STEVE INSKEEP, host: Of course last week was the worst on Wall Street in almost five years. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell nearly 600 points, so traders are probably taking a deep breath this morning. It turns out that deep breaths produced one of the rare bright spots in the stock market last week.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: Yoga is growing fast in the United States, and the Lululemon Company saw an opportunity - mixing this ancient form of spiritual exercise with modern, high-tech clothing. Vancouver-based Lululemon operates 57 stores around the world, selling high-performance workout gear for sweaty, stretchy power yoga.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: On its first day of trading last Friday, the company stocks soared more than 55 percent, even as the overall market was slumping like a downward dog. That comes as no surprise to Bernard Slede, who runs a trade group for yoga teachers and similar professionals called Namasta. He says Lululemon's managed to capitalize on yoga's growth without seeming too mercenary. The company cleverly enlists yoga instructors as a grassroots marketing force.</s>Mr. BERNARD SLEDE (President, NAMASTA): If the yoga teacher wears it, then as a student you're not going to go wear Target shorts. In that sense Lululemon has been setting the trend in many instances.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: Slede says that soft, almost yogic selling technique is important because many participants look on the yoga studio as a sanctuary from the capitalist world outside.</s>SCOTT HORSLEY: Scott Horsley, NPR News.
Last week's market plunge was bad news for many companies. But Vancouver-based Lululemon, which sells high-performance clothing for power yoga, made its market debut — and saw its stock prices soar.