How much would you pay for a pair of limited edition, super rare, lululemon Wunder Under pants?
If you gasp at pair of the Luon pants going for upwards of $1,700, you’ve likely never been a part of the lululemon resale market.
Hoodies fetching $1,532 and pants marked at $1,795 can be found upon searching “lululemon” on Ebay Canada, along with a collection of $600 shorts and jackets. While it’s likely a big compliment to the company’s ego, they don’t appreciate the profitable reselling of products that usually go for $150 or less.
The controversy began in 2014 when lululemon began restricting customers who were known resellers from buying items on the company website. Business Insider reported last February that company representatives had confronted several customers after they attempted to sell items on Ebay.
Following a backlash, lululemon backed down and simply updated the “resale/counterfeit” section of their FAQ, stating:
“We completely recognize that once someone purchases our product they can do what they want with it. We do not, however, support those who acquire large volumes of our product to resell at an elevated price point.
Regardless of their policy, the resale market is alive and well.
According to Shape.com, the athletic apparel brand can fetch such supreme prices because of lululemon’s policy on stocking small quantities of product.
“Lululemon keeps merchandise scarce on purpose, releasing limited quantities of items and intentionally not restocking, leaving brand devotees to search frantically online for sold-out goods,” the site says.
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And those devotees don’t have to go far to find what they are looking for.
With more than 100 private Facebook groups for buying and selling lululemon products, and sites like Ebay, Craigslist and Tradesy, there is no shortage of old and rare stock for sale.
There are a total of 9,036 lululemon items for sale on Tradesy today, with the most expensive being a camo “rise and shine” jacket going for $642.50.
lululemon CEO, Laurent Potdevin, told Reuters earlier this week that he recognizes the side-effects of producing limited quantities of an item. “While we don’t mind our guests being hungry for our product, we don’t want them to starve for it.”
Potdevin’s comment hints that there may be strategy changes coming down the pipeline.
“New NWT Lululemon Size 2 Emerge Renewed Crop Pants shine dot black grape” – $1,795.63 CAD
Image: Ebay