Lululemon made its name as a yoga brand, but lately it’s been leaning on other sports to boost sales.
There was the collaboration with the National Hockey League last year, and the brand has sponsored prominent athletes like tennis stars Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe. It planted its flag in Formula 1 with driver Lewis Hamilton in February. On Monday, the Vancouver-based company announced a partnership with the National Football League.
Lululemon’s new licensing deal with the NFL is bigger in scope than most of its other sports partnerships. The league is the United States’ most popular professional sport by far, with its games averaging 18.5 million viewers per week. The breadth of the collaboration is also larger than Lululemon’s deal with the NHL. That deal began with Lululemon selling gear for 11 teams. This deal will span all 32 NFL franchises.
Frank Ha, vice president of strategic sales at Lululemon, said the company believes the deal will introduce the brand to consumers in a fresh way.
“I think this allows us to meet our guests at different moments in their life,” he said.
The NFL partnership comes as Lululemon’s sales have stagnated in the United States over the last year, with comparable sales dropping 4 percent in the second quarter. The brand has struggled to hold customers’ attention as interest in athleisure has waned since the category’s pandemic boom, and upstarts like Alo Yoga grab market share. Even chief executive Calvin McDonald said the brand was too predictable, telling analysts on its second-quarter earnings call that Lululemon had missed opportunities to create new trends in the activewear space.
The solve for that predictability is innovation, said Needham analyst Tom Nikic.
“They’re trying to find that next big thing, or next big innovation that’s going to reinvigorate the business,” he said.
The NFL is still relatively new territory for brands like Lululemon. The league has ramped up its pursuit of fashion partnerships over the last year, following the hire of Kyle Smith as its first fashion editor in October 2024. Since then, the NFL has launched partnerships with Breitling and Abercrombie & Fitch, among others. Lululemon is now among that roster of collaborators.
The collection will officially release on Oct. 28, with prices ranging from $48 to $168. It’ll be featured internationally on the NFL Shop website and Fanatics.com. Teams will also sell it at their own retail locations, both online and in stadium stores.
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