Vancouver

"The Original lululemon Manifesto (2003) (these were the quotes on the side of the lululemon shopping bags) Coke, Pepsi and other pops will be known as the cigarettes of the future. Colas are NOT a substitute for water. Colas are just another cheap drug made to look great by advertising. Drink fresh water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins and keeps your brain sharp. Love. Do yoga. It lets you live in the moment and stretching releases toxins from your muscles. Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself. Do one thing a day that scares you. Sunscreen absorbed into the skin might be worse than no sunshine. Get the right amount of sunshine. Listen, listen, listen and then ask strategic questions. Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks. Compliments from the heart elevate another person’s spirit and will often result in an encouraging word for someone else—a domino effect. Write down your short and long-term GOALS four times a year. A class study at Harvard found only 3% of the students had written goals. 20-years later, the same 3% were wealthier than the other 97% combined. A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins will give you the power to make better decisions and help you be at peace with yourself. Let SWEAT FLOW from your pores once a day to regenerate your skin. Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to. One hour of aerobic exercise will release endorphins to regenerate cells and offset stress. Wake up and realize you are surrounded by amazing friends. Communication is COMPLICATED. Remember that each person is raised in a different family with a slightly different definition of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur. Friends are more important than money. Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water. Vancouver will do nicely. Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Try vinegar and lemon. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter. Stress is related to 99% of all illnesses. Don’t trust that an old-age pension will be sufficient. Do yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age. Observe a plant before and after watering and notice the benefits water can have on your body and your brain. You ALWAYS have a choice and the conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Utilize your freedom to choose. Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them. Children are the orgasm of life. Lululemon athletica was formed to provide people with components to live a longer, healthier and more fun life. If we can produce products to keep people active and stress free, we believe the world will be a better place. DO IT NOW. The world is changing AT SUCH A RAPID rate that waiting to implement changes…"

"designed our first professionally-built store. Then I took out an ad in our local weekly newspaper offering a free lululemon outfit to shoppers if they came naked on the store’s opening day. The response was unbelievable. It was so strong that I became concerned there would be a naked riot, and we would be forced to hand out our entire inventory free-of-charge. I went back to the paper and placed a second ad. This time I clarified that only the first thirty naked Guests would score free clothes. I had forgotten about Vancouver culture, and that given a chance, the whole city would show up naked. On the day of the opening, at around four o’clock in the morning, people started lining up outside. It was a drizzly, cool October morning in Vancouver, but groups of people were showing up wearing raincoats and nothing else. It was still dark outside, but I could see the numbers were growing. The inside of the store was still swarming with our efforts to get it ready. Not long after the line formed, the media showed up with trucks and vans. As dawn broke, a large crowd of spectators had assembled. Milestone’s—the restaurant across the street—had a balcony packed with people craning over their breakfasts to get a look at those lining up. Even lululemon’s meek, mild accountant who couldn’t have looked more out of place, had shown up not willing to miss the spectacle. As we got ready to unlock the front doors, I was very excited… until I got a good look at the group of people clustered by the front door. The first two customers lined up were young girls who couldn’t have been older than fourteen. I turned from the door and went to find Darrell Kopke in the back. I was verging on panic, thinking about the media and the video cameras filming, the crowd of spectators, and these kids about to strip down. What was supposed to be a funfest was suddenly verging on becoming a PR catastrophe. After a couple of minutes to assess the situation, I asked Shannon to help greet the naked Guests. We went to the door, opened it up, and stepped out to the crowd. I shouted, “You guys are fantastic—thanks for coming!” The tension broke that instant and there were cheers and clapping. Then we counted off the first thirty naked people over the threshold. As it turned out, those girls at the front of the line weren’t alone. They were sisters—and they came with their equally naked mother and grandmother. Dozens of Guests continued to show up naked to the store all day, just because they could do it. Three naked men came in the morning and just didn’t want to leave. It was a little creepy, but we went with it. We had no issues with the police, and this reminded me why I love Vancouver so much. There are plenty of cities in North America where this kind of event in 2002 wouldn’t have gone over nearly as smoothly."

"Jones explained to Dobbin that he enjoyed his job, he and his wife loved Vancouver, and though he was flattered by the offer he was not interested. Refusing to concede, Dobbin called several times over the next few months, attempting to persuade Jones to accept the job, even flying Jones and his wife to St. John’s for a meeting. Jones continued turning down the offer until the day Dobbin called Jones at a relative’s home in Winnipeg and said, “What the hell is it going to take to get you back east running Sealand?”"