Lululemon puts loyalty over profits, orders recall

Lululemon Athletica, the Vancouver-based retailer of trendy workout gear, admits the recent recall of its black Luon pants will put the pinch on earnings this year, but says keeping customer loyalty is paramount.

“Delivering the top quality our guests expect is a critical factor in our differentiation in the market place,” CEO Christine Day said in delivering an upbeat fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday that slightly exceeded expectations but produced a conference call dominated by questions from analysts over the recall.

The company, which operates 211 stores in North America and Australia, said earlier this week it was pulling some of its stretchy black pants from shelves because of manufacturing problems that made them too sheer.

Source: The Canadian Press