Lululemon Athletica is setting up to pass its recognizable brand into competitive sports.
Volleyball Canada announced July 8 that it selected the Vancouver yoga and lifestyle clothing brand to outfit the national men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams for the Toronto Pan Am Games and 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The two-year partnership also makes Lululemon a major partner of the National Beach Volleyball Championships, which are set for Parksville in August. The company began selling swimwear in 2012.
Volleyball Canada executive director Mark Eckert said the team’s multiple podium finishes so far this year — in addition to beach duo Sarah Pavan and Heather Bansley finishing fifth at the World Championships for the country’s best result in the sport — put the team in the spotlight and elevates the athletes to a bigger stage.
“This is an excellent time to partner with a well-recognized Canadian brand such as Lululemon,” Eckert said in a prepared news release. “Having Lululemon’s support as our athletes strive for success on the road to the 2016 Olympics in Rio will be invaluable.”
National team member and Manitoban Taylor Pischke will wear the new kit in Toronto at the Pan Am Games.
“Lululemon is the perfect fit for beach volleyball athletes,” she said. “We move a lot and don’t have time to think about what we are wearing when we’re in competition mode, that’s why a lot of us already wear Lululemon gear now.”
The company may be hoping this new partnership will help repair some of the damage the brand’s reputation has suffered as a result of a massive recall of 318,000 Lululemon hoodies issued June 25. This recall was in response to six complaints about elastic drawstrings injuring wearers’ faces when they are snapped back.
