How psychology built this $4B clothing brand

Sometimes opportunity shows up disguised as competition.

A 2x failed entrepreneur, accountant Joe Kudla had settled back into his 9-5 job to take a mental break and try to save some cash.

He lived in the picturesque California surf town of Encinitas located along the famous Pacific Coast Highway, about 100 miles outside of Los Angeles.

An avid rock climber, he’d suffered a back injury and decided to take up yoga.

But he figured out pretty quickly that the athletic shorts he was wearing to class just didn’t have the flexibility he needed.

So Joe made a visit to the brand best known for posh yoga wear: Lululemon.

Browsing the aisles, he noticed that the men’s section was a lot smaller than the women’s.

There weren’t as many options or products for men, either.

It kind of felt like Lululemon was so focused on serving the lucrative women’s athleisure market that they were under-serving men.

Joe’s entrepreneurial intuition kicked in.

He started to feel like there might be a business opportunity staring him in the face - to serve a market that Lululemon wasn’t paying close enough attention to.

But the athleisure market was so competitive that going head-to-head with a $50B brand like Lululemon seemed like a fool’s errand.

And Joe was coming off of two failed attempts at starting a business already…

So he decided to hold back and do some more research, keeping an eye on what men were wearing to the gym around town.

When Kudla would visit these gyms, he noticed lots of inflexible board shorts and athletic pants - both better suited to riding waves than Downward-Facing Dog.

And while Lululemon was big and intimidating, its men’s section was clearly its Achilles' heel.

So Joe decided to take one more shot at entrepreneurship…

He developed a style of shorts that were purpose-built to better support men while they practiced yoga.

Because this was a needed product in an underserved market it allowed his fledgling brand to carve out some psychological space in people’s brains and create memories that were triggered the next time they needed yoga gear.

Now instead of immediately thinking Nike, Adidas, or Lululemon (none of which offered well-designed yoga gear for men), they thought about Joe’s brand… Vuori.

The result?

Vuori is now worth an estimated $4B, with stores in 17 U.S. states as well as London, Shanghai, and Seoul.

And it’s one of the fastest growing brands in a highly competitive market.

Why did it work?

Because marketing is really just memory building.

The biggest battle is getting known for something and lodging yourself in people’s minds.

It’s why companies spend billions every year building mental associations like:

• Apple = Innovation

• Volvo = Safety

• McDonald’s = Consistency

• BMW = Precision Engineering

• Nike = Performance

That way when it’s time for them to buy what you sell, they remember and buy from you. 

So ask yourself, what do you want your brand to be remembered for?

Until next time,
Jen

PS.

If you didn't register in time for yesterday’s Skill Session, “6 Psychological Mental Models to 2x Marketing Effectiveness (So Sales and Profit 2x, Too)” - stay tuned.

Next week I'm sharing a way you can get access to all of my current and future courses PLUS save $400 in the process.

If you want to skip the wait, just respond to this email with the word “save” and I’ll get you the details.