If you remember coffee and calypso groove pants, then we need to go for tea, hit up a local stretch and sweat yoga class, and reminisce about the good ol’ lulu days! #sweatonceaday
Growing up in Vancouver, BC, I’d say we were some of the first to jump on the lululemon bandwagon – and maybe just never get off. I remember my Mom coming home one day saying she went in to this new shop in Kits, on the corner of West 4th, and telling me it had some nice yoga clothes – in fact, she bought one of the very first pairs of yoga pants before they were ever called Groove Pants or known to make “your butt look good”. Little did I know then, that little shop on the corner would change my life and shape who I would become as an adult.
As a teen, I was passionate about sports, fitness and healthy living. My mom used to take me with her to the Fitness Group for Krista’s action-packed step classes, and to Semperviva yoga to wind down. This passion drove me to study Health and Exercise Physiology in university – ultimately thinking that I would end up in Sports Medicine one day. When I finished my 4 year degree, I went straight in to studying for my MCAT, and suddenly the brakes went on. I needed a break. Wanting to further pursue
my passion for health, but also make some money and have some fun, I ended up applying for a job at lululemon on 4th Street in Calgary.
Lesson #1 : We were selling spandex but we never knew it. We were so engrossed in the culture that Chip Wilson had built at lululemon, that we didn’t realize that we were really just in retail sales. To us, we were positive-thinking, energetic, vibrant, healthy yogis hanging out together every day, meeting new friends, and passing on our positive vibes to everyone we encountered. Ever heard the saying, “find a job that you love, and never work a day in your life”? For a 22 year old, this was it.
Lesson #2 : Self-help reading club is awesome! Remember when you were forced to read books in high school and you would give anything to find the Coles Notes so that you didn’t spend your precious minutes reading every page? Part of being at lulu entailed forced reading if you were on the management team, which I quickly became a part of. Books on self-improvement, being your best self – we read the gamut of self-help books
and we loved it. We wanted to be the best that we could be. So that we could sell spandex? Yes.
Lesson #3 : Get rid of your rackets! As part of senior store management with lululemon, you were required to attend Landmark Education. A 3 day self-development seminar that ran for (what felt like) 12 hours a day. It’s been called a cult, and you may agree, but you can’t argue that after 3 full days with a room full of honest, broken-down and built-back-up human beings you get at least something out of it. The gist: “don’t hold on to your sh*t and stop taking everything personally”.
Lesson #4 : You already have the golden ticket. Chip built the healthy, self-help culture of lululemon, and he also placed a huge emphasis on goal setting and succession. Write down your vision, plan your goals, and remember, “everyone is replaceable” (the last part always left us feeling uneasy). His recipe for success [ passion + strength + money ] = find something that you are passionate about, that utilizes your strengths, that can bring in an income and voilà! You’ve just found that job we were talking about earlier where you don’t actually work a day in your life but you’ve got all the money in the world. Gary Vee would add in that you also need a helluva lot of hard work to get there, and I wouldn’t disagree.
In the end, what did all of this do for us? Many former lululemon employees have gone on to achieve some mega goals they set for themselves. Chip Wilson, his wife (Shannon) and son (JJ) went on to open Kit and Ace, technical luxury apparel. The Schweitzer sisters, who were with Chip from the beginning of lululemon, opened the coolest workout/hang out/take out in Kits called Turf – it is no surprise that in their story they talk about “when you follow passions fully led by purpose, your life just works”. Shannon Savage and Laura Low Ah Kee left lululemon to pursue their dream of creating your new favourite swim suit. Check out Left On Friday, you’ll be glad you did.
And then there’s me. I left lululemon to travel the world. I completed my Bachelor of Education, lived overseas, and continued to live my life with intention. Before my 30th birthday, I wrote out my 10 year vision: I will own a house in Vancouver, I will have two children, I will work part-time in health education close to my house. It’s been 7 years, and I am proud to say I am living out the life I envisioned. It has not been easy, it has been a lot of hard work, but it is so rewarding to be here. This website that you’re on,
reading this article and wondering where it’s going, was a goal of mine that only just came to life.
Selling spandex taught me a lot about life. You know what to do, so just go out and do it.
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Learn more about Chip Wilson’s past and the rise of Lululemon Athletica in his new book, Little Black Stretchy Pants.
