If you want to enjoy yoga to its full potential, you must wear the right gear when doing so. After all, doing yoga makes you bend and flex in all kinds of positions. You will need yoga clothes that offer protection while still maintaining stretchability.
This is what makes choosing yoga leggings a little bit tricky. Does the brand actually matter? Aren’t they all the same?
In this article, we’re going to look into two of the most popular brands for yoga pants in the industry and compare them.
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What is Lululemon?
Source: Lululemon
Lululemon Athletica or Lululemon is an athletic apparel company founded in 1998 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded by Chip Wilson in a yoga design studio.
Lululemon’s first standalone store opened in November 2000 and has since grown into 491 stores all over the world. Due to the massive growth, Lululemon opened its IPO in July 2007, raising $327.6.
When it was first opened, Lululemon only sold yoga wear like tops, leggings, undergarments, and jackets.
Today, due to the massive success of the brand, they’ve expanded their inventory to include yoga accessories.
They’ve also expanded into technical clothing, offering non-activewear products.
What is Lucy?
Source: The North Face (Lucy Activewear)
Lucy Activewear, like Lululemon, is an activewear clothing retailer founded in 1999 by former Nike executives. Lucy offers the same types of wear as Lululemon, which makes them tight competitors.
Lucy started out as an online-only retailer and has managed to expand to 60 stores across the United States.
Today, Lucy is not known by the name ‘Lucy’ anymore. It was sold for $110 to VF Corporation in 2007, only 8 years into its life. It was merged into the brand “The North Face” in 2017.
If you actually search for Lucy Activewear, you will be directed to The North Face page, on their activewear section.
Similarities and Differences
Lululemon and Lucy shared a lot of similarities. Back in the day when there were only a few players in the activewear industry, Lucy was considered to be the next big thing in activewear. Unfortunately, they fell short, but that doesn’t mean their clothing qualities are bad. The opposite is true, actually.
And now that Lucy is considered “closed,” we really can’t compare the two directly. Fortunately, The North Face still carries the brand to this day.
In this comparison, we’ll use The North Face’s activewear section to compare the quality of these two apparel.
Fabric Quality
Both Lululemon and Lucy make their own clothing fabric. It does not necessarily mean that it’s better, but it just means they have full control of the quality of their material. This means better quality, usually.
Lululemon has a fabric called Luon. It’s a type of fabric that is both durable and stretchy, perfect for yoga and sports.
Source: Lululemon
They’ve also introduced another type of fabric that is called Luxtreme. It’s not that different from Luon, quality-wise. The only real difference is that Luxtreme is more of compression wear, which is great for intense movements.
Since Lucy is now merged onto The North Face, they share the same fabric technology.
I’m sure we all know that The North Face brand equals great quality, and that still rings true. The North Face owns Gore-Tex fabric, which is intended for high-altitude activities.
As far as I know, The North Face does not actually own an exclusive activewear technology. It does, however, own some of the most advanced clothing technology like Vectiv, FutureLight, Thermoball Eco, DryVent, and many more.
Selection
When it comes to the number of selections, Lululemon wins by a large margin. This is due to the fact that Lucy has been reduced to a category in a much larger company.
Back when Lucy was an independent player, it could actually compete with Lululemon in terms of selection. That’s not the case today, unfortunately.
Lululemon’s inventory is hands down one of the best in the business.
Sizing and Fit
Both of these brands offer comprehensive sizing for their customers.
Whatever your size is, you will find something in here that fits you. Lululemon used to only offer their activewear up to 2XL but has since improved their sizing selection to go up to 4XL for plus-size athletes.
As for the fit, Lululemon and The North Face (Lucy) both fit true to size.
You may need to go up a size for compression wear since those compress a lot.
Design
Source: Lululemon
When it comes to design, Lululemon once again has Lucy beat. It really all boils down to selection. Since Lucy’s selections are so limited, you’re restricted to choosing the most basic of clothes.
That’s a stark difference to Lululemon where you get tons of designs. They don’t offer customization options, but with the hundreds of designs at your disposal, do you really need it?
Pricing
Lululemon clothes are trendy, and the pricing reflects that. The starting price of their activewear is north of $90, which is a bit on the pricey side. If you want to have more technology included in your wear, you may need to spend a little more.
As for The North Face (Lucy), the pricing is comparable. But The North Face is known for its durability, which justifies the price. It’s not as trendy, either. This means that you will wear the same type of clothes for years to come.
Source: The North Face (Lucy Activewear)
Durability
Lululemon is durable but not as durable as The North Face.
If you want an item that can stand extreme stress, The North Face is the brand you should go with.
But take note that this is not a knock on Lululemon’s quality. The North Face’s materials are just that good.
The Verdict
Lululemon is the more popular of the two. But that doesn’t mean it’s the better choice.
The truth is, it depends on a lot of things. If you value style and comfort, definitely shop at Lululemon. If you want activewear that would last you a long long time, then Lucy is your best bet.
It really is a toss-up, but personally, I’d choose Lululemon.
Lululemon’s hefty selection, as well as their design choices, are miles above Lucy’s. At Lucy, you’re kind of limited in what you can choose. Maybe in the future when they’re fully integrated with The North Face, they’ll have better options out.