“Leader Turned Follower”: Lululemon’s See-Through Legging Fiasco Exposes Brand Drift

Lululemon Athletica has drifted from its core strength in premium, high-quality yoga pants, chasing trends and fast product cycles. Competitors such as Alo Yoga and Vuori are quickly taking market share, while Lululemon has seen quality lapses, culminating in the botched launch of its “Get Low” tights earlier this month.

Bloomberg reports that Chief Brand and Product Activation Officer Nikki Neuburger told hundreds of employees at a meeting last week and in a video shared with staff worldwide that customers were not wearing the new $108 Get Low tights correctly.

Neuburger said that customers who bought the new controversial leggings, which some customers claim were see-through and “not squat proof,” must size up and wear skin-toned underwear before putting on Get Low tights.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Neuburger’s memo to staff blaming customers for the see-through tights fiasco must “honestly be a joke.”

“You are selling a premium product, you shouldn’t have to issue instructions to women on how to wear leggings because your product is defective,” Saunders said.

Earlier this month, Lululemon pulled its new tights from its North America e-commerce website just days after launch, following an uproar on social media over claims that the leggings were see-through. But it re-introduced the tights to the online store about a week ago.

In response to the epic failure, founder Chip Wilson felt compelled enough to blast the Board in a social media post:

This is a new low for lululemon. Pulling back the “Get Low” product line after three days is clearly a total operational failure. This comes just 17 months after the failed launch of the “Breezethrough” leggings, a product line also discontinued for similar product flaws. I’ve believed that lululemon has lost its cool for some time, but it is now evident to me that the Company has completely lost its way as a leader in technical apparel. For years, lululemon’s results (particularly in North America) have shown how the Company has struggled to deliver products that are compelling and beloved; now it is unable to simply deliver products that work.

Despite any finger pointing internally following this mishap, this is not the fault of any hard-working employees. This is the fault of the Board. It is clear that persistent failures like this are born out of this Board’s lack of experience in creative businesses, disinterest in product development and quality, and focus on short-term, self-interested priorities. How could anyone reach a conclusion other than the Board continues to make decisions that are destroying the brand and the stock price?

What product quality testing did the Board review? How often does the Board review the product pipeline? Are leaders empowered to make the best product decision or simply pushed to the lowest cost decision?

I believe a leading Board would have a Brand Product Committee and have asked these questions.

For memory’s sake, let’s take another look at the Get Low line.

And one last time.

Meanwhile, Alo Yoga and Vuori are winning influencers and younger customers; Lululemon’s attempts to follow that playbook have epically backfired. Year-to-date, shares are down 17%, below Covid lows.

Saunders said, “They’ve gone from being the leader in the category to, honestly, a bit of a follower.”