In recent years, industry experience has become increasingly pivotal in fashion entrepreneurship. For today’s fashion founders, passion alone is no longer sufficient; deep industry expertise enables a brand to start from a higher vantage point, avoid unnecessary detours, and increase its chances of success.
A Chinese brand centred on trail running is quietly breaking through the highly competitive outdoor sports market under the leadership of seasoned professionals. Founded in Shanghai, Outopia has, in just over four years, steadily built strong brand recognition within its target community, emerging as one of the leading wool-based outdoor apparel brands. The company now reports impressive annual sales and has achieved consecutive years of profitability.
Above: Outopia’s shake out run event organised ahead of the Chiang Mai UTMB race
The Outopia team carries credentials such as “key figure in lululemon’s fabric R&D“, “former LVMH Asia-Pacific executive“, and “lululemon China’s first community marketing lead”, naturally arousing public curiosity. Not long ago, the brand announced the completion of its Series B financing, with investors including Meridian Capital, Challenjers Venture, Ventech China, and existing shareholder Shunwei Capital. The backing of these well-known venture capital firms has further elevated the brand’s profile.
Following the announcement, Luxe.CO engaged in in-depth discussions with the Outopia team. It became immediately apparent that their extensive hands-on experience and deep industry insight give them a unique dual advantage: pragmatic efficiency in advancing product innovation and refinement at a measured pace, while fostering a rooted community culture; and a sincere, unembellished commitment to users, grounded in the belief that only growth driven in a “meaningful way” can ensure long-term success.
High Starting Point, International Team,
Crossing into the Trail Running Arena
Trail running, defined as long-distance running in natural environments, has experienced explosive growth in China in recent years. The proliferation of races nationwide, the influx of new runners, and the rise of female participation have all provided strong momentum for outdoor brands.
At the same time, trail running places rigorous demands on apparel, creating high entry barriers for new brands. Products must withstand complex and rapidly changing mountain climates while ensuring comfort throughout the run. Outopia’s Head of Product is a fabric expert with nearly three decades of experience, particularly skilled in the application of innovative blended fibre technologies.
Outopia Co-founder Aaron Jackson (pictured below) hails from New Zealand. He joined lululemon’s Canadian headquarters in 2012 as Global Director of Raw Materials Development and Director of New Materials at its internal innovation lab, White Space. Over the past decade and more, he has been a central figure in lululemon’s fabric R&D system, responsible for the development of most of its core products, including the Align Pants, renowned for their “naked-feel” fabric, and the men’s ABC Pants.
In addition, his family has operated a textile business for four generations, collaborating with numerous leading outdoor brands to develop innovative fabrics. This dual background enables him to approach product creation from the very top of the supply chain — at the fibre level — crafting professional apparel tailored to the needs of trail runners.
Founder Alexis Hou Xi previously held management roles in retail and merchandising at LVMH Group Asia-Pacific and lululemon Chinese Mainland, and earlier managed brand operations at haute couture house Elie Saab. At Outopia, she oversees design, branding, and channels, infusing world-class aesthetic standards and cutting-edge technology into the brand, building upon its outstanding product performance.
Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Han Fang, who joined in 2025, was one of lululemon China’s earliest two core team members. Beginning in 2013, she led the opening of the first batch of lululemon showrooms in the Chinese Mainland, driving the brand’s 0–1 breakthrough and executing its strategic expansion into key national markets. During her tenure, she established lululemon’s distinctive community-driven culture in China, successfully creating large-scale, phenomenon-level initiatives such as the “Sweatlife Festival China” IP and the nationwide “Sweat Challenge” IP. She played a crucial role in lululemon China’s evolution from start-up to scaled operation. Her addition has undoubtedly enabled Outopia to build brand influence in consumers’ minds in a more focused and efficient manner.
Rachel Lü Ruihan, a core executive who joined at the company’s inception, is herself a seasoned trail runner. She won the women’s 100 km category at the 2018 Meili 100 km Extreme Endurance Race and placed fifth in the women’s 168 km category at the 2019 Chongli 168 Trail Race. Her expertise ensures rigorous internal standards in product professionalism and a deep understanding of trail runners’ needs.
Beyond their solid practical experience, the Outopia team has also given profound thought to the brand’s spiritual values. Unlike many overseas outdoor brands that emphasise narratives of “conquering nature”, Outopia, as a domestic Chinese brand, seeks to convey a philosophy of coexistence with nature and harmony with all living things, communicating health and optimism as core values to its users.
This philosophy is vividly reflected in its product design language — vibrant yet refined. When trail runners traverse mountain landscapes wearing Outopia, the apparel stands out while remaining in harmony with the natural surroundings.
Above: Trail runners wearing Outopia at a trail race in Australia
Creating World-Class Outdoor Products
The “dynamic temperature regulation” properties of wool fibre make it an ideal material for base layers in outdoor apparel. When body temperature drops, its crimped structure retains warmth; when temperature rises, it efficiently dissipates heat and maintains dryness. In July 2025, Tmall and WOOLMARK released data showing that, over the past year, total transaction value of wool sportswear increased by 58 percent year-on-year, while Merino wool products surged by 119 percent. Within this trend, Outopia is emerging as one of the leaders in wool-based outdoor apparel.
Co-founder Aaron Jackson, who grew up in New Zealand, has studied and worked with wool since his teenage years. While a strong advocate of wool, he remains open to the application of natural fibres more broadly. In his view, 100 percent pure wool has limitations in durability. Blending wool with other functional fibres, proven in practice, preserves wool’s functional advantages in outdoor settings while enhancing ease of care and longevity. This philosophy has driven Outopia to introduce wool into a new realm of application.
Fabric innovation forms the foundation of Outopia’s products. Its signature mercerised wool WONDERLAND series and road running wool FIBONACCI series both utilise a patented New Zealand yarn technology — one that Aaron Jackson first encountered 25 years ago while working for the New Zealand Wool Research Institute.
Recognising the extreme balance required in trail running apparel across temperature regulation, moisture control, durability, skin-friendliness, and quick-drying performance, he introduced this yarn technology, previously applied in military and footwear sectors, into outdoor apparel fabrics for the first time. While retaining the dynamic thermal properties of Merino wool, the innovation significantly enhances quick-drying capability, abrasion resistance, and softness against the skin.
Above: Outopia elite athletes Qin Guidu, Luo Qiong, and actor Lu Dongxu wearing WONDERLAND series tops
The technology also imparts greater lustre and density to the wool fabric, creating a sophisticated and elegant textile language. These pieces function as professional sports gear while also being suitable for commuting and casual wear, transforming the wool base layer long favoured by outdoor enthusiasts into an everyday wardrobe staple.
Notably, in 2024 Outopia became the first outdoor sports partner in China of ZQ™, the globally leading sustainable wool certification body in New Zealand, and the second Chinese company after Erdos to receive this recognition.
ZQ™ subjects potential partners to rigorous evaluation processes lasting months or even years, assessing sustainability, innovation, functionality, aesthetics, and premium positioning. Only certified companies are authorised to source high-quality, traceable sustainable wool from ZQ™ partner farms.
Outopia emphasises that New Zealand ZQ™ wool upholds higher standards in quality, sustainability, and support for animal welfare and farmers’ livelihoods. Although this entails higher raw material costs and longer production cycles, consumers benefit from superior, more transparent products, while the brand contributes to environmental conservation and pastoral community welfare — a responsibility befitting an outdoor brand.
Above: Outopia elite athlete Luo Qiong wearing the FIBO seamless knitted wool top
Outopia also offers several high-performance fabric lines suited for trail running. A representative example is the Vita Shell ultra-lightweight trail running jacket launched for Autumn/Winter 2025.
Shell jackets represent one of the most fiercely competitive outdoor categories, with the balance between lightweight construction and high performance presenting persistent technical challenges. The Vita Shell jacket weighs approximately 180–200 grams, yet achieves waterproof performance of over 20,000 mm, breathability exceeding 15,000 g/m²/24h, and abrasion resistance of 15,000 cycles. In 2025, Vita Shell received the German ISPO Award, often referred to as the “Oscars” of global sports product design, and was named among the Top 5 Products of the Year in the 2025 World Road and Trail Running category.
Above: Vita Shell jacket made from Pertex fabric, fully seam-taped in 7D
Unlike traditional hardcore outdoor brands that focus exclusively on wilderness demands, Outopia begins with the real outdoor needs of urban consumers, placing the urban user experience at the core of its design philosophy and championing dual “outdoor + everyday” scenarios. Its apparel must deliver excellent elasticity, quick-drying performance, sun protection, wind resistance, and water repellency, while also being stylish and aesthetically refined. This approach not only firmly anchors Outopia within the vertical niche of trail running but also naturally opens broader possibilities for scenario expansion.
Focusing All Resources on Trail Running Itself
In brand promotion, Outopia’s approach is restrained and pure: use excellent products to resonate with the right people. Rather than investing heavily in large-scale marketing campaigns or relying on traffic-driven sales channels, the brand concentrates its resources entirely on trail running itself — cultivating community experiences and providing long-term support to athletes.
Above: Outdoor enthusiasts wearing Outopia participating in alpine hiking and high-altitude trail races
This philosophy is closely tied to the team’s lululemon background. lululemon’s growth originated from founder Chip Wilson’s genuine, repeated interactions with his local community “neighbours”. Through product feedback sessions and yoga practice events, he enabled users to tangibly experience lululemon’s product quality and brand values, gradually building deep trust within the community.
Today, this community-based operational model has become standard practice for sports and outdoor brands seeking customer acquisition and engagement. However, once such practices are replicated at scale, they can easily become superficial.
The Outopia team emphasises that the original intention of community experiences is to generate “compound interest” in reputation within the core community, creating organic, “heart-to-heart” word-of-mouth communication. To achieve this, every interaction between the brand and its users must be genuinely moving, enabling individuals to feel connected to a larger vision in their lives.
The team candidly acknowledges that from event organisation and process design to individual communication with each runner, small differences in detail can lead to vastly different outcomes. Participants can discern not only product performance but also whether a brand’s engagement is sincere or purely marketing-driven. When truly moved, they not only become loyal advocates but also contribute to sustained word-of-mouth momentum, forming a virtuous cycle — a key reason why Outopia has established strong brand recognition within the trail running community in a relatively short time.
Above: Athlete race-sharing session hosted at Outopia’s Chengdu store
Currently, Outopia has established offline running communities in multiple cities nationwide, providing ongoing support to community partners and actively fostering the growth of outdoor communities. Its proprietary IP, “Outopia Trail Race”, hosts over 100 community events annually across the country, inviting more people to participate in trail running, bringing the sport into broader public awareness, and embodying the brand’s original aspiration of “uniting the world through trail running”.
Above: Outopia “Trail Race” community event
In addition, the brand has become the title sponsor of events such as the Hangzhou Baofojiao Mountain Run, the Moganshan Cloud Trail Race, and the Sichuan Huanglong Extreme Endurance Race, and serves as the exclusive outdoor apparel partner of STC China Ironman, the largest triathlon event series in China.
Above: Outopia pop-up store at UTMB Chiang Mai, Thailand
This “user-focused” philosophy also profoundly shapes the brand’s retail channel strategy. Although Outopia began online, it has consistently maintained a cautious stance towards traffic-driven growth. The team has proactively declined livestreaming collaborations with certain top influencers, as the brand’s current strategic priority is more precise and effective communication. Broad but imprecise exposure risks diluting brand value and disrupting product feedback mechanisms.
Against this backdrop, the brand’s offline expansion follows naturally. For Outopia, physical stores are not merely retail channels, but essential spaces for face-to-face interaction with target consumers and for enhancing perceived brand value. Since June 2025, six Outopia flagship city stores and pop-up locations have successively opened in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Chongqing, demonstrating strong expansion momentum. Many of these stores are located in non-standard commercial complexes, serving as important local hubs connecting trail runners and outdoor enthusiasts.
Above: Outopia Longfu Temple store in Beijing and its community activities
Upon completing its Series B financing, the Outopia team told Luxe.CO that the brand’s next step is to enter a broader mainstream spotlight, bringing further innovation in category expansion, new market development, and community experiences, while trail running will always remain the soul of the brand.
Above: Community activity at Outopia’s Cypark store in Chengdu
Firmly believing in the sport’s power to unite across boundaries, Outopia has set a clear core objective for this year: to invite more people into the mountains and wilderness, to personally experience the allure of running in nature, and to gain simple, pure joy, thereby driving brand growth in a “truly meaningful” way. This original aspiration will continue to guide Outopia as it runs towards even greater horizons.
| Image Credit: Brand-provided
| Editor: LeZhi
