This year marks the tenth anniversary of Lululemon’s iconic Align yoga pants, but the brand’s work in sports bras goes back more than two decades.
Over the past ten years, Lululemon has invested deeply in breast biomechanics. For Chantelle Murnaghan, the company’s vice president of R&D and product innovation, traditional high-support sports bras have long sacrificed comfort in the name of control. That, she said, is something Lululemon has been working to change.
Lululemon’s answer was found in one of the most punishing endurance races on earth.
In March 2024, ten women athletes wearing custom Lululemon gear collectively ran 4,635 kilometers in six days. The race, called “Further,” was the most extreme product testing lab in the brand’s history.
And co-developing products under extreme athletic conditions appears to be more than a one-off stunt. Earlier this year, Nike designed the Nike Fly suit for the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes, with sports bra included.
For Lululemon, athlete feedback during Further shaped the Go Further bra, a product that claims to blend high-impact support with a “barely-there” feel. The bra also introduces key innovations in fabric: an ultra-light breathable material known as Ultralu and friction-reducing Nulux technology. Both represent breakthroughs that translate biomechanics research into wearable solutions for gravity, sweat, and chafing.
According to Lululemon’s latest earnings report, the company brought in USD 2.37 billion in revenue in Q1 2025, up 7.3% year-on-year. Women’s apparel contributed USD 1.54 billion, a 7% increase, and remained the company’s main growth driver.
On the company’s earnings call, executives pointed to the Daydrift high-rise pants collection as a strong performer last quarter. Meanwhile, the Go Further line carries a slightly higher price point than Lululemon’s other running products.
Lululemon currently offers more than ten sports bras tailored to different workout types. The category was also the first to debut the brand’s Asia Fit sizing.
With more competitors crowding the market and growth in yoga pants starting to level off, Lululemon is under pressure to produce its next breakout product. Could the Go Further bra be it?
In June, the brand officially launched the Go Further women’s running line. To mark the occasion, 36Kr sat down with Murnaghan to talk about how the team identifies pain points and designs solutions.
The following transcript has been edited and consolidated for brevity and clarity.
36Kr: You hold a PhD in neuromechanics, which sounds fascinating. How do disciplines like neuroscience and biomechanics influence Lululemon’s design philosophy?
Chantelle Murnaghan (CM): Neuromechanics is central to what we call the “science of feel.” It’s a foundational principle behind all of our innovation.
Functionality is critical, but we don’t design for function alone. It’s about merging function with context. Take the Go Further bra. It was designed specifically for running, so we aimed for both high performance and a great wear experience.
Across the Go Further line, we released 36 new product innovations. One core feature was temperature regulation. We developed new cooling solutions to not only boost performance but also enhance comfort so athletes could excel under race conditions. In fact, many solutions born in the Further project are not only committed to improving product functionality, but also taking the overall experience to a higher level.
36Kr: Blending comfort and performance sounds tough.
CM: It is. We’ve spent a long time researching this. We’ve always challenged the old assumption that high support has to come from compression and restriction.
So we asked: how can we manage breast movement more precisely, supporting critical areas without limiting mobility?
That question led us to create our own dynamic support system, which we call Support Code. It uses detailed data to engineer structural support into specific zones of the bra, similar to how you’d tailor a workout plan for different muscle groups. Each direction of breast movement is met with a customized biomechanical solution.
But it’s not just about the technical breakthrough. We paired it with material innovation. Ultralu was one of the key fabrics. We also designed a seamless, hook-free closure and used different densities of memory foam in the lining. There are details you can’t even see, but that add up to a dramatically more comfortable feel. The result is what we describe as precise support with invisible comfort, and that’s the core philosophy behind the Go Further bra.
36Kr: How do you identify customer pain points?
CM: We start by listening to athletes. We try to understand which needs aren’t being met. That’s where our ideas come from.
In sports bras, traditional high-support styles often come with a tradeoff. To achieve strong support, designers layer multiple components and materials. That makes the bra bulky and hard to take on or off, especially with hook closures. We wanted to break that pattern. Why not give women both: real support and real comfort?
That problem still hasn’t been fully solved in the market. We think we’ve made real progress. By integrating new technologies and simplifying construction—like eliminating hooks, using light materials like Ultralu, and refining details like foam padding—we’re creating a “barely-there” sensation for high-intensity runners.
We co-developed this with athletes, testing every prototype iteration, including through our six-day ultramarathon in March 2024. It was an extreme environment for validation, but that’s exactly the point.
36Kr: Will athlete co-creation continue to play a role in future development?
CM: Absolutely. It’s part of our brand DNA. Like I said, everything we do starts with listening. And we have deep, longstanding partnerships with elite athlete ambassadors across the world.
Their voices are involved at every stage: identifying unmet needs, setting design goals, testing early versions, giving feedback. With the Go Further bra, we formed a core co-creation team of top-tier women athletes who push boundaries.
This kind of collaboration isn’t a special case, it’s built into our entire process. Testing products in real-world conditions is the only way we can know if an innovation delivers on its promise. It’s how we work on every product.
36Kr: How do these use cases translate to everyday consumers?
CM: The lessons apply directly. We take in all the feedback and refine the product with the athlete in mind, but it benefits everyone.
The six-day ultramarathon pushed our team to think through every detail, such as how we could add new tech, materials, and structure.
Because when you’re in an extreme event, even a small discomfort can snowball under pressure. That forces us to fix every unmet need, every rough edge. We design under a microscope.
And when something passes that kind of stress test, it raises the bar for everyday wear. If it’s comfortable after six days of nonstop running, it’ll feel great on your daily run, too.
36Kr: Why sports bras?
CM: Lululemon has been innovating in this space since day one. Supporting women has always been core to our mission.
Even before I joined the team over a decade ago, the company had already been investing in this category. It’s a longstanding commitment, and we believe it has made us a real leader in the field.
In the past ten years, we’ve deepened our focus on breast biomechanics, looking beyond traditional ideas of support to develop entirely new frameworks using advanced science.
The Go Further bra took over two years of development. We started designing it a year ahead of the Further ultramarathon in March 2024, and launched it commercially soon after the race.
36Kr: Who is the Go Further bra designed for?
CM: It’s designed for running, specifically high-impact support. But it works for runners at any level, whether you’re just starting out or competing professionally.
36Kr: Is it already in production?
CM: Yes, it’s in full production and on the market now. You could say it’s the first “seed” from the Further product line.
During that event, we developed 36 innovation pieces for the athletes. Now, we’re thrilled to bring one of them to the public. Our team is already discussing how to roll it out across more regions, with new colors and expanded designs.
36Kr: With so many product launches, what lessons have you taken from the hits and misses?
CM: We’re always asking: how can we improve what we have? What new products would customers love? How can we truly stand out?
For the Further project, we originally planned to design just one outfit per athlete. But after listening closely and forecasting their real needs, we realized that wasn’t nearly enough.
Nobody had ever done a six-day race like this. We had to create a full system of gear, not just individual pieces. That meant going from one item to 36, each one designed to meet a specific, real-world demand.
That pivot from single product to complete solution turned out to be one of the most impactful decisions we made.
36Kr: Are consumer preferences in Asia different from those in the West?
CM: In my experience, people everywhere want to feel good in their clothes. That’s universal.
We’re always expanding our product offerings to ensure better fit, style, and comfort. Every product we release is designed with those values in mind.
36Kr: Has Lululemon’s growth in China created new R&D needs?
CM: Absolutely. One major area is fit. Proper tailoring is key to comfort and performance.
That’s why we introduced our Asia Fit line, with sizing and cuts specifically designed for local body types. It’s a reflection of our effort to meet regional needs and offer more inclusive sizing options.
When we hear more voices from different markets, we gain more opportunities to innovate.
36Kr: From your perspective, what’s the biggest R&D challenge right now?
CM: The market’s always evolving, and so are customer expectations. Our job is to meet needs before they are articulated. That’s the heart of innovation.
Consumers want products that deliver on function, style, and feel. There’s so much potential left to explore.
36Kr: How do you keep your creative edge?
CM: Curiosity. We keep asking ourselves: how can we exceed expectations? How can we deliver experiences that no one’s imagined yet?
That’s what drives us.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Li Xiaoxia for 36Kr.