Lululemon’s see-through leggings are just another unforced error

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McDonald, the CEO, has blamed poor performance on relying too much on core franchises, not having the right mix of new and old styles and using the “same product playbook across certain categories for too long,” he said on a call with analysts last year. Earlier this month, the company said fourth-quarter sales were likely to come at the higher end of its guidance a sign of a strong holiday showing.

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Lululemon’s dilemma is familiar to many companies that have grown rapidly and need to find ways to keep expanding while competitors encroach, analysts say.

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“That’s a very natural phenomenon,” said Saunders, a retail analyst at GlobalData. Those that successfully navigate that inflection point double down on quality and keeping products fresh for consumers, he said.

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

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The “Get Low” debacle stressed just how far Lululemon has strayed to everyone from investors to consumers. Jess Mabie, an Arkansas-based content creator who can earn a commission from posting Lululemon links, said she was thinking of getting the new leggings. Commenters warned her that they were see-through and didn’t fit well.

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Days after they went on sale, the company pulled them from its website, which sent Lululemon’s shares tumbling.

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“I’m questioning whether the company’s mission and quality still hold up,” Mabie said.

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As Lululemon fielded pressure from growing competition and a slowing athleisure market, the culture inside the company was also shifting, according to former employees. Meetings had commonly kicked off with a ritual known internally as a clearing, where participants were invited to breathe, think and offload anything on their mind before getting to business. As things sped up, clearings were less frequent, those ex-employees said.

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The company’s directive had become: move faster. In the past couple of years, executives have talked about “fast-tracking” new styles and speeding up design on earnings calls, and late last year the chief financial officer said Lululemon was working on reducing its product development process to 12 to 14 months, from 18 to 24 months.

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Under McDonald, who’s led Lululemon since 2018, the company made a series of bets that flamed out. It launched a personal-care line in 2019, but those products, like the Sweat Reset Face Moisturizer, don’t appear to be for sale on Lululemon’s website. And a US$500 million deal to acquire in-home fitness equipment company Mirror at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic unraveled after just three years when Lululemon discontinued sales of the device.

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Rivals were finding success selling trendy sets with campaigns fronted by the likes of Kendall Jenner. Meanwhile, Lululemon launched a collaboration with Walt Disney Co., where McDonald sits on the board, which was trashed by social media users for being “a random collab” and “basic AF.” Lululemon said it was pleased with the performance.

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The company was, at the same time, fumbling the quality basics it was once known for. In 2024, it pulled “Breezethrough” workout leggings off the market after customers criticized stitching around the waistband and butt that created a “whale tail” effect like thong underwear. McDonald acknowledged the misstep on a call with investors. Then, last year, its best-selling black leggings began piling up at outlet stores — a sign that even some core products weren’t selling well.

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Still, during his tenure, McDonald grew Lululemon’s revenue more than three times into a more than US$10 billion business. That included a particularly strong presence in China. He also got Lululemon into shoes.

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But then, there was “Get Low” — a leggings scandal eerily reminiscent to one that’s hung over the company for more than a decade.