Why lululemon is Lewis Hamilton’s go-to brand

Realistically, the seven-time F1 champion could align himself with any brand of his choosing. So, why lululemon? According to the brand’s head of product innovation, the appeal of lululemon goes beyond clothing

By Cayle Reid

Published: Mar 6, 2026

NO ONE IS MORE responsible for F1’s style revolution than Lewis Hamilton. Throughout F1’s history, drivers have typically preferred to let their driving do the talking. They would show up on race day in a team-branded T-shirt and baggy pants, or already kitted out in their gaudy racing overalls. This is no longer the case.

Over the past 15 years, Hamilton has reshaped the visual language of motorsport itself. In doing so, he has helped usher F1 into a new cultural moment. And when a figure as influential as Hamilton chooses to align himself with a brand, it carries weight. Which raises an obvious question: when an athlete with Hamilton’s reach could partner with virtually any label in the world, why does he choose lululemon?

According to Chantelle Murnaghan, the lululemon’s VP of Research and Product Innovation, the answer goes far deeper than typical ambassadorships. “One of the biggest things in building deep relationships with athletes is having space for product co-creation,” Murnaghan says, “so we can actually leverage their voices.” In other words, for lululemon, ambassadors are collaborators as much as they are billboards.

“Another part of building authentic relationships with ambassadors is making sure they really embody and reflect our shared values,” Murnaghan continues. “Lewis is a global icon when it comes to both sport and style. He’s really obsessed with bringing a wellbeing perspective to everything that he does. That aligns exactly with where we focus as a brand.”

lululemon sees itself fitting into the modern athlete’s life by merging sport with style. To achieve this, research and innovation is at the centre of what they do. “The idea is to bring a depth of scientific understanding to how we build functionality and performance within our products,” Murnaghan explains. “But we combine that with a feel-first perspective. It’s about delivering unparalleled performance from a functional perspective, but also an experience in the product that no other brand creates.”

Where Hamilton enters the equation is in the testing, and sometimes even the creative process. Athlete-led product development has become a cornerstone of lululemon’s design philosophy. Rather than simply endorsing finished products, athletes are involved much earlier in the process. “There’s a few different ways we work with athletes,” Murnaghan says. “Specifically with Lewis, we get qualitative insights – we hear about how he feels when he’s using our products and whether there are unmet needs that we can solve.”

“On the product creation side, we work directly with Lewis in our lab. We’ll have prototypes on him while he’s moving so he can give detailed feedback,” she continues. “Lewis is one of the best in that space. He has this amazing ability to give such detailed feedback on fabric properties, fit considerations and features. He brings that true holistic perspective to a product.” Hamilton is accustomed to communicating minute details to engineers, so perhaps his hands-on approach shouldn’t be surprising.

Once a piece of apparel reaches its final form, the collaboration doesn’t stop there. “When a product is finalised, we send it out with our ambassadors, Lewis included, to ensure it has truly delivered on that original intention,” Murnaghan says.

That iterative process reflects a broader design philosophy at the brand. The crux of it is this: lululemon refuses to treat performance and aesthetics as competing priorities. “We focus on the balance between high style and high performance,” Murnaghan says. “Those are always held as equal for us.” Which, if you think about it, sounds an awful lot like Hamilton himself.

Hamilton is one of the rare athletes who moves between sport and fashion culture. Few figures embody the intersection of performance and style quite as naturally. “Absolutely,” Murnaghan says when asked whether that balance is exactly why he works so well as an ambassador. “He’s a global icon that represents that perfect balance across both.”

Ahead of the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, lululemon released the Lewis Hamilton edit – a curated capsule collection of the pieces Hamilton actually wears and trains in. If you want to cop the collection, head to lululemon Emporium or shop online at lululemon.com.au.

Here are some of our favourite pieces from the collection.