Breaking Down Lululemon's $500M Mirror Acquisition

> I can't quite figure out why it's better than a bike and a tablet

The mirror part is important I think; people like the feedback, or maybe just looking at themselves.

the social aspect.

personally, i need to fight to spend more time outside, not less, so it’s not for me, but i see the attraction of being able to compete against celebrities, athletes, and friends on a common platform, plus the classes component.

> I didn't even know they made men's clothes.

Well, anyone using Mirror is now going to see male instructors in lululemon clothes.

So, that's clearly an untapped market, no?

In my case, I did buy lululemon men's clothes*. I got a gift card via my yoga studio and used it towards a nice men's tech shirt. But then I sprung for some soft and durable boxer briefs. They had a whole wall of fancy shorts with liners, but they don't seem much better in practice than running shorts from other brands. I also once used a voucher for a free Lululemon yoga mat via a charity event.

Yes, I wear them, they make dress pants you can wear to work but it feels like you are almost wearing athletic pants . Really good product in my opinion

Lululemon and Nike is extremely popular among men in the Dance Dance Revolution community.

They make great clothes. Check out their website. Very comfortable leisurewear

the men’s “dress” pants are phenomenal - pretty much the only pants i wear, save jeans

My boss recently bought some lululemon clothes and he swears by them now.

Commission Slim pants are quite common in finance.

I saw someone wearing them, and I bought a pair the following week. I was surprised to learn when I arrived at the store that they offer free in-house tailoring. My pants fit perfect, for $100 it's a deal.

They could easily just spin up a more macho brand.

Their ABC Pants are the only pants I’ll buy now. Incredible.

Their stuff for men is really great.

I do. They have the nicest fabric on pants. Ditto on the slogans though.

Sure do and I love them. I have some literally 10 year old gym shirts that look almost brand new. I have a hoodie I wear in cool weather and I’ve had athletic pants. So comfortable and so high quality. Def recommend checking it out.

Yes and if you look you’ll see a lot of them worn in SF by finance-y and some tech-y types on the street, and they’re pretty standard in any yoga-type fitness class and often in gyms as well. They make attractive (for its category), sleek, and performative clothes.

Because lulu is judged on earnings and mirror is effectively a saas company that needs to achieve breakaway scale to own its market. My hunch is lulu doesn't have the stomach for the cost of acquisition required to get mirror there.

Because software is an ongoing living thing that needs care and feeding, but clothing is essentially disposable from the business perspective. Two very different models for management to understand.

Most MBA management types are trained to think that software development is like a factory, and that the software developers are like the manufacturing equipment that produce the code your customers buy.