Canadians looking to save on Lululemon gear have a new second-hand option, as the athletic apparel giant expands its resale program north of the border, with every purchase processed in Calgary.
The Vancouver-based company announced on Monday that it is partnering with Tersus Solutions to bring the Like New resale platform to Canada, with a 25,000-square-foot processing facility in Calgary that has already employed 18 people.
Tersus Solutions is a Denver-based cleaning technology and recommerce logistics company that works with established brands to re-circulate clothing and gear back into consumers’ hands, providing both cleaning and repair services. (Recommerce is a term used to describe the selling of previously owned products.)
“We’re in the business of keeping used textiles in-use longer,” said Peter Whitcomb, CEO of Tersus Solutions.
The Calgary facility is Tersus Solutions’ first international endeavour, with the company having four other facilities across the U.S. providing services to brands like Patagonia and The North Face. Whitcomb said the Calgary location will be Lululemon’s Canadian processing hub for its resale platform, handling all items bought in Canada.
That includes not only cleaning and repairing items, but assessing condition, digitizing items for the online store, packing orders and shipping the items out to consumers.
Tersus Solutions’ patented liquid carbon dioxide washing machine.
“It’s a fully white label solution. If you buy something from the new experience, you are shopping through Lululemon, but we fulfill it to you as a consumer and we’ll use Lululemon packaging, so everything looks and feels like Lulu,” Whitcomb said. “We really see ourselves as sort of a steward and extension of the brands we work with in that way.”
What makes Tersus Solutions unique is its use of liquid CO2 instead of traditional cleaning methods, which requires no water or harsh chemical detergents. The company said that this technology saved more than 9.8 million litres of water in 2025 alone, or roughly the volume of four Olympic-size swimming pools.
Whitcomb said the technology is especially powerful when used on personal protective equipment, particularly for firefighters, because it can remove harmful carcinogens picked up on the job.
‘We’re a pretty major hub’
Whitcomb said Tersus Solutions was attracted to Calgary because of its relative North American centrality, its same time zone as the company’s Denver headquarters and its pool of high-quality workers. He also said the energy of Calgary helped make the decision.
“We just found Alberta, and Calgary specifically, to be really kind of conducive (for business),” Whitcomb said. “We’re at our heart entrepreneurs, and the business community seemed thriving and open arms.”
While the Calgary site has already established a team, Whitcomb said they’re expecting that number to grow as the company brings on more brands and customers in Canada. He said the team could reach between 30 and 40 people over the next 18 to 24 months.
Leading the Canadian operation is Calgary business leader Steve Bommer, who brings more than 40 years of experience in the outdoor gear and repair industry. He co-founded Spirit West, a local sustainable outdoor apparel company, and its repair store, Tread Litely, as well as enjoying a lifetime of outdoor recreation.
“I have quite a wide range of experience when it comes to how to repair technical garments and gear,” Bommer said. “I particularly have a really good understanding of what goes wrong with gear and how to fix it correctly, and why consumers want their products to be fixed, rather than them just going out and buying new.”
Inside Tersus Solutions’ Calgary facility.
Bommer said Calgary’s position as a transportation and logistics hub also makes it well-suited to become part of the growing recommerce industry.
“I think the fact that Calgary is building itself as an inland port, so to speak, makes it so that we’re a pretty major hub that can facilitate freight and delivery fairly easily,” he said.
Tersus Solutions sees the Calgary operation as an opportunity to expand beyond its initial work with Lululemon. Whitcomb said between 20 and 25 per cent of the company’s existing brand partners are interested in expanding into Canada, suggesting the local facility could grow into a larger Canadian recommerce hub.
“In the last five years we have more than 10x’d our business, both our revenue and our headcount,” Whitcomb said. “We’ve proven that (this model) is economically viable and that the financials work. That paired with the sustainability, the customer acquisition and loyalty play that presents for brands is what’s driving the growth.”
For Bommer, the scale of the Calgary operation, which is in the Burns Industrial area, represents not only growth for Calgary, but for sustainability as a whole.
“When you think about what we’re keeping out of landfills, at least for a longer period of time, and how we’re doing it in such an environmental and sustainable method as in the waterless technology with CO2,” he said. “It’s the heartbeat of the entire outdoor industry. The feel-good part of it is to maintain our public lands and parklands so that we can keep using them. And I think this is a very, very big step in that direction.”
Lululemon’s Like New program was launched in 2021 in the U.S., creating an online portal for customers to be in control of selling their used clothing on a protected platform. Lululemon’s FAQ page says consumers can get 70 per cent of the sale price in cash or 90 per cent in store credit.
“Like New extends the life of that product, giving guests a trusted way to keep great gear in use while discovering Lululemon in a new way— as they move, sweat and connect, again and again,” said Maureen Erickson in a press release, the senior vice president of retail experience of Lululemon.
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