Read brandchannel’s post here.

Lululemon, a Vancouver-based yoga and athletics apparel retailer, has grown to be a very popular lifestyle brand. Through careful positioning, creative branding, and clever marketing campaigns, it has successfully created a reputation for luxury, quality, and style.

However, Lululemon has recently come under fire for its recall of its black Luon yoga pants because the bottom area was too sheer. Consisting of about 17% of its products, the company could face a large cost of up to $60 million.

Shortly afterwards, Lululemon announced that Sheree Waterson would be stepping down from her role as Chief Product Officer. Even though the company claims otherwise, most believe that Waterson’s departure from the company is largely due to the pants recall.

Furthermore, Lululemon was criticized for how it initially handled the problem, as it did not make any announcement through its high-traffic social media pages regarding the recall of the product, instead taking to its website to communicate the issue through an equivocal blog post. Lululemon has typically been quite transparent with all aspects of its company, which was what I respected most about this company, and this uncharacteristic PR move was not a smart decision.

It was also reported that customers, “upon returning their sheer pants at a Lululemon store, were asked to put the pants on and “bend over” so the associate could evaluate the sheerness.” If this is true, that is just horrifying and unprofessional customer service. Lululemon needs to do major damage control, because I sure wouldn’t shop there after being treated that way. If the company still wants customers to buy their products at the high premium that they charge, they better channel all their efforts into damage control and repairing its brand image. Otherwise, its loyalty base, and consequently its earnings, will really take a dive.