Stuart C. WilSon/getty July 2014 BCBusiness 93
Despite splashing the headlines
with unfavourable news in 2013—see-
through pants, a resigning
CEO, a loose-
lipped founder—Lululemon Athletica
Inc. managed to climb from the number
29 spot to the number 25 spot on our
annual list of B.C.'s Top 100 Companies,
increasing its revenue from $1.4 billion
to $1.6 billion.
The first piece of regrettable news for
the company came on March 18, when it
announced that a March 1 shipment of
its black Luon pants and crops did not
meet technical specifications and fell
short of the company's "very high stan-
dards"; in other words, it had released
to stores a bunch of see-through pants.
Customers who bought pants after
March 1 were invited to contact the com-
pany for returns, but the backlash was
widespread and well publicized, and
Lululemon's share price dropped five
per cent following the announcement.
Without missing a beat, in a move
befitting the laidback yoga clothier, some
of its retail storefronts emblazoned their
windows with tongue-in-cheek signage,
including "Sheerness: Your Boyfriend's
Design Feedback," and "We Want to Be
Transparent with You" in front of under-
wear-bearing mannequins. Stock prices
bounced back later that week, but ana-
lysts estimated that the snafu cost the
The Headline Maker
Lululemon may not
have had a banner
year for good press,
but the numbers tell a
different story
b y k r i s T e n H i l d e r M a n
r e T a i l
the
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