Lululemon fans furious as tariffs threaten to drive prices even higher amid stock plunge
Lululemon lovers are already stretching their wallets to the limit — and now they've had enough.
Fans and critics alike were clucking their tongues Friday after the athleisure giant warned customers they'd soon be paying even more for already-pricey workout gear — following a whopping stock nosedive.
The culprit? President Donald Trump's tariffs — and, apparently, broke Americans tightening their purse strings.
Advertisement
'We experienced lower store traffic in the Americas, partially reflective of economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures, lower consumer confidence, and changes in discretionary spending,' the company said in a recent statement.
Translation: Even the brand's cult-following of millennial and Gen Z yoga bunnies aren't splurging $128 on leggings like they used to.
4 Even Lululemon's loyal legging junkies — from millennial moms to Gen Z gym rats — are tightening their waistbands on those $128 yoga pants.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Advertisement
Execs are scrambling as the one-time Wall Street darling fell short of analyst predictions, seeing just a 1% increase in sales year-over-year, falling short of the 3% forecast.
'We are planning to take strategic price increases … on a small portion of our assortment, and they will be modest in nature,' chief financial officer Meghan Frank said on an earnings call, adding the hikes will roll out within weeks.
'It will be price increases on a small portion of our assortments, and they will be modest in nature,' she claimed.
4 The blame for all this? President Trump's tariffs — and cash-strapped shoppers cutting back.
REUTERS
Advertisement
CEO Calvin McDonald admitted he was 'not happy' with U.S. growth figures and blamed the belt-tightening on skittish shoppers.
'We experienced lower store traffic … lower consumer confidence,' he echoed.
While some may point to floundering new lines like the Glow Up collection or Daydrift trousers, the company is pinning the blame on tariffs — particularly those slapped on goods made in Vietnam and China, where the company sources most of its fabrics.
In 2024, 40% of Lululemon's products were made in Vietnam, and 28% of its fabrics came from mainland China — both hit hard by Trump's trade crackdown.
Advertisement
Now, Lulu says it's working to cut costs and negotiate with vendors to offset the tariff hit. But customers aren't exactly downward dogging in support.
On X, disgruntled users lashed out at the brand's pricing and manufacturing decisions.
4 The athleisure company says it's trimming costs and haggling with vendors to ease the tariff pain — but shoppers aren't exactly striking a warrior pose in approval.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
'You better get it together. Lulu. Using tariffs as an excuse in your rest of the year outlook is not a smart move. Amazon/Walmart tried this it didn't go well. You're Down 65$ today. Our family was a big lulu fan not so much anymore,' one raged.
'For what they charge for their products, you'd think it was made in America,' snapped another.
'It can't be that yoga pants shouldn't cost $125 a pair. No. That's not it,' someone joked.
Others were more blunt: 'Their stuff is ridiculously overpriced… total ripoff.'
'Lululemon's collapse isn't about tariffs — it's about betting on foreign manufacturing while ignoring American resilience,' one critic seethed.
Advertisement
They continued, 'Relocating production… was always a gamble, and now they're paying for it.'
Some simply slammed the entire brand: 'Lululemon clothing is so overpriced — always has been. Only the Gen Zers think its the name on them that make them special.'
4 In 2024, Lulu pumped out 40% of its gear in Vietnam and got 28% of its fabrics from China — two prime targets in Trump's tariff smackdown.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Advertisement
Another scorched: 'Stupid rich women paying exorbitant prices for stretch pants. SMH.'
Despite the backlash, Lululemon doesn't appear to be sweating just yet — but with costs climbing and customers stretching their budgets, the future might not be quite so flexible.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
33 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Israeli strikes on Iran cap dramatic shift in Mideast strategic balance
JERUSALEM — While the world braces for President Donald Trump's decision on bombing Iran and the tectonic waves that could follow, here in the Middle East, the earthquake has already struck. Israel's go-for-broke attacks on Iran launched just over a week ago — after decades of intense but largely covert conflict between the two powers — have dramatically shifted the strategic balance in a way that will probably prevail whether American bombers enter the fray or not, according to analysts in Israel, across the region and beyond.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tulsi Gabbard Flips Sides in MAGA Civil War Over Iran's Nuclear Capabilities
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has flipped her stance on Iran after President Donald Trump nuked her intelligence as 'wrong.' Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 25 that there was no intelligence to suggest Iran was building nuclear weapons, though the country had enriched its uranium to higher levels. Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's June 12 'preemptive' strike on Iran—which he justified by saying that the country has a 'secret plan' to weaponize uranium—Trump sided with Israel's countervailing position. On two separate occasions this week, Trump rebuffed Gabbard's earlier assessment of Iran's nuclear program. 'I don't care what [Gabbard] said,' Trump said aboard Air Force One. 'I think they were very close to having one.' In another comment on Wednesday, the president added that Iran was 'a few weeks' away from turning their uranium into a weapon, echoing similar sentiments shared by Netanyahu. Then on Friday, Gabbard fell in line with Trump, attacking the media for having the gall to believe what she said. 'The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division,' Gabbard wrote to her 600K followers. 'America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly.' She added, 'President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree.' Gabbard included a clip of what she called her 'full testimony,' which has since racked up 8.9 million views. The world has been thrown into a state of limbo while Trump weighs a decision on whether to get the United States involved in strikes on Iran, a decision the country warned would be 'very dangerous.' In a statement read on Thursday by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump said he would make his decision 'within the next two weeks' based on the fact that there 'is a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future.' Reuters reported that the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with a group of European diplomats in Geneva on Friday for nuclear talks.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Top economist who previously sounded the alarm on tariffs sees a possible scenario where Trump ‘outsmarted all of us'
Torsten Sløk, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, laid out a potential scenario where President Donald Trump's tariffs are extended long enough to ease economic uncertainty while also providing a significant bump to federal revenue. That comes as the 90-day pause on Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' is nearing an end. Businesses and consumers remain in limbo over what will happen next with President Donald Trump's tariffs, but a top economist sees a way to leave them in place and still deliver a 'victory for the world.' In a note on Saturday titled 'Has Trump Outsmarted Everyone on Tariffs?', Apollo Global Management Chief Economist Torsten Sløk laid out a scenario that keeps tariffs well below Trump's most aggressive rates long enough to ease uncertainty and avoid the economic harm that comes with it. 'Maybe the strategy is to maintain 30% tariffs on China and 10% tariffs on all other countries and then give all countries 12 months to lower non-tariff barriers and open up their economies to trade,' he speculated. That comes as the 90-day pause on Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs,' which triggered a massive selloff on global markets in April, is nearing an end early next month. The temporary reprieve was meant to give the U.S. and its trade partners time to negotiate deals. But aside from an agreement with the U.K. and another short-term deal with China to step back from prohibitively high tariffs, few others have been announced. Meanwhile, negotiations are ongoing with other top trading partners. Trump administration officials have been saying for weeks that the U.S. is close to reaching deals. On Saturday, Sløk said extending the deadline one year would give other countries and U.S. businesses more time to adjust to a 'new world with permanently higher tariffs.' An extension would also immediately reduce uncertainty, giving a boost to business planning, employment, and financial markets. 'This would seem like a victory for the world and yet would produce $400 billion of annual revenue for US taxpayers,' he added. 'Trade partners will be happy with only 10% tariffs and US tax revenue will go up. Maybe the administration has outsmarted all of us.' Sløk's speculation is notable as he previously sounded the alarm on Trump's tariffs. In April, he warned tariffs have the potential to trigger a recession by this summer. Also in April, before the U.S. and China reached a deal to temporarily halt triple-digit tariffs, he said the trade war between the two countries would pummel American small businesses. More certainty on tariffs would give the Federal Reserve a clearer view on inflation as well. For now, most policymakers are in wait-and-see mode, as tariffs are expected to have stagflationary effects. But a split has emerged. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Friday that economic data could justify lower interest rates as early as next month, expecting only a one-off impact from tariffs. But San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly also said Friday a rate cut in the fall looks more appropriate, rather than a cut in July. Still, Sløk isn't alone in wondering whether Trump's tariffs may not be as harmful to the economy and financial markets as feared. Chris Harvey, Wells Fargo Securities' head of equity strategy, expects tariffs to settle in the 10%-12% range, low enough to have a minimal impact, and sees the S&P 500 soaring to 7,007, making him Wall Street's biggest bull. He added that it's still necessary to make progress on trade and reach deals with big economies like India, Japan and the EU. That way, markets can focus on next year, rather near-term tariff impacts. 'Then you can start to extrapolate out,' he told CNBC last month. 'Then the market starts looking through things. They start looking through any sort of economic slowdown or weakness, and then we start looking to '26 not at '25.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
