Lululemon promised to crank out new styles following the failure of its “Breezethrough” leggings — after an outpouring of embarrassing reviews prompted the pricey athleisure maker to pull them off shelves.
The Vancouver, Canada-based company stopped sales of the newly launched $98 leggings in July as shoppers criticized the V-shaped back seam of the tights as “unflattering.”
Others said the seam at the top of the waistband was digging into their waists.
“It’s killing me how these pants are making everyone look terrible,” a Reddit user said in a post a month ago linked to a thread of Breezethrough legging reviews.
Lululemon – which has been boosted by strong sales from young teens, though it doesn’t necessarily target the demographic since the pandemic – posted a rare earnings miss and cut its yearly forecasts on Thursday.
Its shares dipped 3.3% on Friday.
Now the company is trying to push out new styles that will win back disappointed customers.
“For 2025, we are fast-tracking still new styles within performance, shorts, tops and track suits,” CEO Calvin McDonald said in a post-earnings call Thursday. “We are optimistic that we will begin to see the benefits of these strategies over the upcoming quarter.”
The company reported second-quarter comparable sales growth of 2%, below expectations of a 6% increase.
The miss was due to a 3% sales decline in the Americas.
The company said its North America division sales disappointed because it was slow to launch its new spring styles and colors, and sizes were limited.
The company cut its sales and profit forecasts as demand for its pricey workout gear has started to slow.
“When it comes to Lulu, when there’s been missteps, they are good about addressing them and addressing them quite quickly,” Jessica Ramirez, analyst with Jane Hali & Associates, said.
“Now they have the fast lane and they said they will be bringing in newness,” she said. “The reassurance of having that fast lane gave more assurance to investors today.”
She said the company has been good at admitting to its mistakes in the past.
Last quarter, McDonald said Lululemon had a slower start to the year because of a “missed opportunity in women’s and bags.”
“When looking at women’s, we did not maximize the business in the US, which was the result of several missed opportunities, including a color palette and our core assortment, particularly in leggings that was too narrow,” he said.
On Thursday, he said the company was actively addressing the missed market.
In 2013, the company pulled scores of its black leggings from shelves after customers complained that the pants were see-through. Founder Chip Wilson had raised eyebrows after saying the problem may be the body shape of some women who bought the yoga pants.
“Frankly, some women’s bodies just don’t actually work,” he said in a 2013 interview on Bloomberg TV. “It’s more really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it.”
The company said the Breezethrough pullback was a learning experience and it didn’t hurt quarterly sales.
“We took the right step of pausing on sales and look forward to reintroducing the fabric in the future,” McDonald said.
The impact of the leggings reversal should be minimal, since the brand sells a selection of other leggings and the company has other divisions to focus on, like its men’s apparel line and women’s accessories.
“The negative impact of pulling Breezethrough itself shouldn’t be material to results, but it puts more pressure on other innovation to carry more of the weight for brand buzz and driving traffic/conversion,” Raymond James analyst Rick Patel wrote in a client note this week.
With Post wires
