For Athleta, Gap Inc.‘s women’s activewear brand, the Paris Olympics proved to be “a big moment.”
Athleta went high-profile, staging events daily in the Marais section of Paris where athletes, instructors and spectators at the Olympics gathered for yoga, Pilates, a sound bath or other wellness experiences followed by healthy food and juices, podcasts, panels and networking.
“I won’t speak specifically to business results, other than to say we absolutely felt a significant impact to awareness,” said Chris Blakeslee, president and chief executive officer of Athleta, referring to the brand and its “Power of She” platform. “Tracking awareness, through social media and consumer engagement, is what we’re measuring as a leading indicator to business results. We’re measuring the impact on earned media value…and there’s a lot of incremental content that will come from all of the work we did during the Olympics.
“We actually had a big moment in Paris because of the significance of what’s happening in women’s sports, particularly this year with women’s basketball and the Caitlin Clark phenomena,” Blakeslee added. “We knew the Olympics would be a culmination of women in sport, because this was the first time there was an equal number of women and men competing.”
Simone Biles in Athleta’s Anthem limited-edition line of red, white, and blue workout apparel launched in June.
Courtesy of Athleta
For the 26-year-old Athleta, Paris marked the brand’s first presence at an Olympic Games, and an opportunity to be in the center of the conversation about women advancing in sports. The event, said Blakeslee, served as the first “big reveal” of the Power of She, Athleta’s four-year-old campaign to empower woman. Athleta officials characterize it as a movement.
While expanding the Power of She with additional top athletes and activities, Athleta for the past year has been refocusing its collection on technical, pure performance-based apparel with new fabric development, and less on activewear worn as sportswear in nonactive settings.
In another manuever, Athleta put a hiatus on store openings, in favor of renovations and remodels. Thirty five of the 270 stores in the store fleet are currently being overhauled, as Blakeslee said, to “enhance the shopping experience.”
Another capsule collection by Simone Biles, a member of the Power of She, will be introduced Sept. 17 during the Athleta-sponsored “Gold Over America” gymnastics tour headlined by the Olympian. It’s the gold medal gymnast’s first multigenerational Athleta capsule; others were just for young girls. The upcoming group, consisting of five pieces for women, two for girls and a belt bag, launches Sept. 17 online and in stores.
Chris Blakeslee at a Power of She luncheon last July in Beverly Hills.
Getty Images for Athleta
Athleta was founded in 1998 by a group of athletes in Petaluma, Calif., and purchased by Gap Inc. for $150 million in 2008. At the time, Athleta was only sold online and through catalogues, so seeing an opportunity in the burgeoning women’s active category — at the time dominated by Lululemon and Nike — Gap proceeded to steadily open Athleta stores and aggressively build the business.
After serving as president of Alo Yoga and its sister brand Bella+Canvas, Blakesee took the reins of Athleta in July 2023, seeking to get the brand back on track. For several seasons, Athleta seemed to hit a wall, but had a second wind in the first quarter of this year, reporting net sales up 2 percent to $329 million and comparable sales up 5 percent. Officials stated that customers responded well to new product, brand expression and activations, but warned that net sales in the second quarter are expected to be challenged as the brand laps last year’s quarter of heavy discounting. Gap Inc. is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 29. In 2023, Athleta sales were down 8 percent to $1.4 billion; comparable sales fell 12 percent.
“Over the past year, we’ve done so many new and innovative things with product,” Blakeslee told WWD. “A year ago, we were not known as a brand for newness, which is very important to consumers today. Now Athleta basically introduces new product every two weeks. Athleta is becoming known for new, innovative product and beautiful colors, which is a big change from where we were just over a year ago. The events in Paris gave us an opportunity to debut a lot of those new products.”
The company a year ago veered from its legacy for true performance product and moved into what Blakeslee referred to as all-day active products. “We re-grounded back into innovative performance products,” Blakeslee said, citing February’s introduction of the “Power Move” fabric for intensive workouts such as spinning, weight lifting and intervals. The fabric took two and a half years to develop, and was also introduced to running products. “Every detail about those garments, from seam placement, to whether fibers in the fabric run horizontally or vertically to create compression, was considered,” Blakeslee said. “In addition, we’re putting those innovative fabrics into products she can wear throughout the rest of her day.” Athleta is also developing products for traveling, that are easy to pack and don’t wrinkle, he added. The Athleta collection, he said, breaks down into three major categories: highly active performance products; leisure and lounge for post-workout recovery, and active travel.
“We have about 40 different fabrics in our innovation pipeline, which is a significant number. Some will take two and a half years or more to fully refine, before will bring the product to the market,” Blakeslee said.
Athleta’s Power of She was launched four years ago, not only elevate brand recognition and have top athletes appear in Athleta apparel and ads. Members also help fund raise for women’s and girls’ causes, serve as mentors, attend brand events, advise Athleta on product development and issues in sports, and network among themselves.
There are 13 current or former Olympians and professional athletes who are members in the Power of She, considered a collective, with Katie Ledecky and Biles arguably the highest profile. Natalie Coughlin, the winningest female swimmer in the Olympics until being surpassed by Ledecky in Paris; Monica Puig, a former Olympian and professional tennis player, and WNBA player Monique Billings, are also Power of She members. The athletes wore Athleta (pronounced ath-led-a) around Paris and during the activations, though not during competition. “We’re not a uniform brand,” Blakeslee said. “We want to be the brand athletes choose to wear when they’re not necessarily on the field.”
With Biles, Ledecky and others of the Power of She, “They’re not endorsement deals in the traditional sense,” Blakeslee said. “Endorsements have always been very transactional, but we do not think of them as transactional. We think of these women as brand partners who are guiding us, guiding our mission and guiding our products. They’re inspirational and serving as role models for women and girls. Our mission, very clearly, is to inspire women and girls to build confidence, strength and a sense of belonging through movement.”
Blakeslee said the women of the Power of She have much in common, despite their different sports, different physiologies and diverse backgrounds. “There are these common threads of self confidence, mental and physical sense, a sense of belonging and community and being supported by the women around them. That’s really important so we’ve incorporated those into our mission.
“They sign contracts. They get paid. Obviously, we wouldn’t be able to get them otherwise,” said Blakeslee, noting that the contracts are long-term, typically extending from five to eight years. “But when everyone else is worried about every specific thing the athlete does on the field, we’re interested in the person, what they represent, and how they can be inspirational role models. We’re the counter endorsement brand.”
Blakeslee underscored his point by recalling the first member of the Power of She, who was Olympic track star Allyson Felix. He said she was on contract with Nike until she became pregnant, which affected that brand’s perspective on her value as an athlete. “For Athleta, the fact she was such a high-performing athlete and becoming a mother, that story was very important to us, and so our values aligned and she joined. That is what led Simone to also becoming an Athleta partner, because of what she went through after the Tokyo Olympics. We signed Simone when it was unclear if Simone would ever compete in the Olympics again.”
