Red-faced Lululemon recalls too-sheer yoga pants

Lululemon Athletica designs clothes suited to rolling, stretching and other yoga moves. But the company itself took a tumble Tuesday after announcing its yoga pants were too sheer. The Canadian company on Monday recalled its trademark black yoga pants made with a certain batch of luon, a combination of nylon and Lycra spandex fibers, because they were effectively see-through. "Some of our store managers expressed concern over the sheerness of some of our women's black luon bottoms," it said. The recall left the company in a tight spot. Lululemon said it expected a shortage of the pants, which represent 17 percent of its women's bottoms in its stores, until replacements could be delivered. The company, whose manifesto says "Do one thing a day that scares you," said it was working with manufacturers in Vietnam and Taiwan to determine the cause of the near-transparent fabric. Lululemon started in 1998 from a single store in the beach area of Vancouver, British Columbia and grew rapidly with the yoga boom to more than 200 stores internationally today. The company's shares, traded on the Nasdaq exchange, were down 5.1 percent in early-afternoon trade in New York.