Lululemon recalls see-through yoga pants

The oldest trick in the fashion book is to sell clothes that are expensive and see-through, so that consumers have to buy more expensive clothes in order to remain fashionable and modest. It now appears that Lululemon pulled that stunt–but the clothing company says it was a mistake.

In a FAQ posted on its website, the Lululemon said it is investigating how see-through yoga pants reached store shelves earlier this month. “The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the women’s black Luon bottoms remain the same but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women’s black Luon bottoms that fall short of our very high standards," the Lululemon website explains

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The pants, if you can call them that, are also resulting in financial losses for Lululemon. Analyst Sam Poser of Sterne, Agee & Leach has downgraded Lululemon’s shares to a neutral rating from buy, the Los Angeles Times reported. He told investors to remain cautious until the "quality-control" issues are settled. 

Shares of Lululemon fell 4.6 percent to 64.38 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the supplier that actually made the pants for Lululemon, a Taiwanese company called Eclat Textile, is blaming Lululemon for the snafu. Eclat told Reuters that "a gap between Lululemon's expectations and reaction from the market" is the real cause of the controversy or, in layman's terms, that Lululemon actually thought that people would like pants that show off your underpants.

"We checked our orders this morning and indeed, we did follow their instructions to make the product," Roger Lo, a spokesperson at Eclat, told Reuters. 

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