Athleta

The Athleta store at 3229 M Street NW is the Georgetown location of Gap Inc.’s women’s activewear brand, which operates on M Street in close proximity to Alo Yoga and within the athletic and performance clothing segment that has become one of the most contested categories in women’s retail. Athleta was founded in 1998 in Petaluma, California, and was acquired by Gap Inc. in 2008 for $150 million, which brought it inside one of the largest apparel retail operations in the world while allowing it to maintain a distinct brand identity and store footprint separate from Gap’s other brands.

The brand’s differentiation from Lululemon, its primary direct competitor, rests on several points. Athleta’s size range is broader, extending into plus sizes across most of the product line in a way that Lululemon has historically been slower to match. Athleta received B Corp certification, making it one of the larger publicly held B Corp certified businesses and appealing to the customer who considers corporate environmental and social practice in purchasing decisions. The product design has historically prioritized versatility, with pieces designed to function across the workout-to-daily-life transition that the athleisure category addresses.

The Georgetown store carries the full product range: leggings, sports bras, tanks, jackets, and the swim and outdoor categories that round out what Athleta calls its “head-to-toe” selection. The women’s and girls’ lines are both represented in the Georgetown location, which makes it useful for Georgetown families who want to shop both in a single visit. The store design is the standard Athleta format: bright, organized by activity category, and staffed for the product knowledge questions that performance clothing generates from customers who want to understand what the technical features actually do.

M Street’s position as Georgetown’s primary retail corridor puts Athleta in consistent traffic from the neighborhood and visitor populations that make the stretch one of Washington’s most commercially active blocks on a Saturday afternoon. The store sits near Arc’teryx and Alo Yoga on the same M Street stretch, which has made the block something of an activewear destination for the Georgetown shopping circuit.

Hours run from 10am Monday through Saturday and 11am on Sunday. Friday and Saturday hours extend to 9pm. The phone is (202) 471-4279. Online ordering at athleta.gap.com is available for the full product range. The Georgetown store accepts returns from online purchases during regular store hours. Athleta’s B Corp certification is one of the practical distinctions it holds over Lululemon, which has pursued sustainability claims without the third-party verification the B Corp process requires. For consumers who weight corporate environmental and labor practice in purchasing decisions, the certification is a meaningful data point. The brand’s size inclusivity extends across the activewear and lifestyle categories, with most styles available through size 3X in the women’s line, which is broader than most activewear competitors offer in a retail setting. The Georgetown store at 3229 M Street is open Monday through Thursday from 10am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday from 10am to 9pm, and Sunday from 11am to 7pm. The phone is (202) 471-4279.