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"For a retailer that dominated one of the biggest shifts in the activewear market in recent memory, Lululemon owned up to a hard truth this fall: it’s been missing trends.

“We have become too predictable within our casual offerings,” CEO Calvin McDonald said in September, on the same earnings call where Lululemon reported its latest in a string of comparable sales declines in North America.

The executive also acknowledged that Lululemon’s seasonal colors aren’t performing as expected. That’s a problem Lululemon vowed to address more than a year ago, at the same time that it said the athletics brand wasn’t stocked in the right sizes.

McDonald acknowledged the increased competition in the space, but also blamed some of Lululemon’s struggles on declines in the premium athleticwear market in the U.S. Sharon Zackfia, a research analyst at William Blair, agreed that the premium side of the market has “not been great” recently and the fact that Lululemon is gaining share even with its lower results is telling.

But how much can Lululemon’s problems be blamed on itself and how much can be blamed on the category?"

Read the original on Retail Dive

Lululemon’s ‘downward spiral’ — and how the brand plans to break out of it | Retail Dive

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