Taking a stroll down a bustling St. Joe hallway will give you a good idea of which name brands are the most popular among the average American teen. Whether it be Lululemon leggings, North Face backpacks, Kendra Scott necklaces or Nike sneakers, the high volumes of these products make their popularity clear. So what exactly makes certain brands so popular?

Every brand has their own persona, the light in which they want consumers to see them in. Products are marketed as being a part of a brand’s lifestyle; one that you can achieve with the purchase of their items. 

Think of the biggest brands on the market and it’s easy to see this concept. When you visit the websites of Stanley and Hydroflask, there are many images of people camping and hiking while using their products. This shows how these two brands want their consumers to connect leading an outdoor lifestyle to owning their tumblers and water bottles. Across the board, this is done by every brand, and those that are the most successful at this often end up being the most popular. 

Loyalty is another factor that plays into the success of a brand’s popularity. Something unique that connects the brand to the customer. When a brand causes consumers to envision themselves in the lifestyle of the products they own, they feel more inclined to purchase them again and again. According to Forbes, this is because customers see buying the brands that they are loyal to as an act of self-care. 

Students at St. Joe were surveyed on their favorite popular brands. They were asked from a number of popular brands which they purchased the most often. From the responses, 57 percent out of 95 respondents answered Lululemon. 

The fact that Lululemon is the statistical majority from the survey is unsurprising. The company has had a strong foothold in the athletic clothing market since its beginning in 1998, playing a significant role in making the athleisure trend mainstream for the 21st Century. The company has continued to grow and increase in worth, being valued at $41.62 billion dollars as of December 2022. In that year alone, its annual revenue increased 42.14 percent from the year before. 

The significant increase in the popularity of leggings over the last 10 years in particular has been a major player in Lululemon’s success. Their variety of quality fabrics are what have made their leggings stand out to consumers, as it is a unique aspect of the brand that consumers can connect to and remember. 

When it comes to the question of what exactly makes Lululemon so popular at St. Joe, students were asked what about the brand entices them to purchase its products. The most common answer for the reason why was that students enjoy the look and feel of Lululemon’s products along with the quality. 

Freshman Izzy Mancini believes that the current trendiness of Lululemon is more related to their logo than the products themselves.

“Lululemon is a brand that has grown because of trends, and in turn grown in popularity. Their quality isn’t insanely different from other athletic brands, but something about the name, the trend, makes people more inclined to buy it,” Izzy said. 

Izzy thinks that this is because individuals feel most comfortable when they act in alignment with the social norms they are exposed to.

“As a society most people tend to be followers, scared of straying away from the norm. That results in falling into the pressure of a trend, and [I think that] Lululemon is a brand that has grown because of [the popularity of] these trends,” she said.

Junior Abby Dickson’s opinion is similar. She suspects that the popularity of Lululemon is due to its well-established reputation. Where her thinking differs is that the popularity is not just due to the trend of the brand itself, but also how individuals feel if they own the products.

“I think that Lululemon is so popular because of its reputation. It is seen as a high-end brand that promotes an active lifestyle, and people want to present themselves as fit and high-end, so they buy its products!” Abby said.

The point that Abby makes is a strong one. Everyone thinks about how they wish to present themselves to the world, and we often do this through the brands that we purchase. Whether it be because of a company’s promoted lifestyle, values that they hold, or even something as simple as the products themselves, we gravitate towards what we feel we can identify with and what makes us feel good upon purchasing. 

A good brand establishes a strong emotional connection, and whether you love it or hate it, Lululemon has successfully figured out how to do just that.