146 – Lee Holman of lululemon – Full Potential

Nov 1, 2016

—

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Innovative activewear with lululemon…

Lee Holman (bio), Executive VP and Creative Director of lululemon (an innovative activewear company), joins Rob Sanchez, Marc Raco and Julia Macalaster on location at the 2016 Fashion Tech Forum.

Full potential, evolution, and solving problems

Holman discusses lululemon’s genesis in yoga wear, focus on function, fashion and innovation, pursuing full potential, considering activity, environment, how one feels, and the Whitespace innovation center. The Canadian Olympic volleyball team’s benefit from a climate chamber to recreate the climate of Rio, and personalizing innovations for each Olympian. Consistent function across activities, evolving fashion, the lululemon innovation pipeline, and designing for high-sweat activities. The importance of communicating features and how they were built, “Why We Made This, and an opportunity for designers say why they created a design (i.e. problem solving).

Storytelling, hybrid workouts, and designing for intent

The effort to better connect with male consumers in-store with technology, new technology showing all reflectiveness on products, more storytelling with film in stores, the digital world coming into physical spaces, how trends are changing, how hybrid workouts impact the way people sweat, considering fast and fluid activities, designing for pure intent yet becoming versatile, responding to lack of function in other activities outside of intent, and tracking changes in customers in both culture and activity. Reactive yarns, testing in stores and getting feedback, the ability to do small runs to answer and spur trend, other uses for fabrics and fabrications, and reflective embroidery.

Forrest Gump, virtual-reality exercise, and stepping back

Off the Grid Questions cover the garage full of stuff, being a “creation person”, circuit training, running like Forrest Gump, virtual-reality exercise, video streaming and taking a step back from life.