Lululemon Veteran Christine Day Launches The House of LR&C
The fashion platform focuses on sustainability, inclusivity and offering affordably priced products.Christine Day wants to teach others to be good.The retail veteran, who served as managing director of Lululemon Athletica for six years, teamed up with menswear designer Russell Wilson and singer Ciara to launch a concept called The House of LR&C putting the emphasis on love, respect and care.The aim is to democratize fashion, Day said, or to break down the invisible barriers of a notoriously elitist industry. To do this, the digital platform and the brand house which currently includes the brand Good Man, founded by Wilson, and the fluid streetwear brand Human Nation offers durable products at affordable prices and in a range of sizes.
Right from the start, in every business process that LR&C fact, we make sure that we give back, that we take care of the environment and that our messages are all around love, unity and inclusion, ”said Day, who is chairman of the cabinet and is also a co-founder. “So we really embody what Gen Z consumers are looking for in particular.”The platform is also a B Corp, available in English and Spanish, and follows sustainability guidelines set by the United Nations, Day said. In addition, the company plans to donate money to youth organizations after each transaction.“Many brands donate a percentage of their profits to charities,” Day said. “But we actually donate 3% of our net income to the Why Not You Foundation as part of our business model.”
This is even during a pandemic, when unemployment levels remain high in the United States.She took the helm of Lululemon in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008, 2009. So she is no stranger to building brands during times of economic crisis,” Day said. The circumstances today don’t really worry me, as long as you have a brand that really speaks and resonates with the consumer.Day, who is also the CEO of healthy food company Performance Kitchen, has trained his team to include experts in sustainability, product and marketing.This is a LR&C full time with my other commitments, ”she says. “While this is a very entrepreneurial team, it is also a very experienced team that has been in business for a long time. So the infrastructure and how we build the business model comes from deep experience, which you don’t really see in a lot of startups either.Currently, the Good Man brand and Human Nation are available on thehouseoflrc.com.This company is also working on a women’s clothing brand that will launch next summer.
Additionally, Human Nation will be available in the Kohl store and on kohls.com the week after Christmas through selection of third-party brands from big box retailer “Curated by Kohl’s”. The Good Man brand is currently available from Nordstrom.“We believe that Human Nation, a brand steeped in sustainability and inclusiveness, will truly come to life through Curated by Kohl’s and resonate with customers in a compelling way,” said Doug Howe, Kohl’s Director of Merchandising.Teri Bariquit, Director of Merchandising at Nordstrom, said it was the Good Man brand’s mission of fabrics, fit and restitution that made it so appealing.“We are delighted to offer our customers more of the Good Man Brand and to expand our relationship with the new brands introduced by The House of LR&C,” said Bariquit. The House of LR&C has no plans to go into physical retail in the short term, Day said, but will likely do so in the future. “For now, we will focus on strategic partners and our own dtc site,” she explained.
What I think is really different about this brand keep in mind that it’s not Russell and Ciara doing a collection for another brand. They’re the ones who build a brand house and own that business, along with myself and the other founders, ”Day said. “We build a business is very different from product recommendations or collections; in fact, we sort of combine the best of the cooperative world and direct-to-consumer multi-level marketing business and DTC and retail.The House of LR&C will evolve the fashion industry by combining new social norms and style elements with different perspectives on the world around us, defining the narrative of the future of retail,” said said Day. “I think people are tired of more consumables fast fashion clothing. The consumer tackles brands that really care about social issues. I think it will be more and more important for clothing companies to start embracing these principles.
Photos Courtesy of The House of LR&C
By Kristen A. Glover