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Lululemon has pulled a leggings design from stores after customers complained that they gave them a “long butt.”
After the activewear company launched its Breezethrough line of leggings for $98 on July 9, the product quickly received criticism despite being marketed as an innovative new style, touted for its lightweight fabric and quick-drying material. In one video, one TikTok user complained, “What's really weird about these is the back seam. See that? I'm not sure what's going on there, but that's not very pretty.”
“I’m also not a big fan of the butt seam,” another TikTok user added. “I just think it’s a little over the top. I don’t love it.”
On the company's website, the tights are reported to have received 3.1 stars out of five from 112 reviews, with the polarizing back seam being a frequent complaint, according to JP Morgan analyst Matthew Boss. He wrote that customers noted the V-shaped back seam gave them a “long butt.”
In the face of negative customer reaction, the retailer recently pulled the product from its websites and stores. The business move perpetuated skepticism among stock analysts like Boss, who, in the aftermath of the product’s botched launch, removed Lululemon stock from its analyst target list and lowered its stock price target from $457 to $338.
This isn't the first time Lululemon has come under fire: its founder and former CEO, Chip Wilson, has made derisive comments about the company's diversity and inclusion efforts in the past.
In an interview with ForbesThe 68-year-old former CEO insisted that making Lululemon products more accessible would hurt the brand. He told the outlet: “They're trying to become something like Gap, everything to everyone.”
“I think the definition of a brand is that you’re not everything to everyone,” he continued. “You have to be clear that you don’t want certain customers to come in.”
Wilson's history of anti-Asian, sexist and fatphobic comments has earned Lululemon some unpleasant headlines over the years, including after some of its employees accused the company of performative activism and token campaigns.
Long before leaving the company, Wilson stated in 2005 that he had chosen a brand name that included three Ls specifically because the sound does not exist in Japanese phonetics. National Post Business Magazine At that point: “It’s fun watching them try to say it.”
Wilson, in particular, was removed from his role as CEO after comments he made in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Smart on the street In 2013, the launch of the brand's leggings sparked a backlash. At the time, the founder responded to mounting criticism that the company's popular leggings were low-quality and see-through, telling the outlet that they weren't meant for everyone, particularly curvier women. “They don't work for some women's bodies,” she said, blaming women's bodies for the leggings becoming see-through. “It's really about the chafing on the thighs, how much pressure there is.”
One of the company's retail stores in Maryland echoed the then-CEO's words in a poignant window display, writing: “Love: cups of chai/apple pies/rub thighs?” The company had the display taken down and Lululemon issued an apology on Twitter, now known as X, distancing himself from Wilson's comments.
The entrepreneur resigned as CEO in December of that year and two years later left the company's board entirely. Since then, the Canadian company has tried to shake off its elitist reputation as a brand exclusively for upper-middle-class white women, by launching a diversity and inclusion initiative and inclusive marketing campaigns.
