Mens Journal

meaningless. What we do is being driven by
function. What problem are we solving for
athletes that they don’t even know they have?”

LULULEMON HQ OPERATESout of a four-
story off ice building in downtown Vancouver
British Columbia. An expansive atrium f loods
the lobby with natural light and there’s a
vaguely futuristic vibe about the whole place.
Not surprisingly its conference rooms have
names like Ashtanga and Vinyasa.
Potdevin Swiss-born and genial speaks
English with a posh French accent like a
charming villain in a Bond movie. His off ice
hascommandingviewsof snowcapped
Grouse Mountain and there’s a midcentury-
modern couch nex t to an orange Shinola bike
that seems more like a set piece than a com-
muting option. Potdevin recently remodeled
the room but only after 18 months on the job.
“There was a lot of turmoil” he says. “I
was like ‘I’m not going to be that guy who
comes in and builds his own Taj Mahal.’ ”
Raised in Geneva where his father was an
engineer at the European Center for Nuclear
Research Potdevin was competitive from the
jump. His mom often told him that “second
place is the f irst loser.” When he was 12 his

shor ts equipped w it h a microf iber side patch

that athletes can use to wipe the sweat and

sand from their hands.

Thenewfocusonfunctionseemstobe

paying off. Lululemon’s men’s business is

on track to exceed $400 million in sales this

yearandthecompany’sonlinesalesareup

25 percent overall.

“The men’s business is def initely doing

well”saysMorryBrownaWallStreetana-

lyst at Wedbush Securities. “The resiliency

of Lululemon over the last 18 months is

pretty impressive.”

Anecdotally the stigma is waning too.

Potdevin outfitted his son’s high school vol-

leyball team in Lululemon. “They love it” he

says. “The girls are like ‘Oh my gosh I can’t

believe you have Lululemon uniforms.’ ”

LULULEMON’S KUMBAYA CULTURE as the

New York Times called it is also rubbing off

on Potdevin. The guy who once bought a six-

f igure Bentley Continental Supersports in

his half-sleep (“I was in Sri Lanka at our fac-

tory” he explains. “It was the middle of the

night I was jet-lagged and I was on eBay

looking at cars”) has even started medi-

tating. But it’s not entirely what you may

think. He tells me that he sat with Lulule-

mon’sDirectorof Mindfulnesstocalmhis

thoughts before f iring a high-level execu-

tive. “I’m a lot kinder” he says. “I used to get

snappy. Now I can take my kids to Disney-

landforaday.BeforeIwouldhavebeenlike

‘Give me a drink or shoot me.’ ”

When I mention competitors who have

criticized Lululemon’s high prices he piv-

ots. “If you look at our shopping bags” he

says with a straight face “one of the quotes

is ‘Comparison is the enemy of all happi-

ness.’ ” But it’s hard not to be concerned.

Under Armour is aggressively going after the

female market signing model Gisele Bünd-

chen to an endorsement deal for a reported

$25 million. Not that Potdevin is sweating.

Lululemon didn’t need to pay for her endorse-

ment because it had effectively had it for

years: A simple Google search spits out pho-

tos of her wearing Lulu on any given Sunday.

Still if you’d told him 10 years ago that he

would be starting meetings with group med-

itation he admits “I would have laughed. I

would have said ‘That touchy-feely bullshit’s

not for me.’ ” While he has clearly drunk the

companykombuchathematterofthatBent-

ley he bought online remains. His girlfriend

a freelance designer for Lulu considered it

an affront to Vancouver values sniff ing “I’ll

never be seen in that.” To Potdevin’s credit

he says he had initially wanted a Tesla but he

balked at the car’s three-month waiting list.

“It was ego” he explains. “I was like ‘I’m not

waiting three months.’ ” Put that on a shop-

ping bag. Namaste.Q

girlfriend dumped him for an older guy and

he can still taste the rejection. When I joke

that wherever she is today she’s probably

wearing Lululemon and paying full price for

it he smiles. “As she should” he says.

Potdevin started his career in Paris work-

ingatluxurygiantLVMHbeforerunninga

factory that made Louis Vuitton accessories

outside of L.A. He joined Burton in 1995 and

was elevated to president in 2000 then CEO

in 2005. His biggest coup was pushing the

X Games crowd to embrace style combining

the company’s technical apparel with street-

inspired patterns like camo and plaid.

Inside Lululemon’s R&D lab code-named

Whitespace Potdevin gives me a confiden-

tial peek at the new gear they’re working

on.Inonecorneroftheairport-hangar-size

roomthey’veinstalledaturbineswimming

pool where researchers test fabric buoyancy

with the help of underwater cameras. Else-

where an automated knitting machine the

size of a Hummer prints a pair of pants in

3-D. Brian Peterson the director of innova-

tion tells me: “We have everything here that

we need to hack a garment.”

Finding the next high-tech fabric is every-

thinginthe hypercompetitive market.Nike

recently introduced

AeroReact a mate-

rial designed to detect

when the wearer is

sweating — and to

loosen itself up. In Jan-

uary Under Armour

pushed further into

wearable technology

introducing a $150

sneaker that links to

your phone to track

your performance.

Lululemon has its

ownnewfangledfab-

rics including Nulu

which it claims feels as

close to being naked as

a garment gets (with-

out being sheer of

course). The company

is also expanding its

anti-stink technology

Silverescent in which

silver particles are

bonded to the thread.

And Lululemon just

introduced compres-

sion liners in its shorts

so your junk doesn’t

chafe on a 12-mile run.

In Rio this summer

one team on the U.S.

men’s beach volleyball

squad will wear lim-

ited-edition Lululemon

NOTEBOOK STYLE&DESIGN

Meditation class at
Lulu: The company
has always had loyal
female customers.
Now it’s appealing
to men too.

MEN’S JOURNAL 42 SEPTEMBER 2016

KAMIL BIALOUS/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX