At Lululemon, Being Black Is ‘Off-Brand’

On a gradual day final winter, a few workers at Lululemon’s Hyde Park location in Chicago had been chatting when two girls walked in.

“Oh, that is off-brand,” one of many girls mentioned to the opposite after being greeted by the shop’s employees, the staff recalled. Each prospects had been white; all the retailer’s gross sales associates had been Black.

It wasn’t the primary time Hyde Park workers had been informed they didn’t match the yoga-inspired attire model’s aesthetic. Based on the shop’s basic supervisor, Michael “Muffy” Collins, Lululemon’s company management, too, resisted the concept of a group of Black associates staffing its location on Chicago’s South Aspect.

Collins pitched the idea to mirror the model’s first retailer within the space situated simply south of Chicago’s historic “Black Belt,” a large swath of the town the place Black residents had been as soon as confined throughout segregation. However he mentioned he was informed repeatedly by regional managers and executives at Lululemon’s company workplace in Vancouver to rent white and Asian gross sales associates, to mirror the racial make-up of the close by College of Chicago.

Collins pressed forward together with his plan. After opening in November 2021, the shop acquired compliments for its customer support and gross sales internally — proper up till it closed in August 2023 when many of the group was laid off.

At the very least six of the shop’s 16 former workers have since filed complaints alleging racial discrimination with the Equal Employment Alternative Fee, a US regulatory company that investigates office discrimination, BoF has discovered.

What occurred on the Chicago retailer shouldn’t be an remoted incident, nonetheless. Over the previous yr, BoF has interviewed 14 present and former Lululemon workers, together with gross sales associates, world ambassadors and company managers within the US and Canada, and reviewed a number of written complaints to the EEOC and the corporate’s individuals and tradition group. Taken collectively, these accounts describe a company tradition that’s unwelcoming of Black individuals and leaders recurrently use stereotypes to outline and ostracise minority workers, who face obstacles to profession development that don’t appear to use to white colleagues. Staffers who drew the corporate’s consideration to those points informed BoF they had been handed over for promotions, reprimanded, and, in a number of circumstances, had their employment terminated. (World ambassadors are influencers corresponding to yoga instructors {and professional} athletes who assist promote the Lululemon model and endorse its merchandise.)

In response to BoF’s request for remark, a Lululemon spokesperson mentioned the corporate takes the allegations “very severely” and that they “don’t mirror the tradition now we have constructed and labored to keep up throughout Lululemon.”

In June 2020, Lululemon joined the refrain of companies promising to extra actively enhance their inner range and create a extra equitable taking part in subject for minorities extra broadly. However the general public who spoke with BoF mentioned the scenario had solely deteriorated since then.

Just below a month after George Floyd was murdered by cops in Minneapolis, the corporate issued an announcement titled “Lululemon commits to inclusion, range, fairness, and motion.” The model pledged to rent a head of range, fairness and inclusion, companion with faculties serving underrepresented teams and launch an internship programme geared toward growing minority illustration, amongst different initiatives.

The cornerstone of Lululemon’s effort was a brand new division known as “Inclusion Variety, Fairness and Motion,” recognized internally as IDEA. Formally launched in November 2020, IDEA was tasked with growing employees range, increasing coaching and improvement round range and inclusion, and creating “ongoing dialogue” between underrepresented workers and Lululemon chief govt Calvin McDonald. Stacia Jones, a company lawyer who beforehand headed range efforts at Abercrombie & Fitch, was employed to guide a group of about 20, with an annual funds of $5 million.

The expertise of the staff who spoke with BoF encapsulates some minorities’ greatest fears concerning how the style trade’s range efforts would play out after the highlight on the Black Lives Matter motion died down. Somewhat than offering a platform for minority workers, these working in or alongside the IDEA division risked being ostracised in the event that they criticised the corporate’s method to race, a number of former Lululemon workers informed BoF.

“IDEA is a wave within the firm and … we simply must trip the wave till there’s something else,” Miya Dotson, a former IDEA supervisor, recollects her supervisor telling her earlier than she joined the group.

Konesha Armstrong, the Hyde Park’s retailer’s operations lead mentioned her expertise working at Lululemon finally amounted to a recreation of “smoke and mirrors.”

“[Lululemon] makes you are feeling prefer it’s going to be supportive and also you’re not going to be part of the historical past of micro aggressive behaviour and it simply isn’t the case,” she informed BoF.

All informed, the rhetoric and guarantees of 2020 didn’t yield a lot in the way in which of long-lasting progress at Lululemon. What was left, ultimately, was an overriding mission to guard the corporate’s picture first, guarantee minority workers’ wellbeing and profession development second, if in any respect, based on the worker accounts.

The Lululemon Retailer on Chicago’s South Aspect

Since its founding in 1998, Lululemon has alternately embraced and struggled to shake the concept it’s a model constructed to cater to a sure buyer — largely white, skinny, upper-middle class girls. The model’s founder, Chip Wilson, repeatedly confronted scrutiny for anti-Asian and fat-phobic feedback. He stepped down as board chairman in 2013, leaving the board fully in 2015. Lululemon’s administration has largely prevented public controversy since then.

Because the Hyde Park retailer ready to open within the autumn of 2021, Lululemon was within the midst of a interval of explosive development. The model’s stretchy pants and tops proved an ideal match for the comfort-first, work-from-home period ushered in by the pandemic. Income shot up 42 p.c to $6.3 billion in its fiscal yr ending in January 2022.

The Hyde Park retailer was one among 85 pop-up shops the corporate operated in 2022 — all meant to check the model’s attraction and development prospects in sure underserved markets.

Nevertheless, tensions had been excessive surrounding the model’s arrival on the South Aspect.

A headline in The Chicago Maroon, the College of Chicago’s scholar newspaper, had bemoaned “The Lululemonification of Hyde Park,” casting the shop as the newest signal of the neighbourhood’s gentrification. Although Black residents made up about one quarter of Hyde Park’s inhabitants, the South Aspect is 73 p.c Black, and a few locals feared that the arrival of prosperous, largely white residents, and companies catering to them, would displace Black and low-income residents.

Collins was hopeful his concept for an all-Black retailer group might assist construct a extra genuine connection between the model and the neighbourhood. It was why he utilized for the job within the first place, “to supply Lululemon a unique perspective,” he informed BoF.

The shop appeared like successful, at the very least to its workers. The placement grossed $1.9 million in gross sales within the first 18 or so months, a “win” given the difficult financial local weather on Chicago’s South Aspect, Collins and a number of staffers informed BoF.

So it got here as a shock to Collins this previous Might when he discovered the shop can be shut down. Collins mentioned Lululemon informed him the shop missed its income goal of $2.4 million. He and 5 of the shop’s former staffers mentioned it was the primary time that they had heard that determine. (The common Lululemon retailer generates $5.9 million in annual gross sales, based on an estimate supplied to BoF by BMO Capital Markets. Nevertheless, as a “create and develop” outpost, Hyde Park’s goal would have been a lot decrease.)

Lululemon sometimes opens dozens of pop-up shops yearly to check new markets; not all make it to everlasting standing. For example, final yr the corporate shuttered 20 p.c of its pop-up places.

Among the many allegations in EEOC complaints seen by BoF had been that regional managers recurrently referred to the Black staffers as “you individuals” and the corporate denied Black workers job alternatives in favour of their usually less-qualified white counterparts. Collins — who held administration roles at athletic and sporting items retailers Stadium Items, Champion and DTLR — informed BoF it took eight interview rounds to persuade Lululemon he was certified to run a retailer. In the meantime, Collins says {that a} white supervisor at a location in Chicago’s extra prosperous Lincoln Park neighbourhood informed him that he landed his position with two interviews and no retail expertise. (BoF was not capable of independently confirm this declare.)

In his EEOC criticism, Collins additionally alleged that the corporate recurrently lied to Black workers in regards to the availability of retailer roles. He additionally claimed that Black workers who labored at different places had been informed that they might “be a greater match on the Hyde Park location.” Usually, Collins informed BoF, he wasn’t authorised so as to add further staffers on the time and he believes the intent was to drive these workers out of the corporate.

Code-Switching Required

Adetimisola “Timi” Ogundipe, who labored as a expertise supervisor at Lululemon from December 2021 to August 2022, informed BoF he believes he was terminated after submitting a racial discrimination declare with Lululemon’s HR division.

Ogundipe, who’s Black, mentioned he believes he was focused by managers for not “code-switching” — or adjusting his language, syntax and grammar to slot in with white colleagues when writing emails and different correspondence.

In June 2022, he was positioned on a “suggestions for enchancment” plan or FFI, which is Lululemon’s equal of a efficiency enchancment plan.

The plan, which was seen by BoF, said, amongst different points, that his communication lacked “readability, consistency, professionalism and timeliness.” The examples later supplied by the corporate to Ogundipe included emails to colleagues through which Ogundipe wrote “my unhealthy” and “Nah.” At one level he wrote “I didn’t even peep recreation,” referring to one thing he had not noticed. (The e-mail containing that phrase was despatched to a different Lululemon worker, who responded partly: “Ah okay received it … flip it again to all of us later,” they wrote.)

After receiving the advance plan, Ogundipe submitted a criticism with the individuals and tradition group, elevating considerations that he believed racial discrimination was at play. He was informed his criticism can be investigated by a “third-party investigator.” The investigation “didn’t substantiate” his discrimination claims, the corporate informed him at an in-person assembly six weeks later. The next week, Ogundipe was terminated.

In his termination letter, seen by BoF, Lululemon wrote to Ogundipe that his “perception that Lululemon has a discriminatory tradition,” and his potential to share these views with job candidates rendered him unable to advertise the corporate as “a optimistic place to work,” which is “important” to his position as a recruiter.

Conflicting Missions

IDEA was created to deal with the kind of obstacles encountered by Ogundipe and Collins.

“We have to change behaviours each inside our personal partitions and our collective,” McDonald, Lululemon’s CEO, wrote in a letter posted on the corporate’s web site asserting IDEA’s launch.

The IDEA division performs many of the duties outlined in Lululemon’s June 2020 pledge, together with sponsoring internships and awarding grants. The corporate credit IDEA with serving to to spice up minority illustration in its workforce (final yr, 41 p.c of workers had been racially various, up 3 p.c from 2021; about 27 p.c of administrators, outlined as assistant supervisor and above, fall on this class).

However, based on three former workers with direct information of how IDEA operates, the division additionally performed a job in investigating and responding to inner complaints of racism.

This goes towards extensively held greatest practices as a result of it has the potential to create conflicting motivations between supporting workers and defending the corporate, based on Amber Cabral, a DEI strategist. (Cabral hasn’t labored with Lululemon and spoke broadly about how DEI departments function.)

“DEI departments ought to by no means examine claims of racial discrimination,” she mentioned.

Lululemon’s protocol is for discrimination claims to be dealt with by worker relations, a separate division from IDEA, the corporate informed BoF.

“We now have impartial and goal processes that permit our workers to boost considerations confidentially, and we instantly examine allegations of discriminatory behaviour to take acceptable motion,” a Lululemon spokesman mentioned in an emailed assertion.

Nevertheless, at Lululemon, the pinnacle of worker relations and IDEA are one and the identical: Jones. This twin position was formalised in Might 2023, when she was named head of worker relations, coverage and compliance, based on Jones’s LinkedIn profile. However workers who labored in IDEA mentioned her division additionally had a hand in conducting office investigations previous to this yr.

Earlier than becoming a member of Lululemon, Jones spent a lot of her profession defending Abercrombie & Fitch and different giant corporations towards office discrimination fits, wage theft claims and different authorized actions.

As head of IDEA, she was usually dismissive of workers’ considerations or promised options that didn’t materialise, a number of present and former workers informed BoF.

In February 2023, Jones made her method to Hyde Park, the place the IDEA group held a Black Historical past Month panel for workers and some “invite-only” company who had been college students on the College of Chicago, Collins mentioned.

In the course of the panel, Armstrong, the shop’s operations lead, recounted the white consumers’ “off-brand” remark.

Armstrong mentioned that she later discovered throughout a month-to-month “check-in” name with an IDEA supervisor that Jones seen her recounting of the “off-brand” incident and different range challenges on the model as distasteful.

“[They] informed me it didn’t go over nicely with Stacia,” Armstrong mentioned. “It felt like, if I needed to maneuver up within the firm … that I’d in all probability be blocked or retaliated towards as a result of it was problematic that I’m stating the issues within the firm.”

It felt like, if I needed to maneuver up within the firm … that I’d in all probability be blocked or retaliated towards as a result of it was problematic that I’m stating the issues within the firm.

—  Konesha Armstrong, former Lululemon worker

Jones took a name with Collins two weeks previous to the shop’s closing the place he shared his personal frustrations.

“I informed her, I don’t really feel welcome on this firm as a Black straight male,” he mentioned. “And he or she simply mentioned, ‘That’s unlucky, I hope it will get higher.’”

On Aug. 10, Collins mentioned he was requested to signal a voluntary resignation kind by a individuals and tradition supervisor, who informed him that they had been involved with Jones. Collins informed BoF he seen the request as retaliation by the model in response to him expressing his discomfort.

The Flawed IDEA

Dotson joined Lululemon’s model advertising and marketing division as a advisor centered on “inclusive advertising and marketing” in October 2020, and was employed onto the IDEA group full time in April 2021.

A Black girl with an MBA from the College of Washington, Dotson mentioned she needed to work in a enterprise administration position, however she was inspired to view IDEA as a stepping stone in direction of her long-term profession targets and a method to assist different minority workers.

As a substitute, she mentioned the position made her intimately conscious of the “intensive obstacles” within the organisation which “maintain down individuals of color.”

In July 2022, Jones requested Dotson to accompany her to a retailer opening in Oakland, California. After they arrived, Dotson mentioned the explanation for the journey turned clear: Jones inspired Dotson to make use of the go to to “put Akilah in her place.”

“Akilah” was Akilah Cadet, an govt coach and variety advisor who had labored with Lululemon since 2019 as a DEI advisor and model ambassador.

A couple of weeks earlier than the Oakland occasion, Cadet was quoted in a BoF article in regards to the high turnover rate in senior DEI roles, saying that she had rejected an invite to interview with Lululemon in 2020 for the IDEA chief position ultimately awarded to Jones.

Lululemon “wasn’t prepared for a behaviour change,” she informed BoF.

She and the supervisor on the Oakland retailer had additionally questioned sure design components on the location, together with a mural they believed was “racially insensitive.” The mural included a number of summary photos, together with one which confirmed a lighter-coloured (orange) human-like determine leaping over a darker (purple) human-like determine.

Shortly earlier than the go to, Cadet posted to Instagram that Lululemon was utilizing her as a “token.” Within the submit, Cadet mentioned “voices” like hers had been being “silenced” by the model and that the shop “doesn’t mirror the range, tradition or neighborhood of Oakland.”

On the retailer, Cadet voiced her considerations on to the IDEA group. Dotson intervened and informed Cadet she was being “self-righteous.” The model terminated Cadet’s model ambassador contract that night.

After that assembly, Dotson’s suspicions that she had been “tokenised” turned heightened. She mentioned felt IDEA leaders had been utilizing her id as a Black girl to close down discuss that the model was being discriminatory.

It was a query Dotson requested Jones immediately when the 2 had been alone that day: “Did you carry me to Oakland as a result of I’m Black? Am I being tokenised?” To which Jones replied “Sure,” based on Dotson.

Lululemon declined BoF’s request to make Jones accessible for an interview. Jones didn’t reply to separate requests for remark.

Dotson left the journey uneasy however mentioned it was solely the start of her challenges with the corporate. In February 2023, throughout Black Historical past Month, she was placed on a efficiency enchancment plan, which hinged on accusations she was “unprofessional” and “non-collaborative.”

Later that month, the model unveiled a Black Historical past Month marketing campaign on Instagram, dubbed Take Area, prominently that includes Dotson, with the caption: “Once we resist the strain to shrink, we affirm ourselves and empower others.”

Dotson was let go in April.

In its assertion to BoF, Lululemon mentioned it “has made appreciable progress since launching IDEA, and we’re pleased with the targets now we have achieved, which embrace sustaining a steady two-way dialogue with our individuals … We stay steadfast in our focus to attain our IDEA commitments and are assured within the management of the IDEA group.”

What Went Flawed

DEI departments can not flip round deeply entrenched biases inside an organization on their very own. They want the buy-in of the CEO and all main stakeholders, together with the board of administrators, to be able to achieve success, specialists say.

Unsuccessful DEI departments have a number of issues in frequent: they’re under-resourced, they usually aren’t given a lot authority to create change.

IDEA fell into one other frequent lure, the place company DEI departments, and their management, function an extension of the present guard, reasonably than unconflicted champions for underrepresented teams.

“It’s actually necessary for a DEI chief… to advocate for folk,” mentioned Cabral. “There’s received to be a willingness to name issues out once they’re not proper… Typically what the corporate needs is for this particular person to be a bit of bit extra of a guard canine to verify [the company] is protected.”

A number of former workers, together with two who labored within the IDEA division, informed BoF that they had been sceptical of Jones’ capacity to drive the deep organisational change that the IDEA division promised.

On the coronary heart of the scepticism was Jones’ work historical past: Earlier than assuming the chief range and inclusion officer submit at Abercrombie & Fitch in 2016, she had spent about 15 years defending the retailer towards worker claims, showing on circumstances as exterior counsel way back to 2002, after which as an in-house legal professional beginning in 2008.

Abercrombie & Fitch has its personal troubled previous with range and inclusion. The 2022 Netflix documentary, White Scorching: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch, chronicled how the model “thrived on exclusion” within the Nineties and early 2000s, and the way it agreed to settle a category motion lawsuit for racial discrimination in 2004.

It’s not unusual for range departments to incorporate or be helmed by executives with employment regulation expertise, Cabral mentioned. Firms that take this method may hope that somebody with authorized expertise will assist them establish and distinguish between authorized and moral points that crop up amongst their workforce after which advise on the most effective plan of action, she mentioned.

A problem which will usually come up, nonetheless, is {that a} range chief with a authorized background might default to viewing most points by way of a authorized lens — focusing predominantly on mitigating authorized danger reasonably than fostering inclusion and fairness, Cabral mentioned.

“DEI leaders want to have the ability to recognise that simply because one thing shouldn’t be unlawful, that doesn’t imply it’s equitable,” she mentioned. “That issues as a result of, in the event you’re in a DEI division, fairness is on the centre.”

DEI leaders want to have the ability to recognise that simply because one thing shouldn’t be unlawful, that doesn’t imply it’s equitable

—  Amber Cabral, DEI strategist.

In the meantime, the chance in having DEI sit inside HR — as Lululemon’s IDEA division is designed — is that it may be troublesome to tell apart between who needs to be dealing with what, Cabral mentioned. When a range chief like Jones experiences to the pinnacle of that division reasonably than a CEO, there’s a big danger that range is omitted of the corporate’s “grand technique,” which is generally designed by members of the C-Suite — not the HR division, Cabral mentioned.

In Chicago, the web impact of misguided DEI initiatives was an exodus of Black workers from the corporate. When it closed, the Hyde Park retailer had 16 workers; 13 took severance packages. Two of the three remaining workers have filed EEOC complaints for racial discrimination. (A number of former retailer workers informed BoF they took the severance as a result of they had been disillusioned by their experiences working with the corporate.)

“This firm began out being prejudiced, they mainly mentioned ‘we solely need tall, blonde, white girls and it’s a must to be a measurement six,’” mentioned Armstrong, the previous Hyde Park retailer operations supervisor. “Quite a lot of the issues that they’ve in place and even the language that they use nonetheless help the muse of what this firm is.”

Editor’s Notice: Many of the present and former Lululemon workers who spoke to BoF requested to stay nameless for concern of retaliation and resulting from arbitration agreements, which all company workers mentioned they signed as a situation of their employment. An worker who indicators an arbitration clause agrees to not sue their employer and to settle any disagreements, together with allegations of racial discrimination, privately.