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Lululemon Axes Product Chief After See-Through Pant Recall

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

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Someone's head was inevitably going to roll after Lululemon's see-though pant scandal last month, and it looks like the company has found their fall guy: chief product officer Sheree Waterson will depart on April 15 after nearly five years with the firm, WWD reports, even though it sounds like technically she was doing her job.

Lululemon admits that the fabric in their signature Luon pants passed testing standards, but says that a combination of factors led to the sheerness. Here's a quote from their official statement: "While the fabric involved may have met testing standards, it was on the low end of Lululemon's tolerance scale, and we have found that our testing protocols were incomplete for some of the variables in fabric characteristics. When combined with subtle style changes in pattern, the resulting end product had an unacceptable level of sheerness."

Though there is some debate about whether the recall and Lululemon's strong customer-service response was actually good or bad for business, the company has said that they expect the mistake to cost them up to $67 million in lost sales.

On a lighter note, WWD informs us that before Waterson took the Lululemon gig, she was president of Speedo North America. Everyone imagine a sheer Speedo scandal for a minute, and then go have a great day.