As a new, somewhat financially independent college student, I’ve come to experience the hardships that go along with being a girl, specifically, a girl who loves clothes. I’ve had to say goodbye to some of my deadliest spending habits. I used to pride myself on morning coffee runs every day before school and have consequently had to adopt an evolved mindset where I now contemplate whether or not the dreadful feeling of paying off my credit card bill is really worth that purchase. With this being said, I am not only a regular coffee drinker and a borderline shopaholic but also a runner, which has made this popular trend of cute workout apparel especially difficult to ignore.
With the help of fast fashion, brands such as Free People and Alo have created a new benchmark for women’s athletic apparel, one that’s strictly run on the basis of providing bright colors and matching sets. As we initiated this shift and gave away a small piece of our Lululemon loyalty in exchange for those seasonal colors, we’ve often forgotten what made Lulu so memorable in the first place. Here, I would like to draw attention to a couple of discreet policies that I had no knowledge of until this past December and have saved me during my budgeting crisis.
As I was cleaning out my closet over the holidays, I found myself face to face with a problem that took shape among a pile of old Lululemon. After self-sustaining my bad shopping habits for years, I gradually grew away from my impulsivity and started buying clothes I could see myself wearing long-term. However, this steady progress left me with the never-ending job of cleaning out my closet, a mission I’ve been on forever. As I began this tiresome journey of trying on, bagging, and then donating my clothes, I’ve come to discover a variety of ways to be more sustainable. Normally, when I start my mid-year clean out, I put a selection of items aside in order to list them on resale websites or sell them among my friends. Doing this helps shrink the colossal mess of a carbon footprint I’ve made and recycles some clothes I’ve barely even worn. Not only that, but this method has also proven to be a lot less painful, putting my mind at ease when I find myself picturing how much money my younger self spent on all these single-use items.
Even though this carefully arranged system of mine works most of the time, there are moments when some items take longer to sell than others. This leads us straight to the problem I was facing this winter break when I discovered a pile of Lululemon that had been accumulating in my room. After being unsuccessfully listed on Poshmark and eBay, I couldn’t think of a single soul who would jump at the chance to buy low-rise leggings. This dilemma forced me to stalk the internet in search of additional ways I could sell my old workout gear and not lose all of the money I’d spent years ago. Hours went by until I finally stumbled across Lululemon’s quality policy, where you could bring in your old Lululemon items in return for a small amount of store credit to be put towards your next purchase. Even though the amount of money I would get in return for a pair of leggings was nowhere close to how much I originally spent, I was desperate. Part of me knew that if I continued to hold on to them for another year or two, I’d make no progress in finally clearing out my closet.
After finally coming to terms with the fact that at no point in the future am I going to get more than forty dollars for my old Lululemon, I drove down to the store and prepared myself for the worst. However, the worst was nowhere close to what I received. Even though I walked away with a thirty-five dollar Lululemon gift card after just handing over three pairs of leggings, I also obtained a brand new pair of leggings, something that was all thanks to Lululemon’s guaranteed quality policy. Now, when I say I left with a new pair of Lululemon leggings, I’m not referring to a pair of awkwardly cropped leggings that were hanging up on the back of the sale rack. I’m referring to a pair of size four, navy blue, 28-inch Align leggings. After hearing this, some of you might not be as shocked as I was. Maybe this was an already known thing that somehow I was just completely unaware of and had overlooked. But my jaw nearly hit the ground when the saleswoman held up my overwashed Align leggings in front of her and then turned to me asking if I wanted to get a new pair from the shelves or if I needed a minute to look around.
Even though Lululemon is famously known for its technical athletic apparel, soft fabrics, and inclusivity, the company policies that support this multi-million dollar business and help promote its brand name benefit more than just its employers. Subtlety sewn into each Lululemon item is a lifetime Quality Promise that assures free repairs to any item within a practical lifetime. As long as you didn’t rip, stain, or purposefully damage the fabric, you can bring it into any Lululemon store and they will either send it out to be fixed or give you a completely new product. After researching this policy, I can confirm that it’s true. With the exception of a couple of guidelines, Lululemon will accept almost any garment and evaluate whether or not it’s meeting performance expectations.
In summary of this policy, Lululemon is basically saving you from having to buy new workout clothes every time your current ones become too damaged after a single wash. In my dedicated journey of collecting and recycling my clothes, I’ve found the process could potentially become a lot easier and a lot cheaper for me to keep up with thanks to policies like this.
**These are the writer’s own opinions and are not affiliated with or a paid sponsorship for Lululemon**