Lululemon will debut a trade-in and resale possibility for its gently used leggings, tops and jackets later this month following a profitable pilot program prompted by rising shopper costs and a dedication to sustainable buying.
The rollout of Lululemon’s “Like New” program comes after the retailer examined the so-called re-commerce platform for patrons in Texas and California, which started last May.
Below Like New — powered by resale expertise supplier Trove — prospects will be capable to commerce of their beforehand worn Lululemon gadgets in alternate for a present card at any of the retailer’s U.S. shops. They’ll additionally purchase from a number of used gadgets on a separate web page on the retailer’s web site. Extra gadgets are to be added each day.
The push into resale will assist the premium model throughout the athletic attire sector appeal to prospects who’re on the lookout for offers, based on Maureen Erickson, senior vp of World Visitor Innovation at Lululemon.
“The visitor who’s shopping for from Like New actually … skews youthful and is a value-based shopper,” Erickson mentioned in a cellphone interview.
The nationwide debut is being unveiled as customers are seeing greater costs on all the things from gasoline to exploit to bread — and to a few of their favourite subscription plans, together with Amazon Prime. Lululemon mentioned final month it was planning for selective value will increase to assist offset a few of the pressures it was dealing with, significantly alongside its provide chain.
As inflation lingers, it might push extra People to hunt for reductions and really feel extra snug looking for secondhand clothes.
Buyers have already been warming as much as the thought of shopping for used clothes and different gadgets, analysts’ estimates present. In 2015, the resale market stood at about $1 billion, primarily based on a monitoring by Jefferies. That market was estimated at $15 billion in 2021, and it’s anticipated to greater than triple to $47 billion by 2025.
Erickson added that various third-party resale websites, together with ThredUp and Poshmark, are already displaying up with gently used Lululemon merchandise.
By launching its personal resale platform in-house, Lululemon is trying to scoop up these gross sales and increase repeat prospects. And shopping for secondhand merchandise from the unique retailer, Erickson mentioned, provides prospects confidence within the merchandise’ high quality and authenticity.
“We have been capable of transfer [shoppers] over to our ecosystem,” Erickson mentioned. “What it permits us to do is keep vertical, which is the character of our enterprise … the place we personal the connection with the company.”
On Lululemon’s Like New web site, previous to its official launch date, one used ladies’s “All Yours” cropped hoodie is listed at $49, down from its new $108 value. A used pair of ladies’s “Strides Forward” high-rise shorts go for $39, down from $68. And its fashionable males’s ABC slim-fit pants value $65 to $75 at resale, down from $128.
The corporate mentioned it will not be taking in and reselling sure gadgets equivalent to bras and underwear.
And whereas the secondhand merchandise will solely initially be bought on-line, and never in Lululemon’s retailers, Erickson did not rule out the potential for a brick-and-mortar take a look at of a resale part in retailer.
Like New is also seen as a dedication to the surroundings, with the retailer hoping to go off the go to to the nation’s landfills of a few of its merchandise. The corporate is working towards a number of sustainability goals that it laid out last fall, together with making 100% of its merchandise with sustainable supplies and end-of-use options by 2030.
“Each model is attempting to determine, as they need to be, how we will all dwell right into a extra sustainable future. That isn’t going anyplace,” mentioned Erickson. “And it’s a international precedence for us.”
Youthful customers are more and more driving a transfer towards sustainable buying, frequenting thrift retailers and reinventing clothes gadgets to scale back consumption. To that finish, big-box retailer Goal final week confirmed a partnership with ThredUp to listing used gadgets for resale as a part of its sustainability initiatives.
Lululemon is already being seen as doing it proper by Technology Z customers. The brand just moved up one spot on a list of teens’ top 10 favorite apparel brands, in Piper Sandler’s biannual “Taking Inventory with Teenagers” survey.
In the identical survey, which came about from Feb. 16 to March 22, 61% of teenagers, each feminine and male, reported buying garments secondhand this spring, and 56% mentioned they’ve just lately bought their garments to secondhand marketplaces.
Andy Ruben, Trove founder and CEO, is asking this 12 months a “watershed” second for re-commerce.
“Getting extra high quality for much less cash has all the time been in type,” Ruben mentioned in an interview. “After which this stuff like [higher] gasoline costs and provide chain disruption … all of this favors provide that’s already in our closets — getting extra use out of these gadgets.”
Lululemon’s re-commerce web site will launch on Earth Day, April 22.
