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Team Canada sponsor Lululemon exposed for fossil fuel pollution at the Paris Olympics 

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Paris, Tuesday 30 July 2024 

During the first two days of the Olympic Games, a guerrilla marketing campaign took over Paris to encourage sportswear brand and Team Canada sponsor Lululemon to address its climate impacts.

Over the weekend, billboards towed by bicycles visited several key Olympics venues and Lululemon stores, displaying the message: ‘Lululemon, go for gold on climate’. Olympics spectators also received flyers with the message: ‘Lululemon is dressing athletes with fossil fuels this summer’, directing them to a petition asking Lululemon’s sustainability committee to set targets and invest in solutions towards the goal of 100% renewable energy by 2030. Overall, the action intended to explain that athletes can’t truly win if the production of sportswear harms people and the planet, and to urge Lululemon to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy in its supply chain. 

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This action follows a passionate op-ed by Canadian Olympic athlete Margo Malowney, and a joint letter from British, Czech, Australian and Canadian Olympians to Lululemon’s CEO Calvin McDonald. In response, McDonald wrote to the athletes: “In addition to dressing athletes more sustainably, we are committed to addressing the serious impacts of climate change…We recognize that most of our climate impact comes from emissions in our broader supply chain, so we also look forward to providing some insight into the work we have underway.” 

Meanwhile, Canadian environmental campaigners Stand.earth have been demonstrating in front of the brand’s Vancouver flagship store and Team Canada’s Toronto headquarters alongside Oxfam and Remake. Lululemon is also currently under investigation from Canadian authorities for accusations of greenwashing, while also experiencing a class action lawsuit in Florida and a legal complaint in France.

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“Our research shows that Lululemon’s textile supply chain is plagued by harmful pollution which impacts local communities across South and Southeast Asia. So Lululemon is sports-washing by boosting its reputation with high-profile athletes, while selling Team Canada products made almost entirely from oil-based fabrics in factories burning coal and other fossil fuels. Together with high-profile Olympians, civil society organizations and thousands of conscious consumers, we call on Lululemon to invest in clean, renewable energy in its supply chain.” says Ruth MacGilp, Fashion Campaign manager at Action Speaks Louder.

Since 2022, Action Speaks Louder has been campaigning to push Lululemon to become a climate leader amongst the fashion and sportswear industry. While some positive progress has been made towards recognition of the role of ramping up renewable energy to reduce the most significant portion of lululemon’s scope 3 emissions, our demand for a public, time-bound, measurable commitment to renewable energy in the supply chain, backed up by a significant financial commitment for suppliers to invest in decarbonisation, is yet to be made. 


Notes to the editor

Additional images can be downloaded here.

Action Speaks Louder is a not-for-profit organization galvanizing people around the world to hold major corporations to account for their climate promises. We pressure large, consumer-facing, brand-sensitive corporations to live up to their climate commitments as part of the movement to transform the global energy landscape – dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting renewable energy procurement, whilst creating the political space for governments to increase ambition in the process.

For any further questions please contact ruth@speakslouder.org +44 07730037721

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