Hang Thai
Business Ethics
Case 10: Lululemon: Encouraging a Healthier Lifestyle
1. Lululemon has strong a strong mission statement and core values. However, the
ethical issues that Lululemon has faced have been ideas or instruction passed down
from upper level management. The founder of Lululemon created a culture of
greatness and employees attaining their goals, which really isn’t a bad thing but,
when employees become competitive because of each of them wanting to reach
their goals before another employee, the culture then becomes a little toxic. Based
on this story, the company hadn’t really handled the ethical issues that occurred
other than their willingness to accept returns of sheer and piling yoga pants, remove
unsubstantiated claims from their clothing, and make large contributions to
charities. These things don’t really fix the ethical issues they–could be viewed as a
mere attempt to cover them up.
2. Although Lululemon has been faced with several ethical problems, the company
has successfully handled them. For instance, in 2013 it was faced with an ethical
problem whereby its black Luon yoga pants were recalled from the market. The
product became sheer when the wearer bent over, and investors sued the company
claiming that it deliberately shrouded imperfections in the pants. However, the case
was rejected a few months later after Chip Wilson defended the item by
recommending that ladies’ bodies are to be blamed for the sheerness rather than the
company. He claimed that a large number of ladies purchase pants that are too
