Fabletics launching denim jeans line as athleisure sales slow

Changing trends have proven more difficult for niche players like Lululemon, which boomed during the pandemic and is now falling behind as denim reigns supreme again.

has worked for several years to expand outside of its core yoga pant assortment into more lifestyle categories, including outerwear, T-shirts and made for work trousers, as fashion preferences shifted. The move has allowed Lululemon to increase its total addressable market, but some critics have said it‘s alienated Lululemon’s core customers and contributed to a slowdown in growth in the retailers core Americas market.

‘s former CEO John Donahoe grew the retailer into a roughly $50 billion brand by focusing on lifestyle and streetwear styles. While the strategy briefly led to growth, it ultimately contributed to a decline in market share because it distracted the company from its core, performance assortment. Now, Nike’s new CEO Elliott Hill is working to refocus the brand on sports to win back that core, athlete consumer.

Goldenberg disagreed that Lululemon‘s challenges came from expanding into new categories and instead said Fabletics, along with up and coming private athleisure brands Alo Yoga and Vuori, are taking market share from incumbents. He also said Fabletics’ expansion isnt coming at the expense of innovation in its core athleisure products, either.

“All these category expansions need to be ‘and’ and not ‘and or’ right？” said Goldenberg. “So we need to be doubling and tripling down on our innovation and activewear while we make sure that were launching denim in a way that, like, is truly the best product out there.”

He added that Fabletics has already proven it can successfully scale into new categories, which has helped the company get ahead of schedule two years into its five-year plan of doubling revenue and quadrupling profits. In 2020, it launched a mens category, which is now more than a $300 million business, and its scrubs line, which has grown to $75 million in a little over two years.

Goldenberg said activewear is still Fabletics main priority, but category expansion will be critical in winning more sales from its current customers and acquiring new shoppers.

“I‘ll give you scrubs as an example,” said Goldenberg. “We’re now bringing in thousands of new customers a month into the Fabletics family through them. First purchasing scrubs, but within 90 days, well over 50% of them have also purchased activewear.”

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