Lululemon Athletica revealed Monday that it expects earnings to drop this quarter due to a dud batch of its popular yoga pants made with its proprietary luon fabric, which its store managers indicated were being returned by customers who found them too sheer for wearing. “Some of our bottoms were made with a batch of black luon that doesn’t meet our standards so we’ve pulled them from our floors and our website.” 

After being downgraded by Credit Suisse and others after the news, an earnings call today meant to detail the company's fourth quarter and full year 2012 results along with 2013 developments such as a move into golf and tennis apparel was instead taken up with answering analysts' questions about how it was handling the crisis—and offering more (ahem) transparency about the situation than has been offered to customers.Continue reading...

Is this a sign of things to come for Canada's retail darling? Lululemon, the Vancouver-based lifestyle brand and highly successful global retailer, over the weekend pulled its Luon black yoga pants from store shelves after discovering the sheer material was just too sheer, a result, some say, of poor quality control on the company's part. On Monday, the retailer announced it would be pulling various—but unnamed—styles of its popular (and pricey) yoga pants, explaining, “Some of our bottoms were made with a batch of black luon that doesn’t meet our standards so we’ve pulled them from our floors and our website.”

“At lululemon, our most important relationship is with our communities and our guests. We recently learned some information about some product that arrived in our stores and we wanted you to know right away,” according to the retailer's blog post. “We are working with our supplier to replace this fabric and other manufacturers to replenish the affected core items as fast as we can. What that means is there will be a shortage of these styles in our stores and online until our new stock arrives. We are also in conversation with our manufacturing partner to understand what happened during the period this fabric was made.”

The brand said it will offer refunds or exchanges to customers who bought the affected item in March, either online or in stores. Lululemon—which was just named Canada's top retail brand by Interbrand's 2013 Best Retail Brands report—is known for turning around products on short order. "Our guest knows that there's a limited supply, and it creates these fanatical shoppers," CEO Christine Day, a former Starbucks executive, told the Wall Street Journal. But the reported pants issue isn't a calculated sales strategy to boost demand and drive sales.Continue reading...

With a pink elevator, hot tub and spa, pink granite countertops and only three walls, Malibu's most famous resident is finally putting her house on the market. That's right: for a cool $25 million, Barbie's Malibu Dreamhouse in the 90265 zipcode can be yours.

It's being "sold" via a listing on Trulia—"The only house in Malibu with a truly unobstructed view of the ocean (after all, it only has three walls)—and a celebrity real estate agent in Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles" cast member Josh Altman. It's all part of an effort by the iconic toy company to highlight the doll's revamped image and new playset, set to be released for the 2013 holiday shopping season.Continue reading...

Google made tech news headlines with the recent introduction of three new products, two of which round out its new Nexus product line, a brand that puts Google squarely in the hardware business — and in Apple's crosshairs.

The slick, sleek website for Nexus seems to have that cool, clean sophistication we've come to know and love from Apple. All three of the products found there rival Apple products: the Galaxy Nexus phone, which is co-branded Google and Samsung (iPhone), Nexus 7 tablet (iPad), and the Nexus Q streaming media player (watch out, Apple TV).

But the buzz around Nexus Q has reached beyond technology alone. It has raised an intriguing issue that could be seen as either a deeper competitive strategy that pits "Made in USA" against "Made in China", or perhaps, nothing more than an expedient product solution.Continue reading...

As New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg responded to criticism of his proposed ban on sugary drinks bigger than 16 ounces with statements of support, the inevitable animated version from Apple Daily's NMA.tv was released today. Hear more, in Bloomberg's own words, at this week's AllThingsD D10 conference.Continue reading...

Burberry has shown off its ability to use digital technology to spread its brand name around in the past by hosting live 3-D streams of Burberry fashion shoes, allowing in-store customers to shop from tablets, and creating animated GIFs of how different collections look.

But the iconic British trench coat maker has outdone itself with the grand opening of the brand’s largest store in the Asia Pacific. For its latest opening, this week in Taipei, the brand's digital maestros made it (virtually) rain for the launch of Burberry World Live.Continue reading...

Some people have suggested that Linsanity is pretty much over as the New York Knicks haven’t won (surprise!) every single game that Jeremy Lin has started as point guard, and have actually lost a few with him taking charge.

But anybody who says that obviously hasn’t been hanging out in Taiwan recently. Focus Taiwan reports that the 23-year-old Harvard grad’s influence is extremely strong there. A local magazine there released poll results Friday that show Lin’s continuing influence.Continue reading...

Taiwan, remember that place? Wildly significant both economically and politically through the last half of the 20th century, the island nation that maybe kind of isn't a nation at all has been feeling a pinch in significance as the People's Republic next door continues to grow in importance.

So while recent reports about Taiwan's economic future vary (manufacturing drops and global talent flees but investment pours in), the island's tourism bureau is taking measures to sell interest in the destination via a new tourism campaign, "My Beautiful Island."

It was only a few months ago that Taiwan launched a new tourism campaign with the tagline, "Taiwan: The Heart of Asia." Now, its new tourism campaign insists, it's "Time for Taiwan."Continue reading...