Lululemon Fires Back And Stands By Their Products

While shares fell shortly after the scathing article from The New York Times questioning the authenticity of Lululemon‘s VitaSea line, CNW Group issued an official press release from the company stating that the line has gone through independent tests and confirmed its contents are consistent.

Lululemon has a comprehensive product testing process and partners with
SGS Group, a leading independent inspection, verification, testing and
certification company. The Switzerland-based firm conducts a battery of tests
before each season on all of Lululemon’s fabrics across all product lines,
testing for a variety of attributes including content, pilling, shrinkage, and
colorfastness.

Well…this is a tough call. It’s normal that the company fends off such accusations, so it’s a question of who is telling the truth. Is the newspaper at fault for reporting these tests? And what made them doubt Lululemon’s claim in the first place? If people can make handbags out of candy wrapper, what’s wrong with using seaweed fiber?

Whatever the case may be, in the end it’s the customer’s choice if they want to spend their money on clothes (authentically organic or not).

**Update**

Ok, my question has been answered as to what made the New York Times investigate Lululemon in the first place. The Business of Fashion pretty much gives you the 411 that it’s really all about the benjamins.

A final twist to all of this is that it was a private investor that paid for the first test which questioned the claims of the VitaSea product and it was he who spurred the New York Times to do their own test and publish the results. This investor was hoping that the test results would send Lululemon’s stock into a free-fall, enabling him to short-sell the stock and make a nice bundle of cash. Mission accomplished.

So, bringing a company down for a quick buck. Hélas, c’est la vie!