Britt's Picks - Bumble Berry Cool Racerback!

Britt's Picks are up for next week - Bumble Berry Cool Racerback, you will be mine!

Ooh! Love that Flat Inky Black/Gray floral print.  I know lots of people are excited about Herringbone Wunder Under Pants.

2014 Sea Wheeze Race Recap, Part 2: The Merchandise

This year's "race" shirt.

2014 Sea Wheeze Race Recap, Part 1: Travel and Expo

2014 Sea Wheeze Race Recap, Part 3: The Race

2014 Sea Wheeze Race Recap, Part 4: The Sunset Festival


2014 Sea Wheeze Race Recap, Part 2: The Merchandise

I think most people consider this year's Sea Wheeze merchandise to be the best yet.  Lululemon did an excellent job with the colors, prints, and styles chosen. The Expo store sold out in one day and I heard it was $1M+ day. I also heard CEO Laurent Potdevin was there observing the frenzy but I did not spot him myself. Lululemon definitely sandbagged us with the preview photos, the pre-expo buzz was very lukewarm when the photos came out.

This was my personal haul - a plaid Downtime Jacket, plaid Tracker II shorts,  a multistripe Cool Racerback, two Bound Bras, and the Keep on Running duffel bag. The Keep on Running Duffel was the same style used in the first Sea Wheeze. The palette used this year was: Vintage Pink, Concord Grape, Sunny Lime, G___ Blue, and ___ Red. (I don't have exact color names for the blue and red yet.)

My sister and nieces's haul - Inspire Crops, Speed Tights, Dart and Dash Shorts, Downtime Jackets, Scuba hoodie, CRBs, Run Times Tanks, and a Pace Rival Skirt. My sister and niece's choices are interesting to me because they aren't in any lulu facebook groups so aren't influenced by hype. They go with what appeals to them and the functionality they need instead of what is the 'it' item to get.

Six of the eight CRB styles. (Thanks to Ms. J. for this photo.)

Black of the thin black and white striped CRB

This year's Cool Racerbacks were made of light luxtreme. People definitely preferred them to last year's thicker, heavier Power Luxtreme but you might want to consider the next size up if you are looking to get these. There were eight styles of Cool Racerbacks for sale: Black White Stripes, Blue Sunny/Lime, Multi Stripe, White/Multi Stripe edging, Red "race", Concord Grape Striped, White/ Black, Pink/Blue Stripe, and Vintage Pink/BW stripe.

This year the jacket style was the very popular Downtime Jacket. A much, much better choice than last year's Track Attack and the first year's Nothing But Run jacket. It sold out very quickly. There were three styles - the Black and White striped one with Vintage Pink accents seems to be the most sought after, though they are all really nice. I went with my larger size for more arm room but I believe my sister got her regular jacket size.

Last year I complained that the men got a rulu pullover but women didn't. Lululemon listened and gave us the very popular Tuck N Flow LS in two styles. 

2012 Sea Wheeze Keep On Running Duffel - I kick myself for putting this back.

Last year's Sea Wheeze bag was a very ugly Yoga On the Run Duffel. They were such duds they got marked down within two hours of the Expo's opening. Even then, there were a lot leftover on Saturday at store closing. This year, lululemon went back to the Keep On Running Duffel in a very cute Sea Wheeze print. I believe these were sold out in the first hour or so of the expo. 

There were two colors of the Dart N Dash shorts offered -  a multi striped and a version with gray chevroning up the side of the leg.

 I think there were seven Speed short patterns. Let me know if I left out some. The rainbow swirl are the most coveted, I think.

Thanks to Ms. C. for this photo.

There were five six Tracker II short styles.

There were three styles of Bound Bras made. They all disappeared very fast, within the first thiry minutes to an hour. I don't think lululemon made very many. I got two of the three colors. I'd love for these to come back next year (make a LOT more, though!) and for them to be in the regular line, too. The Bound is my new favorite bra.

There were four Stuff Your Bra styles. These sold well but there were a ton of them and not too hard to get at all.

Lightened Up Singlet styles. These sold well even though the fit is tricky. My sister went up one size and found it tight in the hips and big in the chest. She refused to go up another size to get it to fit right.

Rainbow swirly front, solid black back

There were four Pace Rival Skirts for sale.

There were five Inspire crop models for sale. There were not nearly enough size twelve crops made. I passed on the crop rack on my first walk through and by my second pass the rack was empty. Very little size twelve merchandise was made, and not nearly enough size ten for that matter. Meanwhile, there is size two clothing left over.

There were two Speed Tight styles. I believe these were a new style and they sold out very quickly. They definitely need to be brought back next year.

This Race to Place color was the only offered. If it had come in the plaid I would have bought one but I didn't care for this print in the hat.

Two Scuba styles were offered. The top one, with the big eye logo on the back, was a very slow seller. I believe there were a number of those when I went back to the store around noon. The Black and white crazy print was a hot seller.

There were two Swiftlys that came with the eye logo woven into the back, a purple and blue. They were offered in a short sleeve and long sleeve and looked really cool out on the race course. I really liked the woven logo and hope they do that again next year.

Thanks to Ms. F. for this photo.

Three colors came with a screen print - white, blue and pink. I think these came in a tank and short sleeve only. I definitely like the screen print idea to distinguish these swiftlys from others.

There were also two tie dye colors in all three Swiftly styles, tank, SS, and LS. I love tie dye but was spending enough on SW merch so passed on these. 

There were three different Run Times tanks offered.

Update - Ms. C. reminds me there was also an In the Flow Dress offered. I am blanking on how many colors it came in but I think no more than two.

There were also Fly Away Tamer headbands in rainbow and various striped prints. There some socks, too.  All in all it was a very nice merchandise selection and I think lululemon would do very well offering the same styles next year. My biggest complaint that the size twelve section needs to be increased by 30-50% more, if not doubled, since it was very small. Size ten also should be increased, too, since those two sizes ran out very quickly.

PS - I forgot to say that I was hoping to see a UPF LS top like the RunBeam LS or Run in the Sun LS that I picked up at the first Sea Wheeze. I would also love to see a print VitaSea SS or LS top added to the women's line.

Fellow Sea Wheezers, what did you think? Was this the best year yet? (Let me know if I left a major style out. I think I got them all except for headbands and socks.)