Lululemon Athletica
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Owned |
CAN |
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Yoga-inspired sportswear
Founded in 1998 in Canada by Chip Wilson, today they operate over 200 stores in Canada, USA, Australia and NZ. 70% of their manufacturing occurs in developing countries. Wilson owns 42% of the company.
| Lululemon Athletica Inc | CAN | website | ||||
Company Assessment
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In 2020/21 KnowTheChain benchmarked over 180 large global companies in the ICT, Food & Beverage, and Apparel & Footwear sectors on their efforts to address forced labour and human trafficking in their supply chains. This company received a score of 89/100.
Source: KnowTheChain (2021)
In 2021, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) asked companies to provide data about their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change risk. Responding companies are scored across four key areas: disclosure; awareness; management; and leadership. This company received a CDP Climate Change Score of B.
Source: CDP (2021)
A grade in Baptist World Aid Australia's '2021 Ethical Fashion Report', which grades companies, from A to F, on the strength of their systems to mitigate against the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry. Assessment criteria fall into five main categories: policy & governance, tracing & risk, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental sustainability.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2021)
The 2021 Fashion Transparency Index reviewed 250 of the world's largest fashion brands and retailers and ranked them according to how much they disclose about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts. Brands owned by this company scored 42%, signifying that it is making significant efforts in the given areas, and has made some or most of this information publicly available. The average score was 23% and the highest score was 78%.
Source: Fashion Revolution (2021)
The Apparel and Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge (Transparency Pledge) helps demonstrate apparel and footwear companies' commitment towards greater transparency in their manufacturing supply chain. Transparency of a company's manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to collaborate with civil society in identifying, assessing, and avoiding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts. This is a critical step that strengthens a company's human rights due diligence. This company is fully aligned with the Transparency Pledge, thereby committing to regularly publish on its website a list naming all sites that manufacture its products.
Source: Transparency Pledge (2019) |
In early 2017, China's Communist Party began a new incarceration campaign, rounding up, detaining and forcibly indoctrinating over 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority ethnic groups in the far-western region. A coalition of more than 180 human rights groups is calling on apparel brands and retailers to stop using forced labour in the Uyghur Region and end their complicity in the Chinese government's human rights abuses. This company is amongst those being targeted by coalition members for not doing enough to identify and disengage from business relationships with Uyghur Region-linked forced labour.
Source: End Uyghur Forced Labour (2021)
This company received an S&P Global ESG Score of 12/100 in the Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods category of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices (last updated 7 Feb 2021). The rankings are based on an analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, environmental reporting, climate strategy, human rights and labour practices.
Source: S&P Global (2021)
The 2019 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark assessed 200 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world from the Agricultural Products, Apparel, Extractives and ICT Manufacturing sectors on 100 human rights indicators. This company's score was in the 20-30 band range. The overall average score was a disappointing 24%.
Source: CHRB (2019)
A 2019 report by The Guardian found that this company is sourcing clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they are beaten and physically assaulted. Young female workers at the factory gave detailed accounts of how they struggled to survive on meagre wages and faced physical violence and regular humiliation at the hands of their managers. They are forced to work overtime to hit targets, saying they sometimes felt immense pressure not to leave their work stations. Lululemon is investigating the claims.
Source: The Guardian (2019)
The 2020 Sustainable Cotton Ranking, published by WWF, Solidaridad and the Pesticide Action Network UK analysed the 77 largest cotton users among international apparel brands and retailers, reviewing their policies, actual uptake of more sustainable cotton and transparency in their supply chains. According to the report, this company is "not yet started" with a score of 4.5%. The average score was 18.2% and the highest score was 79.2%.
Source: Sustainable Cotton Ranking (2020)
In 2019 the median pay for a worker at this company was US$19,459. The CEO was paid 580 times this amount. Exorbitant CEO pay is a major contributor to rising inequality. CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay, not because they are increasing productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills. The economy would suffer no harm if CEOs were paid less (or taxed more). In contrast, the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio was 20-to-1 in 1965 and 58-to-1 in 1989.
Source: AFL-CIO (2020)
JUST Capital polls Americans every year to identify the issues that matter most in defining just business behaviour. For their 2022 rankings the public identified 19 issues, which are organised under the headings Workers, Communities, Customers, Shareholders and Environment. JUST Capital then define metrics that map to those issues and track and analyse the largest, publicly traded U.S. companies. This analysis powers their rankings, in which this company ranked 543rd of 954 companies, and 15th of 36 Household Goods & Apparel companies.
Source: JUST Capital (2022) |
Founder Chip Wilson controversially publicly defends the practice of child forced labor and sweatshops.
Source: Elephant (2012)
In 2011 Lululemon sparked controversy with new shopping bags that promoted a novel by Ayn Rand. The bags had the words "Who is John Galt" on them - a phrase from the book Atlas Shrugged, which promotes the idea of individuals living for their self-interest. Lululemon founder Chip Wilson read the book when he was 18.
Source: news article (2011)
As listed on the We Mean Business website, this company has committed to the following climate action initiatives: adopt a science-based emissions reduction target; commit to 100% renewable power.
Source: We Mean Business (2021)
This company signed the Uzbek Cotton Pledge with the Responsible Sourcing Network, signifying a public commitment to not knowingly source Uzbek cotton for the manufacturing of any of their products until the Government of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced labor in its cotton sector. However the Pledge was lifted in March 2022 after the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, who monitored the annual cotton harvest since 2010, found no state-imposed forced labor in the 2021 harvest.
Source: Cotton Campaign (2022)
This company appears on the 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, signifying a commitment to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency.
Source: Bloomberg (2021)
This company has announced that they don't sell animal fur or are phasing in a fur-free policy.
Source: Humane Society (2019)
This company has committed to making products with RDS-certified down. The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) is an independent, voluntary global standard which ensures that down and feathers come from ducks and geese that have been treated well, with no live plucking or force feeding. However the RDS has been criticised by PETA, who claim live plucking still occurs at RDS farms. (http://bit.ly/2cYTtoJ)
Source: RDS (2019)
This company has a number of sustainability claims on its website in the areas of environmental footprint (reducing carbon emissions and waste) and responsible supply chain (environmental impacts, working conditions, raw material sources, code of ethics).
Source: company website (2016)
The bluesign Standard sets "best practices" for the use of chemicals and resources - including water and energy - in the textile industry. Textile manufacturers who are bluesign system partners agree to establish management systems to improve environmental performance in five key areas of the production process: resource productivity, consumer safety, water emissions, air emissions, and occupational health and safety. They regularly report their progress, are subject to on-site audits, and must meet improvement goals to maintain their status.
Source: bluesign (2021)
This company is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in March 2011 by a group of global apparel and footwear companies and non-profit organizations (representing nearly one third of the global market share for apparel and footwear). The Coalition's goals are to reduce the apparel industry's environmental and social impact, and to develop a universal index to measure environmental and social performance of apparel products.
Source: Sustainable Apparel Coalition (2020)
This company is a member of the Textile Exchange, a global non-profit that works closely with its members to drive textile industry transformation in preferred fibres, integrity and standards and responsible supply networks. They identify and share best practices regarding farming, materials, processing, traceability and product end-of-life in order to reduce the textile industry's impact on the world's water, soil and air, and the human population.
Source: Textile Exchange (2019)
This company is a member of the CanopyStyle initiative, which came about when research found that millions of trees are used every year to produce dissolving pulp, a key ingredient for fabrics such as rayon/viscose. The campaign seeks to phase out the use of endangered forest fibre in fabric.
Source: Canopy (2018)
California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.
Source: Modern Slavery Registry (2018)
In 2013 Lululemon had to pull its popular black yoga pants off shelves because the fabric used to make them was too see-through. The pants are one of the companies biggest selling garments, and the resulting stock price drop has led to three class action legal proceedings from disgruntled investors.
Source: news article (2013)
In 2020 Baptist World Aid Australia released The COVID Fashion Report, a special edition of their Ethical Fashion Report. The report is framed around six COVID Fashion Commitments that ask companies to demonstrate the steps and measures they are taking to protect and support the most vulnerable workers in their supply chains. This company showed evidence of actions that cover SOME areas of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2020) |
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Company Details
| Type | Public company |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Revenue | 4 billion USD (2020) |
| Employees | 2,861 (2020) |
| Subsidiaries | Lululemon Athletica Pty Ltd 
Yoga-inspired sportswear Operates 25 stores around Australia. |
Contact Details
| Address | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| gec@lululemon.com | |
| Website | www.lululemon.com |
Products / Brands
Lululemon Australia|
Lululemon Sportswear Lululemon Activewear |