Sports clothing brand Lululemon’s black yoga pants recall seems to have hurt the brand in the US, while potentially benefitting its rival Piperlime. The yoga pants were recalled after it emerged they became see-through when stretched.
Lululemon’s consumer perception was already trending down before the March 18th recall, having declined from 18 to 5 from the beginning of the year through March 10th. One week later, when the recall was announced, Lululemon's consumer sentiment slid into negative territory, while Piperlime achieved some of its best perception scores so far this year.
Lululemon and Piperlime were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”
For for first 10 weeks or so of 2013, while Lululemon’s score dropped 13 points from January 1st to March 10th, rival Piperlime experienced a similar movement in Buzz, dropping from a 10 to 1 over the same period. However, Piperlime rebounded and passed Lululemon on March 12th with a 6 score versus Lululemon’s 4.
On March 18th, the day of the recall, Lululemon’s Buzz score had inched down to 3. By March 31st Lululemon's score was at -23 while Piperlime's was at +5.
Buzz: Lululemon, Piperlime
