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...

Denny's has partnered with the upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for a Hobbit-themed line of menu items. Insert your "second breakfast" joke of choice here.

The partnership has been the source of some jokes. But Denny's has approached the tie-in with some unique, even brave strategies. One of which could easily have blown up in its face.Continue reading...

Through the seven kazillion James Bond books and movies, the guy has tipped back a few boatloads of alcohol. It’s a small wonder he can find the dexterity to operate his tear gas cartridge disguised as talcum powder or dodge the dagger shoes worn by SPECTRE agents. Along the way, he’s been labeled a vodka martini man – "shaken, not stirred," of course — even though Champagne is the most frequent tipple he’s served.

In the soon-to-be-released Skyfall, though, Bond will reach for a Heineken since the Dutch brewer has forked over a reported $45 million to have its brand incorporated in the film. The product placement announcement earlier this year got a few fans' knickers in a twist, including one who played 007 in days gone by.Continue reading...

If music indeeds soothes the savage beast, the folks over at Ultimate Fighting Championship missed that Shakespearean memo. The organization has turned to the world of pop music to try and stoke more fire-breathing fans and tap into the crossover audience of house music-crazed youths. As USA Today points out, UFC already dominates the world of mixed-martial arts, but, just as its stars do, UFC would love to crush anything it has in its path and expand its fan base exponentially. 

Once they become fans, there are plenty of DVDs, books, collectibles, and clothing to suck cash from their wallets, but how does something like UFC maximize its exposure to fans who may not be aware of its subtly and grace? Music, it turns out, is the channel UFC has turned to with the help of Canadian house-music DJ, performer, and producer Joel Zimmerman, who performs as Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse") sporting a giant mouse-head mask.

Thanks to a partnership with UFC, Deadmau5’s video for his new single, “Professional Griefers,” features the musician controlling a robot that takes part in an MMA battle against a robot controlled by My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way.Continue reading...

It's been a month (since July 10th, to be exact) when a social youthquake tremor rumbled under the tweets and Facebook posts of the olds when Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters social network opened its doors to the public.

A raucous riot of visual updates from Gaga's legions of fans — with shades of Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr and Facebook thrown in for good measure — the highly anticipated site defines the next iteration of fan-based social networking. Two weeks after launch, on July 25th, the site passed a quarter of a million users.

Powered by the Backplane, it was engineered by Gaga’s manager, Troy Carter, who's also a cofounder of Backplane. “The goal of Little Monsters and Backplane is to unite people around affinities, interests and movements,” said Matt Michelsen, co-founder and CEO. And to keep out all those aforementioned old-timers cluttering up Facebook and Twitter and ruining the party for fishnetizens who worship at the altar of Gaga and nonconformity.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola's Diet Coke sugar-free soft drink launched in the U.S. 30 years ago — on Aug. 9th, 1982, to be exact.

As Coca-Cola's Diet Coke brand page notes, "Within two years, Diet Coke had become the top diet soft drink in the world, a position the brand maintains today. Known as Coca-Cola light in some countries, it's now the No. 3 soft drink in the world" — following Pepsi at #2, and Coke at #1.

The brand celebrated by hosting 30-second parties for a few of its "biggest fans" who sent birthday wishes using the Twitter hashtag #DietCokeBday — check out a few of their reactions below — while The Guardian took a look this week at the beverage's "enduring appeal."Continue reading...

Dust off those blue suede shoes and get ready to join Elvis Week 2012, the annual celebration at Graceland in Memphis commemorates Elvis Presley's life and career and the anniversary of his death on August 16, 1977, at age 42.

It’s a testament to the enduring power of the King of Rock and Roll, and a best use of technological evolution that future generations can engage with the legacy of Elvis Aaron Presley, considered one of the most important icons of 20th century pop culture.

Elvis Week 2012, running August 10-18, embraces all things digital and social with an official Elvis Week app for both iPhone and Android, featuring a customizable event schedule, complete list of Elvis Week guests, a map of the Graceland grounds and Memphis area, a news feed with video recaps, Memphis area weather conditions and a virtual candle for the annual Candlelight Vigil on August 15.Continue reading...