lululemon is an athleisure apparel retailer, stocking a variety of sports clothing, from leggings and sports bras, to tops and coats.
However, if you’ve never shopped at lululemon, you might be curious to know: Is lululemon fast fashion?
In this article, I will cover some key information about lululemon, including whether lululemon is fast fashion.
Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Fast fashion refers to the mass production of cheap, poor quality, disposable clothing by retailers with the sole focus placed on rapidly producing high volumes of clothing as the trends change.
Everything about fast fashion is fast, from the rate of production, to the changes in fashion trends, and the customer’s decision to purchase the piece of clothing that they are only likely to wear a few times before they dispose of it.
This is what makes fast fashion so detrimental, not only to the planet, but also to the underpaid workers.
Why Is Lululemon So Expensive?
There’s no denying that lululemon is a high-end athleisure brand in the market, but why is it so expensive?
There are a few reasons why lululemon is an expensive brand. These include but are not limited to:
Cost of production – lululemon’s cost of production, including expensive machines and fabric developing techniques, is a big reason why it’s so expensive. In addition, it puts its products through thorough testing and quality control to ensure its consistent high quality.
High quality material – lululemon prides itself on using high quality materials for all of their products. With an emphasis on comfort, they invest a lot of money in improving their moisture-wicking, durable fabrics.
Finite number of items – lululemon tends to produce a finite number of certain items to ensure the demand remains higher than the supply. As a result, they don’t need to lower their prices as they will always have customers that place value on these ‘scarce’ items of clothing.
Exclusivity – lululemon almost entirely sells its products through its stores and its online website. As a result, its products remain the same price, as it prevents its products from ever being sold on clearance racks.
Is Lululemon Environmentally Friendly?
In short, no, lululemon is not environmentally friendly. It uses very little environmentally friendly materials in the production of its products.
lululemon’s ‘footprint’ section on its website claims that they ‘focus on eliminating waste’ and have set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations and supply chain.
While the brand is part of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, there isn’t enough evidence to suggest that they are currently an ethical brand.
However, considering its target to include sustainable materials in 100% of its products by 2030, there is no evidence to suggest that lululemon is even close to being considered environmentally friendly.
While lululemons pledge to become more sustainable by 2030 might be enough to persuade some consumers, there is a lot of talk and little action when it comes to lululemons and their ethics on the climate crisis.
If you want a brand that is environmentally friendly today, lululemon are not the right company to support.
Is Lululemon Fast Fashion?
If you consider the definition of fast fashion is inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers, then no, lululemon isn’t fast fashion.
However, that doesn’t mean that it’s a good brand to support, either.
For instance, lululemon has experienced wide controversy in the past regarding its workers.
After it came to light that their factory workers endure physical violence and workplace harassment, with several garment workers giving detailed accounts, it’s fair to say that there are better, more ethical choices than lululemon.
In addition to this, lululemon is not taking the adequate steps to ensure that their workers receive a living wage.
Whichever way you look at this fact, it isn’t acceptable for any business to treat their workers this way, let alone a company that charges premium prices for its products.
When a business is paying a wage that is less than a single pair of their leggings, why would anyone want to continue supporting lululemon?
Supporting a business with your money is voting with your money. Knowledge is power.
If you don’t agree with what lululemon stands for, then instead of supporting lululemon and their dubious ethics, you can choose to support ethical businesses producing high-quality sustainable activewear.
The great thing about this is knowing that you’re not supporting businesses with values that don’t align with yours.
Are There Any Good Alternatives For Lululemon?
There are a variety of alternatives to lululemon that are not only better for the environment, but are also better in quality.
For instance, Patagonia is one of the best brands on the market today that are a force to be reckoned with in terms of ethical fashion.
Before Patagonia makes an order with a garment factory, they make sure that a team visits the specific factory to confirm that the working conditions are safe and ethical.
In addition to this, Patagonia even offers to repair your used Patagonia gear for you should something happen to it.
There are also a wide variety of other sustainable brands out there that focus on using sustainable materials, such as Organic Basics.
If you have the budget to shop at lululemon, then you have the budget to shop at much more sustainable brands, too.
I highly recommend that you do your research, and opt for a brand that is more dedicated to tackling the climate crisis and has a less controversial reputation when it comes to its workers and factory working conditions.
In Summary
No, lululemon is not a fast fashion brand. That being said, they are not environmentally friendly either and have experienced backlash for poor working conditions and not paying workers a living wage.
Where you stand on the matter of lululemon will depend on you and your personal ethics.
However, if you’re looking for a sustainable brand that pays its workers a living wage, you might want to look elsewhere.
