lululemon announced its official entrance into the footwear category, allowing the brand to now offer a head-to-toe solution for guests—made for women first. The company introduced its debut running shoe, Blissfeel, during a media event in New York. The style will be available online and in select stores across North America, Mainland China and the United Kingdom beginning on March 22. Three additional styles were also revealed, Chargefeel, Strongfeel and Restfeel, which will be introduced in the coming months.
lululemon applied insights and expertise gained over 20-plus years of designing performance apparel to deliver its inaugural footwear offering. Guided by its unique innovation lens, the Science of Feel, lululemon shifted the focus from being solely on the shoes to the people wearing them when developing its footwear collection. The brand’s history, and its research and understanding of how women uniquely move and want to feel, are the foundation for its approach to footwear and its vision for the category.
“We intentionally started with women first because we saw an opportunity to solve for the fact that, more often than not, performance shoes are designed for men and then adapted for women,” said Sun Choe, lululemon’s Chief Product Officer. “That didn’t sit well with us. Innovating for women is in lululemon’s DNA—now we’re bringing that same expertise to footwear, and women were part of this journey every step of the way.”
Each shoe within the lululemon footwear collection is designed to deliver a specific feeling and features different upper materials, foam compounds, construction methods and colors for the perfect balance of cushioning and support—and to help ensure a zero-distraction experience for guests enjoying the right fit from the first trial.
The four styles launching in 2022 are:
- lululemon Blissfeel: A running shoe engineered with an upper that supports movement and an energy-filled underfoot foam cushioning technology, which work together to make the miles feel effortless and blissful when running the distance. Launching in 10 colors.
- lululemon Chargefeel: A cross-training shoe designed for gym training and short runs with a dual density midsole for energy dampening and return, and an upper that provides midfoot lock down. Launching in summer.
- lululemon Restfeel: An elevated slide for post-workout. Leveraging the same design philosophy that drives lululemon’s performance shoes, delivering unparalleled feel and aesthetic for the guest who wants something easy to slide on. Launching in summer.
- lululemon Strongfeel: A training shoe designed for multi-directional movement that features a low profile, supportive midsole with a multi-directional outsole and an upper that locks the foot in place. Launching in fall.
The brand’s men’s footwear collection will roll out with the same intentionality and insight-driven approach in 2023, along with special edition and seasonal collections as the brand continues to grow the category with new offerings in the future. Will lululemon make the shoes available in Malaysia?
