Size Doesn't Matter

Soon after I returned to work from maternity leave a few years ago, I came to realize that I had been out of touch with the fashion world by being absent from the shopping malls for over two years. When a young co-worker mentioned about Lululemon, I bluntly asked her whether it was kind of fruit. She instantly burst into laughter. By the time I got to know what Lululemon is, all of sudden I began to spot Lululemon everywhere.

Every industry must go through 4 life cycles: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Unlike anything related to fancy Web 2.0, high tech or green energy, retail business in general is considered as a mature industry in the West. Similar to middle-aged man busy dealing with mid-life crisis, all retail behemoths have been struggling to find ways to generate new streams of revenue or boost the sales per square foot. For instance, McDonald has revamped menu items to offer healthy choices and launched McCafe to compete with Starbucks. Walmart has expanded their food shelves to diversify their consumer product offerings. Nike has continued to sign up endorsement agreement in huge sums with superstars to promote their brand. Among all the buzz, Lululemon has quietly ascended into stardom from obscurity within 10 years in this seemingly boring industry.

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Lululemon originally started out with a single design studio and retail store in 1998. Self-described as a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company, Lululemon has designed and marketed top quality sportswear to fit so beautifully a woman’s body with its ingenious design, lively color, perfect symmetry and comfortable materials. Dennis "Chip" Wilson, the founder, also created the famous manifesto with multiple healthy and inspirational messages which have become company’s culture adored and followed by millions of fans.  Since its IPO on Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in July 2007, Lululemon has enjoyed phenomenal expansion in business with average growth of approximately 70% in revenue and over 200% in net income over three years. With few TV advertisements and endorsement contracts, Lululemon has opened approximately 130 retail stores in US, Canada and Australia as of 2010 by setting up showroom to test the local market first. Compared to around 700 self-operated retail stores and 50,000 retail accounts worldwide for Nike, Lululemon is still a dwarf. However, it has claimed market cap of over $3B with an enviable P/E ratio in the range of 35 to 45, well above the average of 15-25 for industry giants like Nike and Adidas in the West and Anta and Peak in China where retail business is still at the burgeoning stage.  When beauty and creativity prevail, size no longer matters.

I still remember my first visit to a Lululemon store shortly after my earlier embarrassment. The moment I laid my eyes at their clothes, I felt the urge to throw my Nike and Adidas outfit out of my wardrobe. Ever since then, Lululemon has become one of my beloved stops at the shopping centres. Even without buying anything in the stores, the sheer pleasure of looking at the shining colors, touch of the soft fabric and feel of the vibrant energy among customers is immeasurable. Whenever I get the chance to read its manifesto on its products, website or shopping tote, I can always find something new and inspirational into life. To me and many other people, Lululemon symbolizes not only beauty and fashion but also life style and philosophy. 

Being one of my favourite companies, I always like to follow Lululemon’s performance.  When its Q2 earning was released recently, it was not surprising to see the momentum continued to build on with the growth of 62% in revenue and 176% in operating income over the first two quarters compared to the same period last year.

“Great!”  I thought to myself. The stock price jumped 3% at the news with P/E reaching 40 whereas other much bigger brothers still remained at dismal 15 or 20. “You are the winner regardless your size.” I grabbed my Lululemon gym bag.  Well, when it comes to body, size still matters. 

As I walked out to my car, I recalled one of its manifesto:  Lululemon creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives.  “That is absolutely right!”  I stepped onto the gas pedal.

When I looked into the mirror at myself in Lululemon outfit in the gym, another manifesto resonated in my head: Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.  “For sure, let me just start by loving my body first!”  I pushed the start button on the elliptical.

Lululemon Manifesto

                                                                Breathe Deeply

Stretch Out

The Age of Innocence

Two weeks ago, we went to Brooks Farm with a group of families.  The kids had such a great time and fun so we decided to go back there again this Sunday with a few friends.

Apart from banks, gold, potash, oil & gas, forestry, and lakes, Canada is rich with farms and ranches.  In Ontario alone, there are close to 60,000 farms with types in field crops, vegetables and fruits, dairy or beef cattle, horse, poultry or combination of several etc.  Smaller farms could generate from $25,000 to $250,000 in annual revenue while the larger ones could top up $1 million mark.  In summer and fall time, a lot of the farms are open to the public whereby kids and adults could experience the life at farms by picking up fruits, feeding the livestock, and participating in other farm activities etc.  We have been to several of these farms before.  Brooks Farm is by far the biggest and has the most fun activities with straw jump, corn maze, pumpkin cannon, tractor train ride, fruits picking, pig race etc. 

While driving along Highway 404, I caught my son's giggles at the backseat from time to time.  Lately he has been hooked up with Tom and Jerry.  Even with 30-40 minutes drive, he still insisted on bringing along the dvd disks to watch in the car.   "What are the worry-free years for the kids!"  I thought to myself.   Time waits for nobody.  It seems that those years belonged to us just a while ago.   Without notice, we have inevitably stepped into a life stage as "sandwich" with our parents and our boss on the top, our kids and staff at the bottom and us in-between in family and at work respectively.  After handling endless emails, meetings, projects, pressure from the boss and unsatisfactory performance by the staff during the day, we have to deal with our kids' academics, after-school programs, health problem and behavioural issues in the evening.  While everything seems in order, our aged parents are suddenly calling sick.  Everyday we are fighting like soldiers at all fronts.  Long gone are the days of simplicity.

The kids were running around the farm, playing their favourites one by one. Straw jump, a small "mountain" with tunnels in-between simply made of layers of hay piles, amazingly attracted kids to spend the most time where they played  tags up and down the "mountain" and in and out of the tunnels. With pieces of straws all over their clothes and hair, nobody seemed to care.  Then they ran off to the Corn Maze with a wide-open mouthed pumpkin at the entrance.  They exclaimed in awe when they found a large real pumpkin field at the end of the maze.  They continued their fun with the corns by shooting them high into the sky at Corn Blast.  At Zip Line, everyone of them seemed to become an explorer in the jungle zooming down the line with their tiny hands holding tightly onto the bar.  From time to time, they passed by the goat pen, teasing the good-tempered goats and sheep with grass and feeding stock.  Seemingly they were now grabbing the rare opportunity to be the ones in charge.  After hours of play at different spots, they returned to Straw Jump with the same zest.

"I wish I could have that energy".  I sighed to my friends.   
"I could not believe that they could make so much fun out of this simple thing."  gasped one friend.
"What an age of innocence!" another friend concluded.

I lay down on the bench made of hay.  The sun cast lazy shadow of the Straw Jump onto the ground, reminiscent of a laid-back young man relaxing in a Laz-boy recliner.  I suddenly recalled the words from a friend:  "Keep some time and space to ourselves amid this busy world! We do deserve a break once in a while!"

When a breeze brushed gently over my hair, I closed my eyes.  Forget about the meetings, projects, house chores, and even our children. The world will not end if we let go our responsibilities for a minute.  The Age of Innocence, let me just savor the taste of you once again!

                                         

Are We Different?

I Believe

There are two major national English TV channels dedicated to children in Canada: Treehouse TV for pre-schoolers and YTV for the bigger kids, both of which are owned by the same company called Corus Entertainment.   Corus also co-owns with Astra Media Teletoon, a TV network exclusively airing animation programming in both English and French in Canada.

For the past 6 years, Treehouse had been part of our life.  I used to seeing my boy jumping around with the Wiggles, singing and dancing with the Backyardigans, busy making stuff with Mr. Maker etc.   Out of the blue, he switched totally to YTV when he was about to turn to 6 earlier this year.  I could not help but feeling amazed at how those TV specialists are able to target their programming at the right audience.  At one casual weekend in August, 2010, he by accident caught a glimpse of the replay of the Next Star, a singing talent show for teenagers and has since glued to the show each week.  When I got to know that the Finale will be staged and broadcast at Wonderland, the largest amusement park in Canada on the last Sunday of September, I bought the tickets right away.


Wonderland is only 30 minutes drive from our home.  We have not been to Wonderland for 2 years.  After I ventured all the rides at Universal Studio in Orlando 5 years ago, I came to the final conclusion that a woman of my age shall be best fit staying onshore.  Fortunately my boy was so scared to get even close to those rides designed for small kids during our first 2 trips to Wonderland that I didn't have to worry about my heartbeat and blood pressure in the past. 


"Now things may be different."  As I thought to myself, we arrived at Wonderland.  Accompanied by my good friend's son, my little guy improved a lot this time and tried almost everything appropriate for his age.  However, the bad news was that for a few of them, an adult had to be with him because of his height restriction which left me no other choice.   When I was still dizzy and felt like throwing up, our time was up.  By the time we hurried there, the International Showplace was already fully packed with screaming teenagers holding up their banners in support of their favorite stars. 


The Next Star reality show was launched in Canada in 2008 and instantly became a sensation. After auditions among over 4,000 kids under the age of 16 across Canada and numerous performances on the stage among 16 finalists, Top 6 are chosen from them to go through additional tasks from meeting the press, creating their own looks and pairing to perform duet to giving back to the local charities, attending to superstar duties and unveiling their singles.  So it is a show for Top 6 to present not only their singing techniques but also communication skills, teamwork, creativity, and social responsibility. During the whole process, kids and/or adults across Canada cast their votes online or through text message to choose the Next Star.  The kid with the most votes will be declared as the Next Star at the Finale broadcast live across Canada. 


My son's favorite was Diego, a cutie from Toronto and mine was Mimoza, an Asia girl from Winnipeg.  The show started in no time after four of us settled in.  The whole place was soon heated up with waving hands, applause, jumping and screaming.  My boy was no exception.  He asked for a piece of paper from me and was writing on it carefully under the dim light.  I looked closely and laughed.  "Diego, You Rock!" 


Holding the paper high above with his both hands, my boy was screaming and jumping like the rest of the crowd.  "Is he really 6?" I had to ask myself.  After Diego's performance with My Best Friends Girl, my little boy was shouting into my ear: "I believe Diego's going to win."  


"I believe!"  Suddenly I recalled Nikky Yanofsky, 16-year-old girl from Montreal whom Top 6 also met during the reality show and her theme song "I Believe" for 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.  When she was still a little kid, she believed that one day she was going to be a international star like Celine Dion.  She has believed and  each day her belief has become one step closer to reality.  


All these 6 kids have wished and believed.  No matter who will be the Next Star, what they have believed have become real tonight, showing their talent and performing their best in front of so many Canadians live on this stage. 


Diego's belief finally became true and so did my boy's. But there were no losers on the stage.  So go ahead to say I BELIEVE and uphold this belief because this is the starting point for you to become the Next Star in your chosen path. 




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP9IQuz-jlk&feature=related


I Believe, performed by Nikki Yanofsky (Age:16)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxJCFJPrzXU&feature=related


Meet Me Halfway, Duet Performed by Diego (Age:14) and Mimoza (Age:13)