



Lululemon made the wrong kind of headlines four years ago when its co-founder and then CEO blamed “some women’s bodies” for a flaw in its yoga pants. Despite much hyped changes in the company since then (including that executive’s departure), one woman’s recent experience in a Lululemon store shows that it could still have room for improvement.

“You only have one size 12 in everything,” blogger Adrian Wood wrote on Facebook after her visit to a store in Miami, Fla. “One, it has usually vamoosed by the time I make the trek to the big city. Two, can’t you have more than just one size 12? Three, why nothing above a size 12? Modern day shaming for folks that may be a touch rounder than your employees.”

Wood, a mother of four who writes the blog Tales of an Educated Debutante from her home in eastern North Carolina, was on a family vacation when she decided to see if the brand was right for her.

“I’m always thinking if I get the right exercise clothes, maybe I’ll be inspired to exercise,” Wood tells Yahoo Style. “Somehow in my brain, I’m like, ‘Maybe if I had stuff that looks like it went together, I would be more motivated to do something.’ [When you buy workout clothes at] T.J. Maxx, you’re always looking a little hodgepodge.”

Wood wondered why a company would limit itself to small sizes when the average American woman is a size 16 or 18. A recent study found that many plus-size women resort to buying their athletic gear in the men’s department.

“I could be thinner, but I think I look pretty good,” Wood tells Yahoo. “It was like, after 12 you’re just not allowed to come in here?”

In 2013, on the heels of Lululemon’s infamous see-through-pants controversy, insiders revealed that stores purposely kept their larger sizes understocked and often hidden in the back. The Canadian company has since replaced Chip Wilson, the aforementioned co-founder and CEO (he of the “some women’s bodies” fame), and placed a new emphasis on offering men’s clothing. Larger sizes, however, are still not part of its market. The largest size available on its website is size 14.

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“There are more of us than there are of you,” Wood wrote. “You know, women who have had a few kids, eaten one too many bologna sandwiches and feel a slight push to exercise again.”

While some shoppers have become gradually accustomed to the fact that athletic clothing is higher-priced, more fashion-forward, and more delicate than the sweatpants of yore, Wood’s post is a refreshing reality check.

“You’ve clearly bought into the philosophy, if we charge more, they’ll want it more,” she wrote. She balked at the laundering instructions a saleswoman gave her, as well as the offer to hem a shirt she liked. “I have pants from two years ago that have scotch tape keeping them ‘hemmed.’ The offer of sewing made me think what in the Hell am I doing in here?”

That’s not to say Wood wasn’t willing to spend on the right outfits. She said she walked out of the store with $400 worth of merchandise. Although much of that she bought because the fit salesman in a yoga outfit was making her self-conscious.

She also has high praise for the store’s selection of postworkout clothing. “That’s a whole new niche business,” she said. “It’s great stuff. I put on my pajamas after I’ve worked out. I did buy a shirt from that section. It needs hems.”

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