Dive Brief:
- Lululemon has been named the official apparel partner of Life Time pickleball and tennis, per a news release.
- The collaboration agreement was announced Saturday at a major pickleball event held at Life Time’s new Penn 1 location in New York City.
- Lululemon will collaborate on key events at Life Time’s “athletic country clubs.” The apparel will soon be available to purchase at select Life Time clubs and online.
Dive Insight:
The tie-up with Life Time deepens Lululemon’s ties to pickleball.
Among the apparel earmarked for the co-branded line are a women’s asymmetrical tank top, mid-rise skirt, waist-length racerback tank top and a cropped crew. Highlights of the men’s line include a metal vent tech tee, pace breaker lined short and a smooth spacer hoodie. The product assortment is Lululemon’s core and tennis styles with a visible Life Time logo or icon on each piece, according to a Lululemon spokesperson.
Lululemon is not new to tennis apparel and said its current line can be worn for both sports. The athletics brand has long been producing tennis apparel — adding new styles every year — and counts tennis star Leylah Fernandez as a brand ambassador.
"This partnership highlights the extraordinary growth of these sports and brings together the best in athletic apparel with the best in tennis and pickleball experiences," Celeste Burgoyne, president of Americas and Global Guest Innovation at Lululemon, said in a statement. "Our two brands share a common goal of supporting the collective wellbeing in the communities we operate in, and we're excited to create one-of-a-kind racquet sport experiences in support of that shared mission."
The move by Lululemon to push further into pickleball comes at a time when the sport continues to be among the fastest growing in the U.S. over the past three years. More than 36 million people are now playing pickleball with close to 30% of them being in the 18 to 34 age group, according to data cited by the Pickleheads blog.
As pickleball continues to grow, a number of brands and retailers have jumped onto the proverbial bandwagon seeking to capitalize on the explosively popular sport. Last year Walmart teamed with Break the Love, a racket sports booking platform, to offer comped reservations at pickleball venues across the country. Footwear brand Skechers added pickleball products to its inventory, signed two of the top-ranked players in the world — Tyson McGuffin and Catherine Parenteau — and was named official sponsor of major tournaments in the U.S., Canada and England. And just last month, Target announced a limited pickleball collection in partnership with tennis and lifestyle brand Prince.
Between tennis and pickleball, Life Time has 960 courts nationwide, with close to 700 of those being for pickleball. The brand claims to be the largest operator of indoor tennis courts and the largest owner and operator of pickleball courts — both indoor and outdoor.
