Gap’s Athleta is Competing on Lululemon’s Home Turf with First International Stores

Gap Inc.’s fast-growing Athleta activewear brand is on a mission to double sales by 2023, and the road there for the billion-dollar brand goes through Canada.

Athleta, whose most direct competitor is Lululemon Athletica, is taking their athleisure fight to Canada with its first two international stores set to open this fall: one in suburban Toronto at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, and the other just outside Lululemon’s hometown of Vancouver at the Park Royal Shopping Centre.

At Gap Inc.’s investor day in October, it was made abundantly clear that Athleta, whose sales crossed $1 billion last year, along with Old Navy, which is eight times its size, are at the center of the company’s growth plans even as the Gap and Banana Republic brands keep shrinking. Gap Inc. CEO Sonia Syngal said at the time that she wanted Old Navy and Athleta combined to make up about 70% of net sales by 2023 from 55% last year.