian View. (2017). Eclat Textile Co., Ltd. Retrieved from https://asia.nikkei.com/Company/05ZDZ1-E?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt8G7hYX41QIV0y-BCh2ydwPuEAAYASAAEgJbUvD_BwE

Soni , P. S. (2014, December 15). Lululemon Supplier, Manufacturer, And Distribution Overview. Retrieved from http://marketrealist.com/2014/12/lululemon-supplier-manufacturer-distribution-overview/

Global Threads

A collection of content from the NC State College of Textiles Global textile Brand Management Class

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Qinshu Yang

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Global Threads

A collection of content from the NC State College of Textiles Global textile Brand Management Class