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Lululemon will debut a trade-in and resale option for its gently used leggings, tops and jackets later this month.
Customers will be able to exchange their previously worn Lululemon items for a gift card at any of its U.S. stores.
They also can buy from a selection of used items on a separate page of the retailer’s website. Items will be added every day.

A view of a Canadian athletic apparel retailer Lululemon logo seen at one of their stores.
Alex Tai | LightRocket | Getty Images

Lululemon will debut a trade-in and resale option for its gently used leggings, tops and jackets later this month following a successful pilot program prompted by rising consumer prices and a commitment to sustainable purchasing.
The rollout of Lululemon’s “Like New” program comes after the retailer tested the so-called re-commerce platform for customers in Texas and California, which started last May.

Under Like New — powered by resale technology provider Trove — customers will be able to trade in their previously worn Lululemon items in exchange for a gift card at any of the retailer’s U.S. stores. They can also buy from a selection of used items on a separate page on the retailer’s website. More items are to be added every day.
The push into resale will help the premium brand within the athletic apparel sector attract customers who are looking for deals, according to Maureen Erickson, senior vice president of Global Guest Innovation at Lululemon.
“The guest who’s buying from Like New really … skews younger and is a value-based shopper,” Erickson said in a phone interview.
The nationwide debut is being unveiled as consumers are seeing higher prices on everything from gas to milk to bread — and to some of their favorite subscription plans, including Amazon Prime. Lululemon said last month it was planning for selective price increases to help offset some of the pressures it was facing, particularly along its supply chain.
As inflation lingers, it could push more Americans to hunt for discounts and feel more comfortable shopping for secondhand clothing.

Shoppers have already been warming up to the idea of buying used clothing and other items, analysts’ estimates show. In 2015, the resale market stood at about $1 billion, based on a tracking by Jefferies. That market was estimated at $15 billion in 2021, and it is expected to more than triple to $47 billion by 2025.
Erickson added that a number of third-party resale sites, including ThredUp and Poshmark, are already showing up with gently used Lululemon merchandise.
By launching its own resale platform in-house, Lululemon is looking to scoop up those sales and boost repeat customers. And buying secondhand merchandise from the original retailer, Erickson said, gives customers confidence in the products’ quality and authenticity.
“We’ve been able to move [shoppers] over to our ecosystem,” Erickson said. “What it allows us to do is stay vertical, which is the nature of our business … where we own the relationship with the guests.”
On Lululemon’s Like New website, prior to its official launch date, one used women’s “All Yours” cropped hoodie is listed at $49, down from its new $108 price. A used pair of women’s “Strides Ahead” high-rise shorts go for $39, down from $68. And its popular men’s ABC slim-fit pants cost $65 to $75 at resale, down from $128.
The company said it won’t be taking in and reselling certain items such as bras and underwear.
And while the secondhand merchandise will only initially be sold online, and not in Lululemon’s shops, Erickson didn’t rule out the possibility of a brick-and-mortar test of a resale section in store.
Like New also is seen as a commitment to the environment, with the retailer hoping to head off the visit to the country’s landfills of some of its merchandise. The company is working toward several sustainability goals that it laid out last fall, including making 100% of its products with sustainable materials and end-of-use solutions by 2030.
“Every brand is trying to figure out, as they should be, how we can all live into a more sustainable future. That is not going anywhere,” said Erickson. “And it is a global priority for us.”
Younger shoppers are increasingly driving a move toward sustainable purchasing, frequenting thrift shops and reinventing clothing items to reduce consumption. To that end, big-box retailer Target last week confirmed a partnership with ThredUp to list used items for resale as part of its sustainability initiatives.
Lululemon is already being seen as doing it right by Generation Z consumers. The brand just moved up one spot on a list of teens’ top 10 favorite apparel brands, in Piper Sandler’s biannual “Taking Stock with Teens” survey.
In the same survey, which took place from Feb. 16 to March 22, 61% of teens, both female and male, reported purchasing clothes secondhand this spring, and 56% said they’ve recently sold their clothes to secondhand marketplaces.
Andy Ruben, Trove founder and CEO, is calling this year a “watershed” moment for re-commerce.
“Getting more quality for less money has always been in style,” Ruben said in an interview. “And then these things like [higher] gas prices and supply chain disruption … all of this favors supply that is already in our closets — getting more use out of those items.”
Lululemon’s re-commerce site will launch on Earth Day, April 22.

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Johnson and Sunak “have today received notification that the Metropolitan Police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices,” a spokesperson at Downing Street said in a statement.
“We have no further details, but we will update you again when we do,” they added.
The prime minister has so far resisted calls to resign despite deep public anger and sustained pressure from across the political spectrum.

Johnson is set to be fined by police for breaching Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak are set to be fined by police for breaching Covid-19 lockdown laws, the government said Tuesday.
Johnson and Sunak “have today received notification that the Metropolitan Police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices,” a spokesperson at Downing Street said in a statement.

“We have no further details, but we will update you again when we do,” they added.
It comes shortly after police confirmed that more than 50 fines had now been issued over the so-called “partygate” probe.
The Metropolitan Police had been investigating 12 gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall alleged to have broken Covid rules.
Johnson has so far resisted calls to resign despite deep public anger and sustained pressure from across the political spectrum.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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Electric vehicle maker Lucid is debuting a new edition of its popular and powerful Air luxury sedan.
The company’s Air sedan has impressed critics in many ways since its launch last fall, in part for the astounding performance of the 1,111 horsepower Dream Edition.
U.S. deliveries of the new Grand Touring Performance model will begin in June.

With 1,050 horsepower, the new Grand Touring Performance edition becomes the most powerful version of Lucid’s electric Air sedan.
Lucid Motors

Electric vehicle maker Lucid is debuting a new edition of its popular and powerful Air luxury sedan.
The Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance, announced Tuesday, will ship with 1,050 horsepower and a starting price tag of $179,000. The company’s Air sedan has impressed critics in many ways since its launch last fall, in part for the astounding performance of the 1,111 horsepower Dream Edition.

But that model wasn’t easy to get. Lucid capped production of the Dream Edition to just 520 examples, all of which were spoken for months before Lucid began shipping the first Airs from its Arizona factory last October.
Lucid said Tuesday the Grand Touring Performance — with specifications that very nearly match the Dream Edition and a starting price just $10,000 higher — won’t be as limited in production.
While the Air has made a big impression at the high end of the luxury EV market, Lucid is still in the early stages of production. The company said in late February that it had built about 400 vehicles since starting production last September, and that it had about 25,000 reservations for the Air.
It now expects to deliver between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles in 2022, down from a prior forecast of 20,000 as global supply-chain disruptions have slowed the ramp-up of Air production.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said that the company moved to develop the higher-performance model after realizing that there was still considerable demand for a range-topping Air with a four-figure horsepower rating.

Lucid was able to develop the new model quickly because of its “vertical integration,” Rawlinson said. Lucid develops and builds its own electric motors and battery packs in-house, rather than relying on third-party suppliers for the components as do most large automakers.
Performance adjustments to the Grand Touring Performance are a result of the supply-chain challenges that have hit nearly all automakers around the world. But the new Air’s specs are still impressive:

Zero to 60 miles per hour in just 2.6 seconds (versus a claimed 2.5 seconds for the high-performance version of the Dream Edition.)
EPA-estimated range of 446 miles (versus 471 miles for the high-performance Dream Edition.)
Lucid’s advanced driver-assist system, DreamDrive Pro, standard with much of the hardware that will be needed for fully autonomous driving, including a lidar sensor.
Lucid’s super-quick 900-volt charging system, which allows a user to add up to 300 miles of range in just 21 minutes at a 350 kilowatt DC Fast charger, also standard.

The new Air beats the highest-performing Tesla in most ways, but not in acceleration. Tesla’s Model S Plaid launched last year with 1,020 horsepower, EPA-estimated range of 396 miles, a starting price just over $130,000 – and a claimed zero to 60 time of 1.99 seconds.
The Grand Touring Performance is a higher-performance variant of the previously-announced Lucid Air Grand Touring, which claims 819 horsepower. That model has begun shipping, Lucid said on Tuesday.
U.S. deliveries of the new Grand Touring Performance model will begin in June.

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Beyond Meat is expanding distribution of its meatless chicken tenders to 8,000 new grocery, pharmacy and big-box retail locations.
Beyond first launched the product in restaurants last July before it hit grocery shelves in October.
The expansion comes after several quarters of weak retail sales for the plant-based product maker.

Beyond Meat’s meatless chicken tenders
Source: Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat is expanding distribution of its meatless chicken tenders to 8,000 new grocery, pharmacy and big-box retail locations.
Customers will now be able to buy Beyond Chicken Tenders at select Albertsons, Sprouts, Whole Foods Market and CVS locations nationwide. All Kroger locations also will carry the item by the end of the month.

“From a selling standpoint, wherever our customers have interest in carrying our product, we want it to be available so our consumers can ultimately shop there as well,” Beyond Chief Growth Officer Deanna Jurgens said in an interview.
The Beyond Chicken Tenders expansion comes after several quarters of weak retail sales for the company. Consumer demand for its beef and sausage alternatives soared during the early days of the pandemic as restaurant sales plummeted, but those shopping habits have since tailed off.
Additionally, the company focused on fast-food partnerships in 2021 over launching new retail products. In the fourth quarter, Beyond’s U.S. grocery sales fell about 20% to just shy of $50 million. 
The slump in sales growth has disappointed investors. The stock has fallen 66% over the last year, dragging its market value down to $2.77 billion. Shares rose about 3% in premarket trading Tuesday.
Beyond first launched the chicken tenders product in restaurants last July before it hit grocery shelves in October. CEO Ethan Brown told analysts in February that those launches were more expensive because of supply chain problems, but costs have improved as the company ramped up production.
“Distribution continues to be a key driver for us as we go into this year,” Jurgens said.

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Panera Bread is piloting Miso Robotics’ new automated coffee brewing system as it doubles down on its coffee and tea subscription program.
Many restaurants are looking to automation as labor costs rise and workers are in short supply.
Miso Robotics already has partnerships with Chipotle Mexican Grill, White Castle and Inspire Brands.

Miso Robotics’ CookRight Coffee System
Source: Miso Robotics

Panera Bread is piloting Miso Robotics’ new automated coffee brewing system as it doubles down on its drink subscription program.
It’s part of a broader shift across the restaurant industry toward automation as many eateries struggle to find workers and labor costs rise. For example, McDonald’s is working to automate taking drive-thru orders, while California Pizza Kitchen has been testing a robot to help bus tables.

The automation trend has made Miso Robotics popular with both restaurant chains and investors. Last month, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced it is testing a robot made by Miso that makes tortilla chips. The startup’s other fast-food partners include White Castle and Arby’s owner Inspire Brands.
Since its founding in 2016, Miso has crowdfunded more than $50 million from restaurant chains such as CaliBurger, venture capital firms and ordinary investors, according to the company. It’s in the middle of its Series E round, which values the startup at $500 million.
“We’ve seen an ever-increasing tidal wave of demand,” Miso Robotics CEO Mike Bell said in an interview. According to Bell, the the restaurant industry’s biggest problem is the labor gap, which is caused by restaurants needing more workers than are available. “And it’s not going away,” he said.
Miso’s latest launch is the CookRight Coffee system, which uses artificial intelligence to monitor coffee volume and temperature. It also provides predictive analytics that can tell the restaurant more about what kind of coffee its customers enjoy and when. Bell said that Miso charges customers “a few hundred dollars” a month for its CookRight technology, while the startup’s Flippy the Robot sets operators back several thousand dollars in monthly fees.
Panera’s goal for the system is to give employees more time to devote to other tasks, such as helping customers, and to make sure coffee drinkers enjoy every sip of their beverage, especially if they’re Unlimited Sip Club subscribers.

“We never saw this as cost savings or a defense against the labor market at all,” said George Hanson, Panera’s chief digital officer.
Panera launched the coffee and tea subscription program over two years ago after overhauling its coffee selection. For $8.99 a month, customers can drink an unlimited amount of coffee and tea. The low monthly cost of the program gives Panera an easy way to lure in customers and persuade them to change their breakfast habits.
For now, only two Panera locations are testing the CookRight Coffee system. Hanson said the chain will make a decision in the coming weeks about how fast and how much to scale across its footprint. Panera owns nearly half of its U.S. cafes, while franchisees operate the remaining 1,200 locations.
Bell said that Miso expects that thousands of its partners’ restaurants will have CookRight technology installed by the end of the year, as well as hundreds of Flippy the Robots.
When it comes to the rest of the kitchen, Hanson said that Panera will keep looking for more opportunities to automate tasks for its employees if it makes sense, but he doesn’t envision that its restaurants will be entirely run by robots in the future. However, to Bell, it’s a matter of when, not if, restaurants become automated.
“Opportunistically, if we see things like this that will help our associates, we’ll look at them,” Hanson said. “I do see the industry very curious about this, but maybe in some areas, I’ve seen that curiosity come from the cost of labor, and that’s just not our filter.”
The soup and sandwich chain is privately owned by Einstein Bros.’ parent company JAB Holding, so it doesn’t disclose how many Unlimited Sip Club subscribers it has. However, Panera announced in November it would go public again through an initial public offering after securing investments from restaurateur Danny Meyer and his special purpose acquisition company.
Other companies have recently delayed their IPOs due to inflation fears and market volatility. A representative for Panera declined to comment on if the chain has modified its plans.

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Japan’s health ministry said Monday that the new XE variant, first detected in the U.K., was found in a woman in her 30s who arrived at Narita Airport.
The XE subvariant is a so-called recombinant, or mix, of two earlier omicron strains, BA.1 and BA.2.
1,125 cases of XE have so far been detected in the U.K. almost double the previous count, according to the latest statistics from the U.K. Health Security Agency.

As of April 5 2022, 1,125 cases of XE — a new scombinant subvariant — have been identified in the U.K., up from 637 on March 25.
Dominic Lipinski | Pa Images | Getty Images

Japan has reported its first case of omicron XE — a new Covid-19 strain first detected in the U.K. — just as British cases of the subvariant rise.
The XE variant was found in a woman in her 30s who arrived at Narita International Airport from the U.S. on March 26. The woman, whose nationality was not immediately disclosed, was asymptomatic, Japan’s health ministry said Monday.

It comes as cases of the new strain have almost doubled in Britain, according to the latest statistics from the U.K. Health Security Agency.
As of April 5, 1,125 cases of XE had been identified in the U.K., up from 637 on March 25. The earliest confirmed case has a specimen date of Jan. 19 of this year, suggesting it could have been in circulation in the population for several months.
XE has since been detected in Thailand, India and Israel. It is suspected that the latter Israeli cases may have developed independently. The U.S. has not yet reported any XE cases.

What is omicron XE?

XE is what’s known as a “recombinant,” a type of variant that can occur when an individual becomes infected with two or more variants at the same time, resulting in a mixing of their genetic material within a patient’s body.
In the case of XE, it contains a mix of the previously highly infectious omicron BA.1 strain, which emerged in late 2021, and the newer “stealth” BA.2 variant, currently the U.K.’s dominant variant.

Such recombinants are not uncommon, having occurred several times during the course of the coronavirus pandemic. However, health experts say it is too soon to draw conclusions on the new subvariant’s severity or ability to evade vaccines.

“We continue to monitor cases of the recombinant XE variant in the U.K., which currently represents a very small proportion of cases,” Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said in a statement.
On Sunday, the U.K. reported 41,469 new Covid cases, with a seven-day average of 59,578 cases. As such, XE likely accounts for only a small percentage of total Covid cases currently.

How worried should we be?

Early estimates suggest XE may be more transmissible than earlier strains, having so far demonstrated a slightly higher growth rate than its predecessor.
UKHSA data shows XE has a growth rate of 9.8% above that of BA.2, while the World Health Organization has so far put that figure at 10%.
However, experts say they expect it to wane in severity even as it spreads more easily. XE has so far not been declared a variant of concern.
“XE seems to be moving in the same direction as BA.2, having an increased transmissibility to BA.1 but being less severe,” Jennifer Horney, professor of epidemiology at the University of Delaware, told CNBC.
“It is the devil we know, so to speak. [It is] essentially a reshuffling of the same deck of cards,” added Mark Cameron, associate professor in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

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XE contains spike and structural proteins from the same virus family, i.e. omicron, meaning that it should, theoretically at least, behave as omicron has done before. Existing vaccines and immunity should, therefore, provide some level of protection against infection.
“Recombinants that contain the spike and structural proteins from a single virus (like XE or XF) are fairly likely to act similarly to [their] parental virus,” Tom Peacock, virologist at Imperial College London’s Department of Infectious Disease, wrote in a thread of tweets in mid-March. XF refers to another recombinant previously detected in the U.K. in February.
However, other recombinants containing spike and structural proteins from different virus families continue to emerge. That includes the XD subvariant, recently discovered in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, which contains delta structural proteins and omicron spike proteins and which Peacock described as “a little more concerning.”
As such, all new emergences need to be closely monitored, especially in their early phases, to ensure they don’t evolve into something more serious.
“The virus is still capable of evolving, recombining and developing a new branch of its family tree,” Cameron said.
“The key takeaway is that for each of these variants and subvariants, risk of hospitalization and death appears to be, on average, lower where vaccination rates are higher, indicating that vaccination, including a third dose, should be effective in reducing risk for severe disease,” added Stephanie Silvera, professor of public health at Montclair State University.

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The NeuConnect project is centered around subsea cables that will enable 1.4 gigawatts of electricity to pass in both directions between the U.K. and Germany.
The interconnector measures 725 kilometers, or just over 450 miles.
Those behind NeuConnect have dubbed the privately-financed venture an “invisible energy highway.”

Onshore wind turbines in Germany. The NeuConnect project says the interconnector will enable Britain to “tap into the vast energy infrastructure in Germany, including its significant renewable energy sources.”
By Thomas E. Gunnarsson | Moment Open | Getty Images

Key contracts totaling more than £1.5 billion ($1.95 billion) have been awarded for a major interconnector project that will link Germany and the U.K., as countries around the world attempt to shore up their energy supplies amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
The NeuConnect project is centered around subsea cables that will enable 1.4 gigawatts of electricity to pass in both directions between the U.K. and Germany — Europe’s two largest economies. The interconnector measures 725 kilometers, or just over 450 miles.

Those behind NeuConnect have dubbed the privately-financed venture an “invisible energy highway” and have described it as “the first direct link between the UK and German energy markets.”
The contracts that have been awarded relate to cabling works and converter stations. NeuConnect said Siemens Energy had been awarded the contract for the latter, which will involve the design and construction of sites in Germany and the U.K.
The NeuConnect project has previously said the interconnector will enable Britain to “tap into the vast energy infrastructure in Germany, including its significant renewable energy sources.”
For Germany, it says “the new link with Britain will help ease current bottlenecks where wind turbines are frequently powered-down due to an excess of renewable energy being created.”
Monday’s announcement said financial close on NeuConnect was slated for the “coming weeks,” which would allow works to begin at some point in 2022.

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The project has been in the works for some time now, but its progression comes at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted just how reliant some economies are on Russian fossil fuels.
Indeed, while the war in Ukraine has created geopolitical tension and division, it has also resulted in a number of initiatives defined by cooperation and shared aims. 
The U.S. and European Commission, for example, recently issued a statement on energy security in which they announced the creation of a joint task force on the subject.
The parties said the U.S. would “strive to ensure” at least 15 billion cubic meters of extra liquefied natural gas volumes for the EU this year. They added this would be expected to increase in the future.
President Joe Biden said the U.S. and EU would also “work together to take concrete measures to reduce dependence on natural gas — period — and to maximize … the availability and use of renewable energy.”

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NeuConnect is not the only project focused on linking the U.K. with other parts of Europe.
Last year, a 450-mile subsea cable which connects the U.K. and Norway, enabling them to share renewable energy, began commercial operations.
The idea behind the North Sea Link, as it’s known, is for it to harness Norway’s hydropower and the U.K’s wind energy resources.
Back in the U.K., 2020 saw plans announced for a multi-billion pound “underwater energy superhighway” that would allow electricity produced in Scotland to be sent to the northeast of England.
The Eastern Link project, which is currently in the early stages of development, is to focus on the development of a pair of high-voltage direct current cables that will have a total capacity of 4 GW. More

Chinese and U.S. flags flutter near The Bund, before U.S. trade delegation meet their Chinese counterparts for talks in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019.
Aly Song | Reuters

The U.S. State Department has ordered all non-emergency government staff and their family members in Shanghai to leave as Covid surges and told U.S. citizens to reconsider travel to China, according to an announcement dated April 11.
“Reconsider travel to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws and COVID-19-related restrictions,” the State Department said.

“Do not travel to the PRC’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Jilin province, and Shanghai municipality due to COVID-19-related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated,” the statement said. “Reconsider travel to the PRC’s Hong Kong SAR due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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