Australian Heads Up - Photos of Coal Strata Stripe Define, Wunder Unders, Hot Class Tanks and More

The new Coal Strata Stripe Wunder Unders - crazy (shown with Flush In In Stride)

This photo isn't all the exciting, except for the Coal Strata Stripe Define hanging on the left side. I am liking it!

There is a new Special Edition Wunder Under coming with gathered Sheer Luon up the sides.

Coal and Purple Crush Hot Class Tank shown with the SE Wunder Unders

An Aruba and Coal (?) Hot Class Tank

This photo isn't that exciting unless you are a fan of Passion crops (hanging on the bottom). I am hoping those are new colors in the Passion crop and will be coming our way.

Hot Class Tanks and the matching Hot Class Shorts

Ugh, Personal Best Singlets coming in lots of colors. Yipee. Bring back the I Just Wanna Run and Energy SLs, please. Those had some style. These are pathetic. (If you are new to Lululemon you probably think these are just fine but the tech tops they used to design leave these in the dust.)

New Run: Pace Setter Skirt

Pace Setter Skirt

Another top I think is incredibly average looking (get rid of the static accents already) - The Revitalize Tech coming in more colors. Yay.

Flesh, Flush, whatever.

The Yorkdale store posted these to give us a heads up on the upcoming colors. I like Margarita provided it won't be too bright. Lagoon is back again. Did we really have time to miss it?.Anywho, I sure hope we see some new tank designs in the new colors. There are only so many Push UR Limits and CRBs I can wear. I'd also love some new silverescent tops and singlet designs.

What is the Relationship Between Tuff Athletics and Lululemon? Ripoff or Joint Venture?

I've been seeing a lot of this logo in my gym and around lately and finally tracked it down at Costco today.

It turns out it's a brand of athletic clothing called Tuff Athletics. Although the tag says it's a USA company, when I googled it, the trademark was registered to Cascadia Fashion Resources out of Burnaby, British Columbia. Hmmmm. Very coincidental location.

The construction details are nearly identical to Lululemon. Here are some photos of the jacket:

Hair Tie On the Zipper - A Signature (I thouht) Lululemon Design Feature

Cuffins and Thumbholes - Two of my favorite features on my Define Jackets

Ipod Cord Tunnel - pretty nice feature on a $23 jacket. There was also a loop to thread the headphone wire through.

Here is a comparison of the stitching - both are flat seamed. The bottom is the Tuff brand, the top is a pair of my Groovin Crop Tie crops. The Tuff looks fairly well constructed.

It's even offered in similar colors - The Coal Tuff crops are laid on top of my Coal Still pants. Pretty close.

The color choices of Tuff crops available at my Costco today - looks like recent Lulu to me.

Here is a comparison of a pair of Tuff crops with purple waistband and my Power Purple/Lolo Purple Groove shorts.

I can't tell you how peeved I was to see this today. I bought a pair of crops to take home and try out. The design details, construction, colors, and fabric content are total clones of Lululemon. The Tuff crops are identical to Lululemon Reverse Groove crops. The seams are in the same place and there is an inner pocket in the waistband in the same place. Both are flat seamed and the stitching is identical. The only difference is that there is no gusset in the Tuff version. They are also not reversible. When you feel the fabric, it feels a lot like luon. However, when you put them on there are obvious differences. The material is much stiffer and much less stretchy. These crops did not fit me nearly as well as my own Groove crops (nor even the newer Lululemon ones with the new luon). That's a very good thing because I'd be peeved if Costco is selling crops nearly as nice as Lululemon's for $17. I also read on line that the Tuff fabric tends to hold odor. I also read a blurb on a discussion board from a woman who lived in Vancouver who said the rumor around town was that Tuff and Lulu were made in the same factory. (Any Vancouver readers want to confirm or deny?) Her comment was from 2008 so things might have changed now but I am curious as to why Lululemon isn't protecting their distinctive look and design features more unless they are silent partners with Tuff. Tuff has a Facebook site, too. Check out these photos of Tuff designs, all eerily reminiscent of Lululemon:

That fabric looks suspiciously Space Dye-ish or Static-ish.

This tank looks very similar to Lululemon's Movement Tank:

They even offer hoodies.

Here is a link to the Canadian Costco magazine article about Tuff Athletics.

Comparison of Beachy Green, Caribe, and Lagoon

In these photos is a tank top in Caribe on the left, in lullure. The headband is the new Dance one in Beachy Green and Aruba, made of luon. To me, the difference in the two colors is negligible (they are also in two different fabrics). When Aruba was out a couple of years ago, it was used together with Caribe in Grooves and tanks so I think Beachy Green is essentially the old Caribe. If they are not identical, they are as similar as Bold Blue and Wish Blue. The tank on the right is Lagoon in silverescent. As you can see Lagoon is bluer than Beachy Green/Caribe. I know people have mentioned wanting to compare Beachy Green to Teal Zeal and Oasis but I don't have any clothes in those colors.

Comparison of Rubber Ducky, Citron, Chirp, and Mac N Cheese Yellow

It's hard to tell from this photo but the Rubber Ducky Push UR Limits is very bright. Someone said it reminded them of Peeps Easter Candy and they weren't far off. I think this picture mutes the color quite a bit. It's not neon but it's super bright. I was hoping for more of a buttery yellow about the same depth of color as Chirp. Needless to say, I will be returning this tank. The luxtreme is very see through in this color and I can see the birthmark on my tummy through the material. I don't recall the Rubbery Ducky CRB being this bright but sometimes luxtreme can brighten a color and light luon can tone it down a bit.

Anyway, in the photo above I have laid a Citron Mesh headband (lower left) on top of the Push. As you can Citron is paler and greener than Rubber Ducky. The other headband is a Chirp Jazz Headband. The Flow Y is Macc N Cheese Yellow.