Lulumelon had apologized to a Black woman after video of her being questioned at its 5th Avenue store in New York stirred claims she had been racially profiled.
Her followers are now calling for a boycott of the store, which sells yoga and athletic apparel. The company, founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, has 711 stores worldwide.
The customer is first heard on video asking police and security personnel to show them what she allegedly took.
“I want to see what I stole. Please,” she asks.
“They believe you took something,” she’s told by security officers.
The woman asks again what she allegedly took but receives no answers. She let the officers search her bag, telling them she just spent $600 on merchandise.
They found no stolen items but ask for her information.
“I don’t want this stuff no more,” she tells them. “I’m ready to return $600 product you thought I stole.”
She asks them if everything in the bag is on the receipt but doesn’t receive a direct answer.
While waiting for her full return to be processed, the woman vows to burn the current Lululemon product she’s presumably wearing. “I’m burning this sh-t when I take it off,” she says.
In an apology received via email, someone identified as Liam, guest resolution team lead, assures her, “Our culture and values embrace diversity, equity and inclusion at its heart, and we take matter like this extremely seriously,” he writes. “It’s our priority that everyone without our collective feels heard, respected and welcomed.”
He asked for “a little more time to connect with the appropriate internal teams regarding your experience.”
Tiktok user @miissupscore, identifying herself as the woman involved in the incident, said when she arrived at the store police were already there detaining someone with items in a Door Dash bag.
@miissupscore REPOST for Part 2 …. #GETTHEFOUTTALULU #BOYYCOTTLULU #BLACKWOMENINLULU #lululemon #lululemoncreator ♬ original sound – miissupscore
“Police just stopped me at the door,” she said, noting that she wore a “I just got here. What did I take?” expression.
She wondered why police asked for her information. Offering context that she arrived in the store with a bonnet on as she and her friends were preparing for a trip to Poconos in northern Pennsylvania.
“Was I stopped because I had a bonnet on my head? There was no other reason to why I was stopped,” she added.
“You patted me down. You didn’t find anything,” she said. “I’ve never been stopped by police. I’ve never been falsely accused. I was scared but I knew I was in the right. I knew my anger was necessary.
“What did I do, be black?” she concludes.
Followers were largely sympathetic.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you☹️,” wrote one. “I’m glad you returned everythingggggg! They don’t deserve your money.”
Another said @miissupscore shouldn’t have been surprised.
Lululemon’s founder, Chip Wilson, resigned as chairman in 2016 after a series of body-shaming comments in which he stated, some women’s bodies were unsuitable for the brand’s clothing.
“Another said I can’t summon sympathy or outrage for Black folks still shopping with Lululemon,” she wrote. “Not after all they’ve done BEFORE now to demean and discriminate against us, they’ve been VERY clear that they hate us.”
In 2021, an unnamed company director encouraged an All Lives Matter campaign to be displayed on its website following the murder of George Floyd. The director eventually left the company.
