Apparel Firm Big on Yoga

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Apparel Firm Big on Yoga
Stacy Goldstein at Lola Getts in downtown L.A.

Chip Wilson, co-founder of Canadian active wear company Lululemon Athletica, opened a can of worms last month when he said in an interview that plus-size female bodies did not work well with his clothing. He also opened a door for Lola Getts.

The L.A. company designs and manufactures yoga pants and sports apparel specifically for plus-size women – a market its owners say is ignored by trendy brands like Lululemon.

“We’re designed for that plus-size customer who deserves to have fashionable clothes like anyone else,” said co-founder Jodi Geiger. “Sixty seven percent of American women are size 14 or bigger.”

Geiger and co-founder Stacy Goldstein both have backgrounds in the fashion industry, and said they designed their products with durable fabric and stitching so they would hold up well and avoid showcasing unflattering bumps and hitching. Manufactured in downtown Los Angeles, Lola Getts sold out its modest first season of about 1,100 units through its website and smaller boutiques. Prices for its size 14w to 24w line of pants and shirts run from $68 to $76. Lululemon’s yoga apparel often runs in excess of $90, and it does not make any apparel larger than size 12.

Lola Getts products go through a longer manufacturing process compared with a regular piece of yoga apparel; rather than being sewn straight from the roll, its fabric is laid out for one to two days, which allows it to “rest” and to endure more stretching.

The company, just 18 months old, might be going after a market Lululemon has ignored, but it still faces competition from big sportswear players like Nike Inc. and Gap Inc.’s Athleta. The distinction, Geiger said, is that those companies’ plus-size offerings are just larger versions of their regular designs.

Though Lola Getts’ co-founders might disagree with some of Wilson’s remarks, they said he helped put active wear into the mainstream.

“We give him credit for how we view yoga pants today,” Geiger said, “but we want to empower the plus-size demographic that has been shunned.”

– Justin Yang

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