Alo follows a 10 million yuan first minute on Tmall with plans for eight Greater China stores

A one-minute sales figure counts orders that were already waiting when checkout opened. Alo had plenty of those. Chinese shoppers could buy the brand through cross-border e-commerce and resellers well before the official launch ^[6], and Alo topics drew 240 million views on RedNote in the days before the Tmall debut, according to Dao Insights ^[7].

The item counts are a better signal, or rather the only one that covers more than the first minute. China Daily reported that Alo's bestseller by Aug. 14 was the 1,150-yuan Suit Up straight-leg trousers, with more than 10,000 sold ^[8]. At that price the trousers come to at least 11.5 million yuan ^[1]. A 1,750-yuan sneaker sold more than 3,000 pairs ^[9], at least another 5.25 million yuan ^[2]. Across more than 13,000 units the two items brought in at least 16.75 million yuan ^[9][3], and both were selling at full price ^[9].

The spending around Alo is weak. August retail sales rose 0.4% against the roughly 0.8% that economists polled by Reuters had expected ^[1][7], and second-quarter GDP growth of 4.3% was the slowest in more than three years ^[2]. Premium sportswear brands are splitting inside those numbers. On's Asia-Pacific sales rose 43.1% in the second quarter ^[12], while Lululemon's comparable sales in mainland China fell 8% on a constant-dollar basis in its fiscal second quarter ^[14].

Dao Insights' reading is that accumulated preorders, a limited-edition tote bag and celebrity-driven fan demand may have concentrated sales into the opening rush ^[5]. On that reading, Tmall sales settle far lower once the tote is gone. A second reading is that the category record ^[4] is partly a change of channel. Shoppers who paid resellers or ordered cross-border now buy from the official store, so the demand is real and older than August, though less new than a record suggests. A third is that full-price trousers and sneakers make Alo a fashion label in China, and Lululemon's falling comparable sales say little about Alo's prospects.

I think the second reading fits the record best, with a fair amount of the first mixed in. The counter-case is price. More than 13,000 units at 1,150 yuan and up, sold with no discount ^[9][9], is more buying than a tote-bag promotion easily explains. The view is wrong if Alo's stores keep selling at full price while Lululemon's mainland comparable sales keep falling.

Alo's store plan is small next to the incumbents. Six of the eight new stores are on the mainland, two in Shanghai and one each in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, with the other two in Hong Kong and Macau ^[10][4]. With the K11 Musea flagship due in Hong Kong this fall ^[11], Alo has nine Greater China stores planned through 2027 ^[8]. Lululemon had 174 mainland stores as of Aug. 2 ^[14], or 29 for each mainland store Alo has planned ^[5]. Arc'teryx went from 18 owned Greater China stores in 2019 to 79 at the end of 2025 ^[6][13].

Alo did not disclose what the stores will cost or how its Tmall sales have run since mid-August. "Our ambition goes beyond opening stores: we are building an Alosphere," Benedetta Petruzzo, Alo's international CEO, said in announcing the expansion ^[15].