Lululemon Enters Deal To Buy Interactive Fitness Firm MIRROR For $500M

Lululemon has entered into an agreement to buy in-home fitness company MIRROR for $500 million, according to a Monday (June 29)  press release.

MIRROR, launched in 2018, specializes in interactive classes and features live and on-demand services. The company has seen an upshot in growth since then, with demand increasing steadily. The MIRROR device, when turned off, looks like a normal mirror. But when turned on, users can see their reflection and other class participants while working out.

By acquiring the company, Lululemon is looking to expand its customer experiences and add to its “digital sweatlife” offerings, allowing for more personal solutions for customers.

Sweatlife refers to what the company  calls the subset of people looking to “sweat, grow and connect” with the company’s apparel products.

“The acquisition of MIRROR is an exciting opportunity to build upon that vision, enhance our digital and interactive capabilities, and deepen our roots in the sweatlife,” Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said in the announcement. “We look forward to learning from and working with Brynn Putnam and the team at MIRROR to accelerate the growth of personalized in-home fitness.”

Brynn Putnam, founder and CEO of MIRROR, said the merger would be beneficial for the company in the long run.

“As part of Lululemon, MIRROR can further strengthen its position and accelerate its growth by leveraging Lululemon’s deep relationships with its guests, ambassadors and communities, as well as the company’s infrastructure, including its store network and ecommerce channels, to acquire new users,” she said, according to the press release.

After the transaction, MIRROR will remain as a standalone company and Putnam will report to McDonald.

Lululemon has weathered the tumultuous pandemic fairly well, PYMNTS reported, with a recent announcement that the company had seen a 68 percent jump in direct-to-customer digital transactions in the first quarter.

In a 2018 interview with PYMNTS, Putnam said the point of MIRROR was to offer a variety of experiences from yoga to strength training to cardio. She said the idea was to boost accountability, making it harder for people to skip a workout if others in their class know they’re supposed to be there.