OT: Lorna Jane Coming to Orange County

Lorna Jane Calypso Run Tank, $59.99 (AUS$)

The Australian sportswear company Lorna Jane is opening a new store in Huntington Beach (at Bella Terra) this Saturday and another store in the Irvine Spectrum on September 21. I've read some good things about Lorna Jane from people. Their price points are similar to Lululemon but the return policy seems even more restrictive according to their website and from comments I've read - 7 days after purchase and for store credit only. If anyone has any insight into Lorna Jane's clothes we'd love to read it. I like some of the styles and others have giant "Lorna Jane" splashed across it which has no appeal to me at all. I have to mention that high resale and a giant resale market (10,000+ listings on eBay right now) is a significant factor in why I continue to buy lululemon. The fact that I can get a portion of my "investment" back when I am bored with a piece of clothing or ready to update to a new color/style is a big part of lulu's appeal to me. However, I will definitely check out Lorna Jane. It's nice to mix things up. One european brand I am very curious to try is Sweaty Betty, from the UK. I don't think they have any stores in the US yet but they recently opened a US website.

There was an interesting paragraph in the linked OC Register article about Lululemon: "However, a problem involving bright colors that bled when washed may impact sales, according to one July 31 analyst report by BMO Capital Markets. "Following our recent trip to Asia, we believe LULU's recently expanded manufacturing partnerships could be partly to blame [duh - ya think?] in terms of isolating the problem. However, because this is a grass-roots company, we think this is a significant customer-relations issue that could tarnish the brand's reputation among LULU's loyal customer base and possibly result in lost sales." Lululemon declined Tuesday to respond to the report."

I will comment that my latest Cool Racerback and Define purchases have been made in Indonesia instead of China and haven't had problems with bleeding so I'm thinking lulu dumped the bad Chinese manufacturer who was causing a lot of the bleeding. I've been watching the boards for comments about Flare Light and Bordeaux bleeding but haven't seen any mentions of it so I'm crossing my fingers the bleeding is behind us. (Thanks to Michelle for the tip on the new store.)