As revealed in the Australian upload, the Athletic Deep V Tank has come back. This is one of my favorite tanks so I am cautiously excited about this. The only reason I am not doing full on cartwheels is because this tank has luon light in it. I am assuming the bra and strap portion is regular weight luon and the torso portion is luon light. The mesh in the back has been changed from Power Mesh (which honestly was a bit scratchy) to the more comfortable generically-named anti-stink mesh. I am also a little bummed to see this tank only goes up to a size ten. This tank was well known to have a very snug fit and many people sized up in it. Anyway, I am excited to see it hit the North American market. It seems as though lululemon is starting to dig out some beloved "vintage" designs lately. The new Voyage Sweat crops resemble older Varsity crops.
43 comments:
The high-contrast color-blocked back kills it for me.
I am happy to see these vintage, classic styles coming back, though.
This is the best first step for Lulu to start getting all of my extra $$$ now that Ms. Day is stepping down! I love this tank so much and treasure the three of them that I have in my Lulu vintage collection. I would also wish they would not include the Luon Light as the bodice in this was so nice and flattering in the heavy weight luon. But so far this has made my day!
The Athletic Deep V is my all-time favorite. True to all you write here - not excited if luon light (not slimming enough). I have not found the Power Mesh to be a bit scratchy (unlike my beloved Studio Crop waistbands which continuously poke me with ends of fishing wire-like threads - a whole 'another apparently common issue. I need to return thus another old pair due to lack of quality). Did you blog about Christine Day "recalling" herself, and the possibility of Chip Wilson returning to the helm? As usual, I look forward to reading your thoughts. I really like this brand and I hope the quality goes back up.
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/06/10/lululemon-chief-christine-day-to-step-down/
Did anyone read Christine Day steps down?!
This looks like a "mom top" to me. No thanks!
I have the deep v tank from a few years ago, and I wore it ONE TIME to spin class. My DD's were all. over. the. place. That tank is cute, but it is made for a much smaller chest.
Also, luon light would immediately turn me off. Out of my 40+ CRBs, sadly my favorite color, but least favorite material is the angel blue one.
Oh I love this tank! It's a great higher support tank, especially for girls like me who are small framed, but well-endowed. I sized up from my normal 4 to a 6 back in the day and I rarely size-up for tanks for tops. I had to size up because my 32Ds would not fit comfortably in the bust. The size up still had a slim fit that flattered my midsection though.
I've also scored a good number of these tanks on Ebay for relatively cheap. This is a classic lulu piece that I'm happy to see make a retun.
Now bring back defines, non sheer WUC, and original luon power-ys and I'll be a happy girl!
WORDS cannot say how happy i am!
luon light !?!! NO!
I am sometimes a 2, but usually a 4, and in the deep v, there was no way I could wear less than a 6. I really hope Lulu hasn't limited the size in the deep v to a 10. They'd be stupid to do that. Maybe it's just on the Aussie side that they've limited the size....
Goodbye Christine Day!! See ya!! Good for Lulu that she is gone. Pantsgate did her in!!
cute! PS not sure if you've already seen this LLA but Ignite in Soot Light/ Twiggy Print Nimbus/ White
http://www.lululemon.com/products/womens/tops/bras/05_13_13dkhrb4_WHT_SOLI_TWPN&store_id=405
that is a classic top. hope, like you said LLA that ll will come back with some of their classics.
Hoping
M
Is the raspberry glo light swiftly headband the same color as the raspberry glo light swifty shirts? I wanna order it but I want it to be the same color as my tank..
Yay! I have 4 of these guys. It's one the more elegant lulu tanks, imo. I don't think the luon light will bother me too much and am happy that the mesh back will be replaced with a softer material. :)
OT, but I'm digging the new Grooves with the power purple/cool breeze waistband. What are the chances that it'll come in tall sizes? Are talls generally uploaded with the regulars? It's always really frustrating when great waistbands come in regular and not tall.
I heard on the radio today lulu shares dropped $14 today. The fact that Day and others cashed out their shares months ago is criminal.
OT a bit, but I just spent the past hour driving to my local store to pick up a cool breeze Voyage hoodie. I got the new product announcement for my store and it was listed. I got all the way out there and they didn't have it yet. They said, "Oh...we get that stuff in all week long. Check back later." Um no. I have been there on the weekend, and they are sold out in my size. Then, she told me to call ahead which is even more of a joke! Like they ever answer the phone! So, even though there is a store in my town, and the girls there are super sweet, sadly I cannot give them my business.
IM SOOOO HAPPY CHRISTINE DAY IS GOING!!! Wheres the crystal wine glasses to have a toast!!! LOL
This is one of the first lulu tops I've bought. It DOES run small, I am usually a 2 but sized up to 6 in this. I'm not even going to bother trying it on if it is Luon Light though. The design already really emphasizes your midsection so if you have anything less than a perfect stomach the light will not be forgiving at all.
@5:24
Yea... I never depend on the store stocking exactly what's on the website. Learned my lesson after a few times.
wow i can't believe that about Day! I am shocked pleasantly so i might add but shocked non the less :). I love the run ta ta tank in the cool breeze i ordered that and the nimbus striped crb love that coloration alot will look fab w/ black grey and white bottoms yay, and that cool breeze a light cool lavandar color i love that color it reminds me of cool summer nights at dusk in the summer time- HA HA!! I sure hope things turn around for this company, funny story: i called gec today to ask some product questions and couldn't help but comment about ms. day and hoping that the hemlines on items such as the scuba h would go back to the longer length pre stretch, or even a longer version that they lost big time on that revision and she proceeded to try and tell me the opposit was true! very stange i let her know this is absolutly false and she should carefully read thru all the reviews again then. she said she would ha ha ha they are probably trying to brain wash the educators into believing that lie- very disturbing i think ;)
Does anyone know if the size is on the swiftly racerback tanks once you pull the hang tag off?
Raspberry glo light/black No limits tank in HongKong:
http://www.lululemon.com.hk/products/clothes-accessories/women-tanks/No-Limits-Tank?cc=0001&skuId=hk_3342621&catId=women-tanks
I have had really good responses when I email my local stores to ask if they have a product. They usually respond fairly quickly - an hour or two. I would suggest giving that a try for folks whose stores are quite a distance away. However on a related note, I am still waiting to see the pizazz speeds in my store a week after they were released.
Lulu is going to be expanding into Europe so they will not be fixing their quality problems anytime soon, the product line will keep on declining. Lululemon cold not handle the expansion into the US that is when things started to go down.
How is Christine Day/LULU not a criminal? She was marketing the stock aggressively 3 times over last couple months to investors knowing she was out the door. She pumped up stock from $62 to $82 knowing this thing was about to implode with her announcement and ongoing investments that need to be made into quality. They even scheduled an "invitation only" event well in advance for top holders to attend a board meeting cocktail hour in Chicago, knowing they would need some hand holding for her going away party. All the while she accomplished her goal to get stock to $81 so the founder's 10B5-1 selling plan could trigger a $100M sale at $81 a share. I hope the SEC investigates this or a class action is formed.
LULU clearly not putting customer "or" investor interests before their own...
Swiftly tank-I think it's printed along the inside of the bottom hem at the end of the little "inspirational saying". At least hat's how it is on my LS and SS.
@ anon 6:20 am - Interesting points.
Swiftly tank size tags: yes! the latest version has a tiny size tag underneath the rip tag AND the size is printed in the hem. I picked up a pizzaz one last week, and was surprised to see the tag, so I know for sure it's on that color. The swiftly short cuts don't have the size tags.
@ anon 6:20am - the 10b5-1 was filed with the SEC back in December last year. The purpose of a 10b5-1 is to set up a predetermined trading pattern where the investor can sell shares even if they have insider information. The stock may have hit a high before Day's announcement, but it was floating around $80 well before this was filed with the SEC so to suggest that she "pumped it up" to $81 is a stretch - nevermind that the share price didn't trigger the selling plan to begin with.
I highly doubt she cashed out her holdings in advance of the stock drop yesterday. She would require a similar liquidation plan that would happen gradually for the same reasons described above.
I think this might be the beginning of a huge downward spiral in LLL. There is no CEO or product head.
The margins are creeping up as they will need to start finally spending money to make their product, consumers are running away from cheap manufacturing in countries like china and bangladesh where lulu's products come from.
Wall st does not like margin compression. Also wall street is losing all confidence. Stock was down 16-17% yesterday and another huge sell off today. Down another 6% - nearly one quarter of the equity of this company has been wiped out in 2 days and this will continue for a few days. The bottom on the stock is not in yet.
This is a really mismanaged company. Product has gone to hell just for short term stock gains. The CEO is certainly to blame as she was short term focussed and instead of building a company was focused on getting her stock options exercised.
The problem with Canadian companies is that they are just not innovative. You will probably see a new US company and kick lulu butt in the next couple of years. Its just a matter of time.
I for one am not going to support LLL as the product has been sucking. yuck. Was at the store last weekend and product is below average at best. Sizing seems all over the place.
Also people are saying that Christine resigned which is such a joke. She seemed ticked off on the conf call. Also considering that she will not be on the board clearly she has been given the boot. The problem is that the damage is already been done.
@ anon 11:32am - My sister, who is in management at a Fortune Top 20 company, seems to think that since the stock price recovered from Pantsgate Day resigned rather than was fired.
I agree with consumers seeking out domestically produced items being on the radar these days and Yogasmoga is definitely ahead of the curve on that one since their fabric and now clothing is manufactured in the US - a big, BIG reason I am excited about them, in addition to having super technical fabric that lives up to it's hype.
I don't agree about the innovation comment regarding athletic clothing - Arc'teryx is a highly regarded technical company. Lole is very respected. Canada breeds some nice technical wear companies.
@LuluAddict: The pants gate was a 5-6% selloff. For a co with such high P/E any bad news would give that pullback. Lulu now has lost close to 3billion in market cap in the last 2 days. This is a vote of no-confidence from wall st. I personally have no doubt that she was fired as she is not going to be on the board as well.
I just checked out Yogasmoga. Thanks for bring to my attention. Site and product look really good--have you tried their product? Did not realize they were made in USA. Definitely going to get some product from them.
Sure I hear your point about Canadian companies but both Arc'teryx and Lole are very nice. I checked some Lole products and fabric was very average. Remember Blackberry - was a good canadian tech company till Apple came along.....failed to innovate - CEO got fired - stock went down --- I have seen this movie before.
@Anon 11:32, you say that Canadian companies lack innovation, but many of their most senior staff & board members are U.S. based or have recently run U.S. based corporations. They are drawing talent from the same executive pool as many other Fortune 500 companies... So...not sure about your argument.
In addition, I remember reading a few years ago that LLL had a net 55% operating profit, although please take that with a grain of salt because I don't remember WHERE I read it. If it's even close to that #, that's an astounding profit margin, and that's when the clothing was still superbly made & in Canada. One would assume that the margins have increased with the shoddy manufacturing and increased retail prices. So I don't think that they're going to be in crisis.
I am very interested to see what happens in the next few months...this is quite the situation!
I have not! I emailed a store and didn't receive a response until over 24 hours later and the response said, "were you looking for a long sleeve or short sleeve?" When I had clearly put "long sleeve" in the subject line. Needless to say, they had sold out by the time I got a proper response.
@anon 4.13 - The current lulu margin is 55% - yes it is very good and its because they are making cheaper quality product. Lulu is claiming to be a "premium" product but their product is below par. They are using cheaper fabrics than when they produced in canada and also using cheap labor in bangldesh/cambodia & China.
Lulu had a protest/strike by its workers in Cambodia recently and they produce in chittagong, bangladesh which is basically a sh*t hole.
Even Nike - known for cheap labor has a gross margin of 44% so they draw a line in the sand somewhere --- lulu is greedy -- overcharges us, gives us low quality product and keeps super high margins.
@ anon 2:01 pm - I did a big review on Yogasmoga on April 12th.
@anon 6.20am - wow you are so dead on the money. I am just wondering where you got the info from.
wall street journal has a article hinting at insider trading by chip wilson. Apparently he sold $50mm of stock on Friday right before they announced the news on monday.
From WSJ:
Timing of Stock Sales Favors Lululemon Insider:
Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU -5.23% Chairman Dennis "Chip" Wilson sold $50 million worth of stock in the company four days before the shares plummeted on the unexpected news that the yoga-gear maker's chief executive would step down.
he company announced the CEO's departure plans after the market closed on Monday. On Tuesday, Lululemon's stock fell more than 17% to $67.85. A sale at that price would have brought Mr. Wilson about $8 million less than he reaped by selling his stock the previous week.
The sales were made as part of a prearranged trading plan known as a 10b5-1, which lets executives buy or sell shares in their own company according to preset conditions even if they have inside information at the time of the sale that could affect the stock price.
"The whole point of these plans is that if material events occur, as they inevitably will, the insider has an alibi against insider-trading accusations," said David Yermack, a finance professor at the New York University Stern School of Business.
A pattern of favorably timed sales by certain corporate directors under such plans has drawn the attention of regulators and prosecutors. Those trading patterns and regulatory interest were highlighted this spring in a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal.
While the plans in theory take the timing of sales out of insiders' hands, the Journal found that board members have leeway to choose when to set up or amend exiting plans.
Mr. Wilson's sale of shares last Friday followed a number of sales that began in May and appeared to be his largest sale of Lululemon stock over a short period since the company's initial public offering in 2007.
Between May 10 and June 7, he sold two million shares of stock at an average price of $81.57, raising more than $163 million, according to data from InsiderScore.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324049504578541821613302146.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
@ anon 2:01 pm - Yogasmoga is running a promotion where you get $25 off your first purchase if you are a new customer. I love all thier bottoms but the leggings and slimmie pants were my favorites. I also like the Yantra tank a lot.
@9:27 most big manufacturers have their products outsourced to countries in Asia is because they can find cheap labor and make bigger profits, that is what these companies do.
A big reason why manufacturing is outsourced is due to labor laws and environmental laws in most first world countries. There is also a shortage of people who are willing to work in sweatshops. I don't think lulu is any different from Marmot, Patagonia or Nike, they are all companies who manufacture their products in Asian countries. Also just because something is made in Asia doesn't always mean that it is of poor quality. A lot of my high end sailing gear is made in China.
Calling a poor country a sh*hole is lacking compassion in your part.
A lot of the people in these countries are just doing the best they can to take care of their families.
It is our first world greed that creates these horrible environments.
M
@luluaddict - thanks so much on the heads up on the Yogasmoga promotion. I just checked out the site - such a fun tongue in cheek promotion - ha No Sheer here -- I wonder who they are poking fun of!
I will definitely try out the slimmie pant and the leggings-- thanks so much for the recommendation.
@ M 10.44 Yes manufacturers are producing in cheaper labor countries - clothing is labor intensive and we know that.
The issue at hand is that companies like lulu are cutting costs by manufacturing in bangladesh/cambodia/vietnam but keep charging us "premium prices". How can a product be called "premium" when it is being put together in the poorest parts of the world (yes I did called Bangladesh a sh*t hole just to make a point) in a country that is based solely on islamic principles. Labor is cheap as people/women have no other options -- women don't have any rights in these countries except work in tailoring shops.
That is the truth --- how do you feel about your wunder under made in those condition-- do they make you feel good?--- do you feel premium when actually they are being made in these types of countries? In the end the savings on cheap labor are not being passed onto us as consumers they are lining Chip Wilson and Christine day pockets - we just need to be aware of what we are buying and what is being sold to us. Nike makes internationally as well in the same countries but they never call themselves premium - they cost half as much as lulu.
Also lulu is far different than Patagonia. Patagonia has one of the highest eco and ethical production principles - you can check the patagonia chronicles - they are know for this --- lulu is not even in the same league.
http://www.patagonia.com/us/footprint
I have a lot of patagonia and wear it with pride. In fact Yvon Chouinard (the founder of patagonia) is regularly asked to advice nike and other companies on eco production. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvon_Chouinard
Yes things that are made in Asia are of poor quality. In life you get what you pay for. China is pillaging itself with cheap dyes and cheap products. There is a reason Hermes, Ferrari and the top brands in the world don't produce in Asia.
I do feel passionately about this as companies like lulu are scamming us with advertising premium products whereas they are nothing but. We need to be informed and make better choices as consumers.
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