Apparel Designer
Lululemon FW27
Lululemon SS27
Lululemon FW26
Reebok SP24
Clo 3D x Special Olympics
Knit Experiments
Info
CV/ Resume
Lululemon
Women’s Athletic
Run/Hike
Nov. 2025
Women’s Athletic
Run/Hike
Nov. 2025
Fall / Winter ‘26 Cold Weather Run
As lululemon grows its Cold Weather Run offering in women’s athletic apparel, insulation becomes a key priority for product innovation.
For the ’26 CWR capsule, Polartec® Alpha Direct™ was introduced into the women’s product line as the pinnacle offering. Breathability and insulation were highlighted as the material’s key attributes, informing designs that paid homage to lululemon’s heritage curves. Two designs from the capsule were developed into commercial pieces before the raw material was changed to Polartec® Hi-Loft™ to achieve a higher warmth and insulation rating.
Products will drop in stores and online at lululemon.com starting November of 2026.
As lululemon grows its Cold Weather Run offering in women’s athletic apparel, insulation becomes a key priority for product innovation.
For the ’26 CWR capsule, Polartec® Alpha Direct™ was introduced into the women’s product line as the pinnacle offering. Breathability and insulation were highlighted as the material’s key attributes, informing designs that paid homage to lululemon’s heritage curves. Two designs from the capsule were developed into commercial pieces before the raw material was changed to Polartec® Hi-Loft™ to achieve a higher warmth and insulation rating.
Products will drop in stores and online at lululemon.com starting November of 2026.
Why is this Material Relevent?
A predominantly male, second-layer-driven material, the lofty Alpha Direct™ gained traction in high-style activewear when Satisfy launched its Ghost Fleece running hoodie. The material was later adopted into more casual and hiking pieces by brands like Haven and Ghnur Studio. Castelli, a cycling brand, also utilized the compact fleece for cycling base layers, creating one of the only close-to-body pieces in this material on the market in 2025.
A predominantly male, second-layer-driven material, the lofty Alpha Direct™ gained traction in high-style activewear when Satisfy launched its Ghost Fleece running hoodie. The material was later adopted into more casual and hiking pieces by brands like Haven and Ghnur Studio. Castelli, a cycling brand, also utilized the compact fleece for cycling base layers, creating one of the only close-to-body pieces in this material on the market in 2025.
Why Do Details Matter?
Considering the price and novelty of Alpha Direct™, keeping trims to a minimum could help highlight the high-performance qualities of this new material within lululemon’s product line. Focusing on a snug fit and integrating no-pill paneling or lightweight, discreet pocketing could bring added novelty to an already high-functioning material.
Tops:
Keep it tight.
Femininity is what’s missing from what is available on the market in the Alpha Direct ; there’s room to lean into minimal details and seaming to make this piece sexy and high-performance: cinching, vents, and our base-layer seam lines.
Keep it short.
Insulated skirts have been rising as trend in women’s hiking bottoms. Alpha Direct could serve as a novelty shell for a flirty hiking skirt with built in long-liner shorts for coverage as a hiking and a lifestyle staple
Refining the Design:
The process of designing into an entirely new material within the Lululemon product line meant honing the vision through many iterations. The design intention had been set and approved to head in a more curve- accentuate direction, but it felt hard to gauge if the customer would celebrate a more gorp-inspirted piece, or something that felt wearable in lifestyle and performance. What came out of this design process was tens of iterations that presented before settling on a final design.
Final Direction:
What began as a whole capsule collection of the material was streamlined into two products that would serve as the introduction of Lululemon Womenswear to our Polartec offering.
What began as a whole capsule collection of the material was streamlined into two products that would serve as the introduction of Lululemon Womenswear to our Polartec offering.
WI26 Polartec Hi-Loft 2nd Layer Hoodie
Final Sample Photoshoot