Lululemon Athletica was founded in 1998 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, by Chip Wilson. The company specializes in yoga and running apparel, including shorts, shirts, pants, and yoga accessories, such as mats, water bottles, underwear, and tote bags.
The company currently has 354 locations as of late 2015 and also sells items online. Lululemon Athletica is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol: LULU. The company had annual revenue in 2013 of $1.37 billion and employs more than 13,000 persons full time.
Lululemon Athletica has been plagued by problems in the past few years, including recalled items made in China that contained toxic chemicals, a murder occurring between employees in 2011 at the Bethesda, Maryland, store, and comments from the founder regarding plus-sized women being inappropriate customers. These problems hurt the company’s bottom line in recent years, but with a new CEO taking the place of founder Chip Wilson, Lululemon Athletica appears to be back in the black.
In early January 2019, company shares climbed 6% after raising their 4th quarter outlook.
In March 2022, the company announced that it was releasing its own brand of running shoes.
The US headquarters for Lululemon is located in Sumner, Washington.
