- Lululemon will create co-branded apparel
- Peloton has been looking to expand its reach
Connected fitness specialist Peloton and sportswear firm Lululemon have agreed a five year content, apparel, and community initiative partnership.
Peloton becomes the ‘exclusive digital content provider’ to Lululemon, whose own attempts to create a connected fitness platform following the US$500 million acquisition of Mirror in 2020 have proved unsuccessful.
The Mirror service will be shut down and Lululemon will instead offer Peloton classes to its Studio All-Access subscribers. Meanwhile, Lululemon will become Peloton’s “primary athletic apparel” partner with the two parties working on co-branded apparel.
“Our brands create transformational experiences, products, and content that build meaningful connections and unlock greater possibilities for our members, anytime, anywhere,” said Dion Camp Sanders, chief emerging business officer at Peloton. “By bringing together the best in fitness content with the best in athletic apparel, we’ll give our communities one-of-a-kind experiences and special content that will inspire them to achieve their goals.”
“We’re excited to collaborate with Peloton to connect with our highly engaged communities across North America and in markets around the world,” said Celeste Burgoyne, president, Americas and global guest innovation at Lululemon.
“As a leader in technical athletic apparel, this partnership will create a powerful product offering for Peloton Members and fans. Our two companies share a vision to advance wellbeing through movement, and this partnership ensures our lululemon Studio Members will have access to the most expansive and dynamic offering of fitness content possible.”
SportsPro says…
This is a very complementary partnership. It unites two brands with passionate, loyal customer bases that both have problems that their new partner is ideally placed to solve.
Lululemon hoped the acquisition of Mirror and its large screen display technology would accelerate its attempts to create a fitness community centered on its brand. The huge price tag reflected the explosive growth in the connected fitness market during lockdown, a trend which was ironically driven by Peloton.
However a service that relies on expensive, proprietary hardware was always going to have limited appeal – especially once lockdown restrictions were eased.
Peloton remains arguably the biggest name in the connected fitness market, despite its troubles, and the ability to offer its services to customers is a significant win. In return, Peloton acquires another opportunity to expand its subscriber base after abandoning its hardware-first approach in favour of a more channel agnostic strategy. The partnership also means it can leverage the power of its brand in the apparel space without getting involved in a market that isn’t its area of expertise.
Each brand will be able to do what they do best, helping each other in the process.
