Lululemon Is Expanding With A Clothing Lab

The Lab is here

March 29, 2016

Lululemon, the iconic yoga workout wear label is going in a new direction. The brand, known for their colorful designs worn by every urban teen and mom is moving toward athleisure that’s not intended just for the gym. And it’s incredibly chic, at that.

Today marks the opening of the brand’s 11th New York City store, and you can expect a very different array of pieces. The new concept store, Lululemon Lab, has set up on Manhattan’s Bond Street and features experimental designs that are functional yet sophisticated—kind of like a less expensive, more minimal version of Y-3 or Nike Lab. This is the second store of its kind, with the original in Vancouver, Canada.

The exclusive collection consists of everything from logo-less leggings and trousers to swing coats and baseball caps, all in a very neutral color palette. The majority of the collection is black, gray, and white with some hints of hunter green, unlike the oftentimes colorful and patterned core fitness collection. Only a few designs are actually meant for the gym, with the rest focusing on everyday wardrobe essentials, produced in their signature technical fabrics.

All pieces are limited edition, with only about 50 of each item produced, and are only available for purchase in-store as of now. Price points are a bit higher than the core line, being that they’re of a much higher quality, ranging from $60 for a T-shirt to $350 for a coat. Marcus LeBlanc, the New York lab’s managing designer, plans to collaborate with local talent to create conceptual pieces, as the Vancouver location has done, with heavy influence from the New York City lifestyle.

“The lab is meant to be an influencer of the bigger brand, so if we come up with a new amazing pant shape or original detailing, that has the opportunity to be adopted by the core line,” LeBlanc told The Cut in an interview, “That’s how the brand’s popular mesh leggings came to be, and mesh insets are still everywhere.”