After almost a decade of spurring Lululemon’s embrace of progressive supplies and secondhand gross sales, Esther Speck is stepping away. Speck, who joined the Vancouver athleisure put on large in 2015 as vice chairman of worldwide sustainability, spent the previous two years as its senior vice chairman of worldwide sustainable enterprise and impression.
“After I joined Lululemon 10 years in the past, I got down to construct a world operate, enterprise technique, and platform for impression — one that might assist form the way forward for this excessive development model and catalyze impression past the corporate’s partitions,” Speck posted on LinkedIn on Could 8. “I’m proud to say that we’ve completed this. What started as a small, mighty crew is now a world community of over 80 sensible leaders around the globe … .”
Speck approached sustainability as an innovation problem, she instructed Trellis Co-Founder Joel Makower in 2024. She additionally noticed that work by means of the lens of “what it means to be a model rooted in well-being.”
Innovating
Athletic put on depends closely on artificial supplies constituted of fossil fuels. As Lululemon’s web income greater than doubled from 2020 to 2023, so did its greenhouse gases. And that attracted fireplace from activists. So in 2020, Lululemon made an bold dedication: for 100% of its merchandise to characteristic most popular content material and end-of-life options by 2030.
In taking Lululemon midway by means of this 10-year transformation, Speck was concerned in quite a few interconnected packages and workstreams to increase product life and innovate supplies. Startups benefiting from Lululemon’s strategic investments and partnerships included Geno, maker of a plant-based nylon, and Bolt Threads, maker of a fungus-based leather-based various (discontinued in 2023). Most not too long ago, Lululemon introduced, in March, a partnership with ZymoChem to increase work on biobased nylon. One other partnership, with Australian enzymatic recycler Samsara Eco, resulted within the Swiftly Tech long-sleeve prime and an anorak jacket.
By 2023, Lululemon counted 57 % most popular supplies in its sourcing, a one-year rise of 44 %.
In the meantime, Lululemon Like New branded resale program llaunched 4 years in the past. Speck credit the heads of retail and innovation for spearheading that initiative.
Throughout Speck’s tenure, Lululemon additionally engaged in a number of collaborations to advance local weather progress throughout the attire trade. These embody the UN Constitution for Local weather Motion; the Style Local weather Fund, an Attire Impression Institute challenge to drive down emissions within the trade’s provide chains; and Style for Good’s Sorting for Circularity USA effort to map textile waste.
Transferring ahead
One 12 months in the past, the Girls’s Government Community named her one of many prime 100 strongest ladies in Canada. “Play the lengthy sport, belief and put money into folks, be true to your self, invite daring imaginative and prescient and pragmatic motion,” Speck mentioned round that point.
Her undefined subsequent steps embody “adventuring on this stunning planet past the boardroom, whereas persevering with to contribute by means of thought management and mentorship earlier than beginning new impression endeavors.”
Likewise, it’s unknown who will fill her sneakers at Lululemon as its 2030 supplies innovation targets and more and more difficult net-zero local weather purpose for 2050 close to.