MINDFUL ATHLETES: Canadian performance brand Lululemon is looking to connect with Chinese consumers by pairing ambassadors Chris Lee with Lewis Hamilton, alongside tennis player Ayan Broomfield, runner Marc Tortell and hybrid-athlete Shota Yamaguchi for its fall outerwear campaign “Quiet the Weather,” centered on movement, personal progress and time outdoors.

Hamilton, a seven-time Formula 1 world champion and Kim Kardashian’s latest beau, joined Lee, one of China‘s most popular singers for the past two decades who has practiced yoga for years, as part of a group Lululemon framed as mindful athletes.

Rather than casting talent solely for celebrity reach, Lululemon said it selected ambassadors with a genuine connection to movement and a purpose-driven approach.

The campaign is aimed at showing how outerwear helps athletes like Hamilton and Lee stay present and enjoy being outdoors, while spotlighting items designed to reduce distractions and help wearers feel comfortable in changing weather.

Highlighted products across the campaign include featherweight jackets filled with compressible 900-fill-power, responsibly sourced down, and ThermoZen styles fitted with PrimaLoft Gold insulation technology that retains heat even when wet. The brand will also introduce PrimaLoft UltraPeak. Billed as PrimaLoft’s warmest insulation technology to date, it will be available only through Lululemon’s new Hi-Loft Collection later in the season.

“At Lululemon, we create premium products that solve for unmet needs. For this collection, we brought materials and technologies typically associated with top-of-mountain conditions into versatile, elegant garments designed to move with our guests throughout their day,” said JJ Collier, vice president of outerwear design at the company.

Dovetailing with the campaign’s global rollout on Tuesday, which includes static installations appearing at prominent shopping malls Chengdu Taikoo Li and Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun, as well as a large-scale mural on Shanghai’s Anfu Road, the brand also unveiled its new store at the Shanghai New World New One Center on the tourist-dense Nanjing East Road, which is a short walk from the Bund.

In the meantime, at the brand’s recently reopened Chengdu Taikoo Li store, shoppers can find Lee’s exclusive “Winter Picks” range, featuring the featherweight down jackets and other pieces reflecting her personal style.

The fall campaign featuring Lee, a longtime collaborator of the brand, landed at a time when Lululemon is strategically increasing its presence in China and Asia Pacific.

At the same time, the brand is defending itself from newcomers like Alo, which has been utilizing star-studded campaigns and high-impact physical rollouts to make noise in the market.

As reported, the Vancouver-based brand promoted San Yan Ng, general manager of Lululemon’s China business for the last eight years, to the role of regional president of China and APAC, and hired Jeffrey Hang, who joined from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton as senior vice president and general manager of APAC.

Both Ng and Hang come from luxury backgrounds. Ng spent 12 years at Loewe, rising to managing director of Asia-Pacific. She then joined Tory Burch as managing director and vice president of Asia retail and wholesale before joining Lululemon in 2018. Hang previously served as managing director for Bulgari across Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton China.