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Lululemon Founder: Our Pants Won't Work For Some Women

Some of the clothes at a Lululemon store in Pasadena, Calif., earlier this year.
Kevork Djansezian
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Getty Images
Some of the clothes at a Lululemon store in Pasadena, Calif., earlier this year.

Eight months after the company he founded had a big public relations problem because too much of some women's backsides could be seen through its yoga pants, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has put the story back in the news.

"Quite frankly, some women's bodies just actually don't work" in Lululemon's pants, Wilson said this week on Bloomberg Television's Street Smart.

"It's about the rubbing through the thighs," he added, and "how much pressure is there."

Asked by Bloomberg's rather surprised looking Trish Regan if he's saying that "not every woman can wear a Lululemon yoga pant," Wilson recovered somewhat, saying, "No, I think they can, I just think it's how you use them."

Bloomberg has posted a 6:38-long video of the interview here. It has also put together a 1:14 version that has some editing fun.

As we reported back in March, Lululemon's stock got spanked when news of its too-sheer pants broke. In April, its product chief stepped down. CEO Christine Day announced in June that she would be leaving, saying she was exhausted.

At just under $70, the company's stock is about back to where it was before the pants problem.

As for the pants, they've now got "more fabric across the bum."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.