A leading apparel company has announced plans to grow in the footwear category with an entry into the market for men’s and women’s shoes.
What Happened: Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) announced its official entry into the footwear category Tuesday.
The company will launch four women’s shoes in 2022, with its first running shoe, “Blissfeel,” set for a March 22 launch.
The running shoe will be available online and in stores in North America, mainland China and the United Kingdom.
Additional women’s footwear brands are called Chargefeel (cross-training), Strongfeel (training) and Restfeel (slides).
Men’s footwear from lululemon will launch in 2023.
“Footwear is the natural next step for us to expand and apply our long history of innovation in fit, feel and performance, and it represents an exciting moment for our brand,” lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said.
The company said it is filling unmet needs in the footwear market and focusing on “the people wearing them” instead of solely focusing on the shoes.
Related Link: How Lululemon Makes Money
Why It’s Important: Lululemon highlighted its ability to offer a “head-to-toe solution for guests-made for women first” in Tuesday’s announcement.
The entry into footwear will create an additional business line for the company as it looks to grow and put it into further competition with companies like Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) and Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) (NYSE:UAA).
Lululemon reported third-quarter revenue of $1.5 billion, up 30% year-over-year. Lululemon has beaten revenue estimates by analysts in each of the last six quarters, according to Benzinga Pro. The company reported direct-to-consumer revenue was 40.4% of the third quarter total.
LULU Price Action: Lululemon shares were trading 0.21% higher at $303 Tuesday afternoon.
Courtesy photo.
