Lululemon will trade "Dupe" leggings for Align Ones

Lululemon wants everyone to have a pair of its Align leggings.

Guests who attend a pop-up that Lululemon hosts with their dupes can leave wearing the pants Align by Lululemon. The brand will hold its first experiential event to address "dupe culture" with the Align Leggings Dupe Swap taking place May 6-7 in Los Angeles.

Lululemon invites guests to swap and trade their dupes for the real thing, when they come to pop -up store at Westfield Century City Mall in L.A. from 11am-7pm PST, while supplies last.

Align launched in 2015 in a single item, the 25 inch tights to make yogis feel light and free while they train. It has grown into a full franchise with many products ranging from tops to bottoms, one-pieces to dresses. Today, the women's company Align generates a billion dollars in revenue, according to Nikki Neuburger, Lululemon brand director.

Lululemon Align Leggings.

According to Neuburger, the reason for the swap is that they launched the Align advertising campaign called " Get Into It" in April, which will continue throughout the year.

"We were thinking of ways to have more fun, in terms of activating around of the campaign and bringing it to life in a way that customers and consumers can experience it,” she said.

She declared the Align franchise an icon for Lululemon and created the leggings category. “The feel and quality of the Align Pant cannot be matched. If you've worn one, you'd know it, and if you haven't, that's why we're doing the dupe swap,” she said.

She said dupe culture took off with Instagram and gained momentum with TikTok. "I think the team told me that there are 3.5 billion hashtags of dupes saying there are other products like this icon but they are cheaper or a parody of it- ci. We are so convinced that our quality is unmatched that we thought it would be a really fun exercise to play in the cultural context of dupes. We want people to bring their pair and try ours, and we are confident they'll try the Align Pant on and love it and leave their dupe behind,” she said.

All traded in dupe products will be recycled by Debrand, a long-owned textile recycling company by Lululemon partnership with.

Align leggings, which are cropped, 25 inches in length, flared and wide legs, retail from from $98 to $110. Sizes range from 0 to 20.

The Align pants are made with a proprietary fabric, Nulu, that no other company uses . What they designed for yoga in 1998 has transcended to be worn for all activities. “You'll see people dress it up and down, for work, we've seen kids wearing them to nightclubs or to Coachella this past weekend. We have continued to build and develop the...