Good day, lovely readers!
I have been inspired to write this by literally my entire Facebook feed. I subscribe to many Lululemon Facebook pages, and am a grateful member of many Lululemon-themed Facebook groups. All I have been seeing on my feed lately is “The Enlite Bra.” I know this post is maybe a little late, but I also wanted to wait until I had a chance to try out the Enlite bra myself before talking about it.
Listen, starting a serious marketing campaign is expensive. After the recent Lululemon stock price decline, Laurent Potdevin promised that Lululemon would step up its marketing to attract new customers. Delivering on that promise is very pricey. The costs of advertising, making a video, or two, sponsored blog posts, a specialized product page, organizing launch parties, and staffing the entire effort, these things cost money. Money that Lululemon needs to get from somewhere! Which is why you should buy this bra.
Come on you guys! It’s not that boring! Besides, that’s not the point! It holds boobs, it’s supposed to be sturdy. It shouldn’t matter whether it’s cute or not. Except that it does matter because they expect us to shell out $98 for it.
If someone is asking me to pay $98 for a BRA, it had better perform some sort of miracle. Not only should my breasts be held properly in place (as is the traditional function of any bra I would buy), but they should be infused with aloe, emerge feeling refreshed and the bra should also have a tracking mechanism. That way, if my $98 bra gets lost, I can easily locate it. In fact, it should have an intrinsic homing device, then it can realize that it has been lost and return itself to me.
Sizing
I know a lot of people have been complaining about the sizing. The Enlite Bra comes in a range of 20 sizes, up to a 38DD. Lululemon told one customer who inquired about sizing, “If we feel that we need to re-evaluate sizing in the future, we will.” Here’s my opinion on that: People who have breast sizes ranging above 38DD on up are happy to pay more for a well-fitting bra, since it can be difficult to find one for them. Victoria’s Secret (which, incidentally, I’ve actually written about before, and again), only carries up to a 40 DDD, which is more encompassing than Lululemon’s bra size offerings, but still doesn’t capture the entire market. It’s these underserved people who are willing to pay the most for bras, so why create and sell a $98 bra, but not make one for them too? Just my two cents.
Reviews
Another thing I wanted to chat about are the reviews. There are an abundance of positive reviews for this bra online, on blogs and on their website. The first thing I want to say is that a lot of these people received the bra for free, which may or may not make them biased. I think you can receive things for free without being biased. But some of the posts online are sponsored reviews. Sponsored reviews mean that the blogger was paid for their post. Some companies pay thousands of dollars for a single post. Some brands’ contracts specifically state that if they sponsor your post, you’re not allowed to say anything negative about the product you’re reviewing. Now, that said, I am not privy to the details of Lululemon’s contracts but, if a company is paying you thousands of dollars to write a blog post, I doubt they’d be happy if you wrote something negative. I know that Jackie Aina, of YouTube, has reported that Tarte stopped sending her PR packages after she said something negative about one of the products they sent her- even though she said positive things about other products. Anyways, I’m not saying that you can’t trust sponsored posts, it is definitely dependant upon the integrity of the blogger, and on the terms of the contract. I can also say that I would still trust someone who received the product for free. I just don’t think that people’s opinions can be purchased for the price of a free product. But that’s just my opinion. I’m actually curious as to what my readers think. I know a lot of bloggers do sponsored posts, do you trust their reviews? What about when products are received for free?
Apart from sponsored posts and reviews online, there are also reviews on Lululemon’s website that give me pause. Out of 49 5-star reviews, 17 of those reviewers had reviewed something else. This means that 2/3rds of the reviewers of this bra were new to the community. While I welcome their opinions, I will give more credence to those who have taken the time to review something else.
My Enlite Experience
Before heading out to the store, I used Lululemon’s fit calculator located on the Enlite Bra page, and I got my recommended size. I tried on that size, and a size with a smaller band, but a larger cup. I liked the smaller band size a little better, because it was slightly tighter and held me in a little more. It is a lovely bra. The fabric is truly amazing, so comfortable. In fact, I would say that I have never tried on such a soft, comfortable bra. It held me in place well, but not as well as the Bitty Bracer, for those wondering. That Bitty Bracer was a vault- it held them close and tight. They didn’t move at all. The Enlite bra is more about minimizing bounce, while still being comfortable enough to breathe and work out in. HOWEVER, it is not worth $98, in my opinion. I am glad that so many people love it. I am even impressed with the fabric. BUT it is just not cute. It has no features that make me think “oooh, that’s pretty,” and honestly, aesthetics matter when I’m spending $98 on a bra.
Final Verdict:
If you’re looking for a comfortable bra, that holds you in well, but still allows some movement, whose primary function is to be functional, and you feel like spending $98 on a bra- buy this. I doubt you’ll regret it. But if you’re familiar with other brands of bras that are well-functioning for high-impact workouts, VS Sports bras come to mind, well you might want to just get two of those instead. Some of them, are even cute!
What do you think? Did you buy this bra? Let me know in the comments!
I have never once been able to fit a Lulu bra, and I never will 🙁 I am one of those sizes who has to pay $110+ for a regular bra anyways BUT I’m not going to pay that if it doesn’t fit. I have my favourite key Lulu pieces but I don’t get a lot of what they are doing now- a $98 sports bra? Really?
There are a million size complaints on their page… maybe one day they’ll listen!
I have a smaller band and a larger cup- I’ve accepted I’ll have to buy from UK brands but I feel like they are alienating the few customers who do fit their bras! These are nothing to look at 🤐
Exactly my opinion about them.
I actually did not like it 🙁 the hook that they use is extremely fragile, and many of the bras at the store had the hook broken. For a bra that is $98, i highly do not recommend it.
Side note: lululemon has been deleting negative reviews as of lately…I know the comments are theirs to use as they wish, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth 🙁
Hello there! Thanks for your comment! I won’t be deleting it ;-p
As for the hooks being fragile, I actually have heard that too! Thanks for calling it out!