Who can forget the see-through yoga pants debacle? In March Lululemon suffered a large setback when the company was forced to pull overly sheer black yoga pants off store shelves. The recall is reported to have dented 2013 sales by $57 million to $67 million.
Now Lululemon is facing another complaint about their Groove and Wunder Under pants. The issue has been described as “piling.” This alone would have been no big deal. But then founder Chip Wilson decided to blame women’s bodies for issues with the pants during an interview on Bloomberg TV’s “Street Smart”.
“Frankly some women’s bodies just don’t actually work for it,” Wilson said.
He went on the put his foot even farther into the muck:
“They don’t work for some women’s bodies,” he continued. “It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how they much they use it.”
“Interesting, not every woman can wear a Lululemon yoga pant?” Bloomberg’s Trish Regan asked.
“No, I think they can,” Chip clarified. “I just think it’s how you use it.”
In July, the Huffington Post reported that Lululemon shuns plus-sized women. Larger size clothes are often poorly displayed and are seldom restocked. Meanwhile, the “thigh-gap” is currently a hot-button topic for parents of teen girls with eating disorders. It’s been described as the most extreme body fixation to date. Thanks Chip, for reinforcing the unfortunate fad.
Last modified: November 7, 2013
If I’m slender, and I try on XXL pants and complain they don’t fit right, and then proceed to blame the pants for it – would that not sound a little nuts? I don’t understand what’s outrageous about what Chip said, and this post’s author seems to be implying that it is obvious.
Really Phil? Another male commenting on female body size… just what we need! Pants shouldn’t fall apart because thighs rub together. The fact is that lulu pants aren’t as well made anymore. The quality has gone down but unfortunately the price has not. Now we are just over-paying for shoddy quality pants and being told we are the problem because we are fat. Thanks Chip.