Lululemon
Athletic apparel designed for yoga, training, and everyday wear
Lululemon's Sustainability Rating
Acceptable
Raw Materials
Lululemon uses majority high impact fibers, including nylon and partially-recycled polyester. It does have plans to reduce its reliance on high impact fibers, with targets for 2025 and 2030. It has reported on progress towards these goals within the last year.
Energy Use & Production
Lululemon shares some information about its renewable energy use and goals, including initiatives at suppliers and within North American stores. It has specific plans to expand its use of renewable energy within its supply chain, with targest to achieve 25 percent renewable energy among key suppliers by 2025. However, progress against this goal is unclear.
Packaging & Distribution
Lululemon has a goal to reduce single-use plastic packaging by 50% by 2025. However, it is not on track to meet this goal. Lululemon is making limited efforts to reduce the impact of shipping emissions by using EVs for some final leg deliveries in key cities in Canada, China, and South Korea. However, it is not clear what proportion of shipments this represents.
Repair & Care
Lululemon has a free repair program that is not publicized on their site. It gives detailed care instructions to extend garment lifespan.
Take Back Programs
Lululemon has a take back program that accepts its own items for resale. Lululemon does not publicize this program widely and shares limited details on the efficacy or impact of this program. We require larger brands to share this information.
Slow Fashion
Lululemon is a fast fashion brand that has frequent new releases.
Marketing
Commons is currently evaluating its marketing emails.
Transparency & Reporting
Lululemon has a sustainability page with information about materials, packaging, labor practices, current initiatives and progress, energy use. Lululemon does not have a sustainability page. Larger brands have a greater responsibility to make this information clearly available due to its outsized impact. It is unclear how often this page or information is kept up to date. Its latest annual report is from 2023.
Emissions Tracking
Lululemon internally measures its overall emissions. It reports emissions on a organization level. Lululemon identifies its top driver of emissions, by including detailed breakdowns.
Emissions Targets
Supply Chain & Labor
OpenSupply Hub: https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/?sort_by=contributors_desc (search by Data Contributor)
Supply Chain & Labor
Lululemon does not publish information about its supply chain partners. It has a supplier code of conduct, which includes provisions audits of partners, allowing collective bargaining.
Where Lululemon is doing well: Lululemon publicly reports on its emissions impact. Lululemon offers repair and takeback programs.
Where Lululemon has room to grow: Lululemon is heavily reliant on high emissions, fossil-fuel based synthetic materials. Lululemon is a fast fashion brand. Lululemon is lagging on its stated targets.
Our ratings are based on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (best). How we rate →
https://corporate.lululemon.com/~/media/Files/L/Lululemon/our-impact/reporting-and-disclosure/2023-lululemon-impact-report.pdf
https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact/our-planet/products-and-materials/materials-innovation#:~:text=Nylon%20makes%20up%20the%20biggest%20portion%20of%20our%20materials%20and%20provides%20outstanding%20product%20performance%20and%20quality%20that%20cannot%20currently%20be%20replicated%20with%20other%20materials.%20Our%20goal%20is%20to%20transition%20from%20virgin%20nylon%20fiber%20to%20renewable%2C%20recycled%2C%20or%20net%20new%20fibers%20that%20reduce%20our%20dependence%20on%20fossil%20fuels%20and%20lessen%20carbon%20emissions%2C%20while%20simultaneously%20ensuring%20uncompromising%20feel%20and%20performance.%20This%20is%20by%20far%20our%20most%20challenging%20materials%20goal.
https://corporate.lululemon.com/media/our-stories/2024/lululemon-introduces-first-enzymatically-recycled-polyester-product#:~:text=%2C%20the%20new%20material%20process%20behind%20the%20high-performance%20jacket%20delivers%20the%20same%20feel%20and%20quality%20as%20the%20lightweight%2C%20quick-drying%20material%20lululemon%20guests%20love.
https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact/our-planet/climate-action
https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact/our-planet/waste-and-packaging
https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact/our-planet/waste-and-packaging#:~:text=Through%20internal%20initiatives%20and%20great%20partnerships%2C%20over%2090%25%20of%20our%20damaged%20and%20excess%20products%20are%20resold%2C%20donated%2C%20or%20recycled.
https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact
https://corporate.lululemon.com/investors/financial-information/annual-reports
https://corporate.lululemon.com/~/media/Files/L/Lululemon/our-impact/policies-and-guidelines/vcoe.pdf
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