Lululemon, the purveyor of expensive athleisure and activewear, is betting on the future of personalized remote exercise as a way to reach customers by acquiring Mirror, a home fitness start-up that sells a $1,495 wall-mounted machine for streaming workout classes. The $500 million purchase, which Lululemon announced on Monday, is the company’s first acquisition and follows its $1 million investment in Mirror last year. Mirror charges customers $39 a month to stream its live or on-demand classes. The purchase fits with Lululemon’s ambitions to become an experiential brand that helps customers live a “healthy and mindful lifestyle across multiple experiences,” as it said last year. “This isn’t just about getting guests to buy apparel,” Calvin McDonald, chief executive of Lululemon, said in an interview.

Source: New York Times June 29, 2020 20:03 UTC