NEW YORK (AP) -- Lululemon has yanked its popular black yoga pants from store shelves and online after it found that the sheer material used was revealing too much of its loyal customers.

The see-through yoga garb is the latest in a series of quality glitches that threatens to alienate the retailer's hardcore fan base, which has so far been more than willing to shell out $100 for pants and other athletic garments. These legions of followers have helped Lululemon, founded in 1998, become a billion-dollar business.

Eva Glettner, 33, of Los Angeles is a case in point. Glettner, who has been a devoted fan of Lululemon, said she'll now shop only at Target to buy her yoga outfits.

"You expect a certain quality, and they definitely let me down," Glettner said. "For that price point, it's unacceptable."

Glettner says Target has similar pants for $30. "It's hard enough making a commitment to working out without worrying about whether you are baring your behind."

Lululemon Athletica Inc. said on its website that it first began to understand the extent of the problem on March 11 as part of its weekly call with store managers, who voiced worries about sheerness. Lululemon declined to respond to Associated Press queries about whether the problem was discovered when customers started to return the Luon pants, the latest batch of which went on sale at the beginning of the month.

But Faye Landes, an analyst at Cowen & Co., believes customers reported the problem to store managers, who in turn reported back to management.

"If this is indeed the case, we suspect a serious lapse in (the company's) supply chain, quality control and vendor management and specifically in its quality assurance program," she said.

Investors usually like transparency. But not in this case. Lululemon's stock price slid $3.90, or 6 percent, to $62, before recovering and closing Tuesday at $64.08, lobbing more than $250 million off of its market value in one day. The stock is down 16 percent so far this year, while the broader markets have been hitting multiyear highs.

Lululemon insists that the problem didn't occur because it changed specifications for the clothing or switched suppliers. It warned that the recall could lead to short supplies and will hurt its first-quarter revenue. The Luon pants, made from a combination of nylon and Lycra fibers, are one of the retailer's product staples and account for about 17 percent of all women's pants in its stores. The company is offering customers' full refunds or exchanges.

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See-through yoga pants a pain for Lululemon

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11's keyboard is permanently attached to the tablet section and when in tablet mode, its bulky, heavy, and awkward to hold. Thankfully, if youd rather lay your tablet down flat or simply watch movies on it, the Yoga 11s flexible, dual-hinge, $649 body gives you a few useful positions to choose from. Also, in laptop mode, it makes for a pretty cheap ultrabook, as long as you dont mind being saddled with Windows RT.

If the thought of buying a device with RT causes you to wake up in the middle of the night screaming, then you may want to wait for the Windows 8 version of the Yoga 11, called the Yoga 11S, coming this summer for only $150 more. The Yoga 11S will also include a higher-resolution screen and a faster non-ARM Intel Core i5 CPU. Or, if you find 11 inches of screen size to be lacking, the 13-inch Yoga 13 may be more up your alley.

Compared with the Microsoft Surface RT, the Yoga 11 is a better lap computer and offers more ports, including two full-size USB port and a full-size SD storage expansion slot. However, the Surface's Type Cover keyboard is more comfortable, its Internet performance consistently zippier, and its a lot thinner and a lot lighter as a tablet.

If youve made your peace with Windows RTs offerings, the Yoga 11 serves as the best RT device next to the Surface. However, its a better laptop than a tablet, so its appeal will depend on what you're looking for.

Finding your center Unlike all previous Windows RT tablets, the Yoga 11's screen cant be detached from its keyboard. The two are permanently linked via dual hinges that allow the screen to tilt back 360 degrees, until the back of the screen lays flush with the back of the keyboard. In this position, the Yoga 11 is the closest it'll ever get to feeling like a normal tablet. That is, if you dont mind the 2.6-pound weight, 0.7-inch thickness (at its thickest), or the feel of keys on the back of your tablet while you attempt to hold it with one hand, and read the mornings news and sip your coffee with the other. No, the Yoga 11 doesn't make for the best portable tablet; it feels heavy and awkward to hold from this position. However, it works fine once it's laid down flat.

Sure, it's definitely a tablet, but it's one of the heaviest, bulkiest tablets I've ever held. What you can't see in this pic is the muscle strain.

You can also orient the Yoga 11 in three other ways. Theres Tent mode, or, as I like to call it, the downward dog position. OK, I don't actually like to call it that, but it feels appropriate. Here, the screen is tilted back about halfway past 90 degrees, then propped up on the top edge of the screen and bottom edge of the keyboard, with the screen facing the user. Not a bad position if using the tablet on a desk, but also not all that different from the third position that sees the keyboard lying flat, keys down, again with the screen facing the user. This was the ideal position for movie-watching, allowing you to easily tilt the screen back and forth to find the perfect position, with no keyboard futzing with your movie engrossment.

With the keyboard flat on the desk (and automatically disabled), this mode is great when watching movies and TV shows thanks to its easily tiltable screen.

The final position is also the one youll probably use most, laptop mode. From here the Yoga 11 is essentially an 11.6-inch ultrabook with a touch screen. Thats about 1.5 inches larger than most tablet screens and about an inch larger than the Surface RT's. Thanks to the larger screen, the Yoga 11 features a wider-than-usual keyboard compared with most tablets, and as a result is a bit more comfortable to type on. Thanks to its flat laptop bottom, the Yoga 11 is more conducive to typing from your actual lap; something I couldn't say about the Surface RT given its kickstand design. That said, however, the softer, wider keys of Surface RT's Touch Cover just plain feel better on my fingertips and is still my preferred typing tablet. One last useful note: adjusting the screen brightness on a Window RT tablet usually requires a couple levels of menu navigation, but the Yoga 11 thankfully features a brightness shortcut key that makes for a much less irritating task.

Sticking with the whole "whisper: I'm really a laptop..." motif, the Yoga 11 is packed with ports. Along its left edge sits a headphone jack, a full USB port, a full HDMI port, followed by a speaker grille, and volume rocker. On the front edge is the power/sleep button, and on the right edge is a charging port, a full SD card slot, another full USB port, and another speaker grille.

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The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 is a better laptop than tablet

Lululemon has staked its reputation and justified its high prices on quality yoga gear. But now it's committed a "transparent" mistake. One of its core products, yoga pants, are too sheer. Shoppers aren't happy, and the company has recalled the yoga pants. But the mistake reveals how the company's rapid grown has laid bare a supply chain stretched too thin.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

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And I'm Melissa Block.

The retailer Lululemon has turned pricey yoga clothes into fashion. But now, some of its yoga pants have revealed problems for the company. As NPR's Wendy Kaufman explains, the pants are, well, see-through.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Inhale all the way over to your left wrist.

WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: The students here at Ashram Yoga in Kirkland, Washington, have quietly spread their mats and are beginning their evening practice.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: ...bringing some fluid into the wrist joints. Let's go the other direction. Inhale over to the right wrist.

Read more:
Lululemon's Too-Sheer Yoga Pants Reveal Problems In Company's Supply Chain

"I'm so hungry. Dinner very small. At least we get dessert soon. Waiting anxiously," I discreetly text my partner from the dining table.

I'm taking part in a weekend yoga retreat at Peppers Salt Resort and Spa at Kingscliff in northern NSW.

It all starts with a Friday afternoon one-hour yoga session followed immediately by dinner.

Yoga instructor and retreat organiser Kris McIntyre candidly tells us we won't be stoked by dinner.

With no time to change, us yoga retreat participants stand out like sore thumbs compared to other diners in the restaurant.

And instead of a juicy steak and fancy meals that the resort's restaurant offer, we are served small helpings of vegetarian food.

The trick is to fill up in the morning - we're allowed to eat like kings for breakfast, noblemen for lunch and paupers for dinner - as the saying goes.

The first night surprises me. Dinner is a palm-sized pumpkin and rocket salad dish.

This is when I develop the art of slow and deliberate eating, apparently good for the digestion but for me a way to make it last longer.

On our second night, Kris tells us she is feeding us something she calls medicine - an adzuki bean dish.

See the article here:
Yoga retreat promises a healthier you

Kawai Purapura Retreat Centre is excited to announce the official launch of Forty Days of Yoga - Breaking down the barriers to a home yoga practice at the second annual International Yoga Conference and Festival. Author Kara-Leah Grant is a New Zealand yoga teacher and writer, and the publisher of New Zealands online yoga magazine The Yoga Lunchbox.

"Its a coup for us to have Kara-Leah launch her book at the festival," says festival organizer Dyana Wells. "Weve got 40 international teachers and spiritual masters over four days of events at the conference. Launching a book adds another dimension for all the conference attendees."

Far more than a how-to book, Forty Days of Yoga, doesnt tell readers where to put their feet in downward dog or their hips in warrior one. Instead, Kara-Leah skillfully shares a deeper understanding of the essence of yoga while using worksheets that prompt readers to challenge the ideas that prevent them from practicing yoga daily.

"Im honoured that Kawai Purapura has invited me to launch my book at the Conference," says Kara-Leah. "What better place to launch a yoga book than at a Conference with hundreds of dedicated yoga teachers and students? It will be a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the loyal Lunchbox readers and talk to people about a home yoga practice. Thats my passion - to give people the tools and strategies they need to practice yoga at home regularly."

Kara-Leah has had a consistent and regular home yoga practice for the past eight years and has used it to heal from chronic back issues and recover from two episodes of psychosis.

"Practicing yoga made an enormous difference in my life during very difficult times. I know intimately how difficult it can be to find time to practice. Its not enough to say I want to practice yoga at home," says Kara-Leah. "You need to assess your life, observe your mind and design a strategy that supports your needs. Otherwise, yoga just becomes one more thing to do on your never-ending to-do list."

You can meet Kara-Leah on Friday 29 March at the 2nd International Yoga Conference and Festival. Set in 19 acres of native bush and with two days of family-friendly activities, Kawai Purapuras festival is a unique chance to meet teachers and other yoga practitioners, all in one place at one time.

Forty Days of Yoga - Breaking down the barriers to a home yoga practice official release date is April 1st. It will be available for sale at the Conference.

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Kiwi author launches new yoga book at festival

It was Saturday night in South End, the room full of gyrating bodies and beats pulsing through the marrow, a laser projector beaming multicolored fireflies that danced on the ceiling and glow sticks whirling in the darkness.

Youve seen this before. Its what raves were 20 years ago. Its what group exercise looks like now.

OK, lets open up the hip flexors, called Beth Lange, who co-owns Moga Charlotte, a nearby yoga studio. She was leading a 20-minute yoga session during Moxy Madness at Midnight, a self-described yoga rave gone mad at where else? Fight Gone MAD, a high-intensity fitness club on South Boulevard. OK, excellent!

The DJ eased the Black Keys pounding Gold On the Ceiling into Bob Marleys mellower No Woman, No Cry. The 80 or so participants contorted, sweated and smiled.

Yoga is usually a quiet, contemplative activity that emphasizes concentration and self-awareness. This, not so much. Folks laughed and chatted as they stretched and the music played.

Then the session switched, moving to another instructor and another 20-minute session, this one high-intensity interval training: 20 seconds of full-bore calisthenics and aerobic exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated again and again. Its practitioners claim interval training burns fat more effectively than the usual aerobic exercise. Then a brief break, then another yoga session, then more interval training. It lasted four hours.

This isnt the traditional way to have a rockin good time on Saturday night, but it represents a trend thats soaked deeply into fitness clubs and yoga studios around the country: bringing in DJs with playlists customized to specific workouts and classes.

Fitness companies are even co-licensing with music labels to market and sell workout compilations, as detailed in a recent Wall Street Journal article. The resulting sessions are commonly called yoga raves, and theyve become quite popular in the last few years.

Our own twist on it

In Charlotte, Coby Kraft and Brad Schamel, a pair of 29-year-old childhood friends, had recently founded Moxy Events, a fitness events company. Kraft works for his familys lighting business, and Schamel is an Army Ranger captain on inactive duty and cycling out of the service. Theyd always wanted to start some kind of venture together, and they incorporated Moxy Events in August.

Continued here:
Charlotte workout combines yoga , calesthenics and a different kind of playlist

NEW YORK (AP) Lululemon has yanked its popular black yoga pants from store shelves after it found that the sheer material used was revealing too much of its loyal customers.

The company insisted it had not changed the specifications for the clothing, but is warning of a shortage of the extraordinarily popular clothing items, which make up about 17 percent of all women's pants and crop pants in its stores.

Shares plunged nearly 8 percent before the opening bell Tuesday, and at least one analyst that follows the company stripped it of its "buy" rating.

Sam Poser of Sterne, Agee & Leach advised clients to take a wait-and-see approach until the problem is resolved, and downgraded the company's shares to "neutral."

There appears to be a "major quality control problem" in Asia where the "Luon" pants are made, Poser said. While Lululemon has used the same factories to make its fabrics since 2004, he said it doesn't seem as though the company has the proper oversight in place.

The Luon pants are one of the retailer's product staples. Cowen analyst Faye Landes said if there is any comfort to be found, it is that Lululemon is not facing a demand problem. Lululemon has an excellent record for investors, as well as yoga devotees, with shares stretching from less than $3 in 2009 to as much as $65 this year.

But the announcement comes just before the company posts earnings for the final quarter, and for the full year on Thursday.

Lululemon Athletica Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, cut its first-quarter revenue forecast as a result of the recall. The company now anticipates first-quarter revenue between $333 million and $343 million. Its prior guidance was for $350 million to $355 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expect revenue of $352.1 million.

The company also lowered its first-quarter outlook for comparable store revenues from 11 percent to 5 percent and 8 percent.

Lululemon is offering full refunds or exchanges to customers.

The rest is here:
Lululemon recalls yoga pants for being too revealing

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lululemon has yanked its popular black yoga pants from store shelves after it found that the sheer material used was revealing too much of its loyal customers.

The company insisted it had not changed the specifications for the clothing, but is warning of a shortage of the extraordinarily popular clothing items, which make up make up about 17 percent of all women's pants and crop pants in its stores.

Shares plunged nearly 8 percent before the opening bell Tuesday and at least one analyst that follows the company stripped it of its "buy" rating.

Sam Poser of Sterne, Agee & Leach advised clients to take a wait-and-see approach until the problem is resolved, downgraded the company's shares to "neutral."

There appears to be a "major quality control problem" in Asia where the "Luon" pants are made, Poser said. While Lululemon has used the same factories to make its fabrics since 2004, he said it doesn't seem as though the company has the proper oversight in place.Faye Landes

The Luon pants are one of the retailer's product staples and Cowen analyst Faye Landes said that if there is any comfort could to found, it is that Lululemon is not facing a demand problem. Lululemon has been a star for investors, as well as yoga devotees, with shares rocketing from less than $3 in 2009, to around $65 this year.

But the announcement comes just before the company posts earnings for the final quarter and full year on Thursday.

Lululemon Athletica Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, cut its first-quarter revenue forecast as a result of the recall. The company now anticipates first-quarter revenue between $333 million and $343 million. Its prior guidance was for $350 million to $355 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expect revenue of $352.1 million.

It also lowered its first-quarter outlook for comparable store revenues, from 11 percent, to 5 percent and 8 percent.

Lululemon is offering full refunds or exchanges to customers.

Read the original here:
Lululemon recalls yoga pants that are too revealing

The popular yoga clothing maker has pulled pants deemed too revealing for your down dog.

Lululemon, known for selling ultra-thin yoga pants to wealthy exercise enthusiasts, has recalled a large batch of its merchandise over a "coverage problem."

Lululemon said in a blog post that some shipments of black women's bottoms -- made with its signature black Luon fabric -- failed to meet the Canadian company's "high standards."

The materials used in construction were the same but the coverage was not, resulting in increased sheerness. We want you to Down Dog and Crow with confidence and we felt these pants didn't measure up."

Lululemon added in a statement that the recall would affect 17 percent of the women's pants it sells.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the recall would have a serious impact on the company's bottom line. Shares fell 4.8 percent after Lululemon announced that the yoga pants recall would bring its first-quarter sales down from an expected $350-355 million to $333-343 million.

See original here:
Lululemon recalls see-through yoga pants

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lululemon has yanked its popular black yoga pants from store shelves after it found that the sheer material used was revealing too much of its loyal customers.

The company insisted it had not changed the specifications for the clothing, but is warning of a shortage of the extraordinarily popular clothing items, which make up make up about 17 percent of all women's pants and crop pants in its stores.

Shares plunged nearly 8 percent before the opening bell Tuesday and at least one analyst that follows the company stripped it of its "buy" rating.

Sam Poser of Sterne, Agee & Leach advised clients to take a wait-and-see approach until the problem is resolved, downgraded the company's shares to "neutral."

There appears to be a "major quality control problem" in Asia where the "Luon" pants are made, Poser said. While Lululemon has used the same factories to make its fabrics since 2004, he said it doesn't seem as though the company has the proper oversight in place.Faye Landes

The Luon pants are one of the retailer's product staples and Cowen analyst Faye Landes said that if there is any comfort could to found, it is that Lululemon is not facing a demand problem. Lululemon has been a star for investors, as well as yoga devotees, with shares rocketing from less than $3 in 2009, to around $65 this year.

But the announcement comes just before the company posts earnings for the final quarter and full year on Thursday.

Lululemon Athletica Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, cut its first-quarter revenue forecast as a result of the recall. The company now anticipates first-quarter revenue between $333 million and $343 million. Its prior guidance was for $350 million to $355 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expect revenue of $352.1 million.

It also lowered its first-quarter outlook for comparable store revenues, from 11 percent, to 5 percent and 8 percent.

Lululemon is offering full refunds or exchanges to customers.

See more here:
Lululemon recalls yoga pants _ too revealing