--- title: "Yoga Teachers Furious Over Lululemon’s Use of Environment-Destroying Factories" description: "The lululemon yoga company manufactures much of its expensive workout wear in coal-powered factories — and its stans are super ticked off about it. " date: "2022-09-18" modified: "2022-09-18" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/lululemon-coal-plants-yoga-teachers" categories: - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate" - "climate change" - "coal energy" - "emissions" - "lululemon" - "the digest" - "yoga" --- # Yoga Teachers Furious Over Lululemon’s Use of Environment-Destroying Factories ![The lululemon yoga company manufactures much of its expensive workout wear in coal-powered factories — and its stans are super ticked off about it. ]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Coal-lulemon The Lululemon yoga company manufactures much of its expensive workout wear in coal-powered factories — and its stans are royally irked about it. In an [open letter]() to lululemon chairman Glenn Murphy, nearly 1,700 yoga teachers and students are urging the high-end athleisure company to "practice what you preach" by committing to phase out the use of coal plants and use renewable resources only by the year 2030. Though the company claims its goods are "designed by yogis" and offers up an aesthetic of mindfulness and global community, the open letter posted on a grassroots activism website notes that "almost half of the energy powering Lululemon factories comes from burning coal," and moreover that those factories are particularly harmful to the people in the Asian countries where the facilities are located. "Lululemon’s reliance on coal as a source of energy is extremely harmful to people and the environment," the letter reads, "particularly in countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, where its products are made." ## Team Canada Although the yoga company that serves as Olympic Team Canada's official clothing supplier [committed earlier this year to reducing its emissions](), the letter alleges that its emission rate has actually increased as the company goes after "rapid growth." "In order for the company to meet the Paris agreement targets," the letter adds, "Lululemon has to take immediate action to phase out coal and other fossil fuels from its supply chain." Lululemon has not yet issued a response to the call for renewable energy or allegations about its increased emissions since the open letter was issued, and Futurism has reached out to the company for comment. ## Patagonia, Please While it's not at all unusual for corporations to use coal-powered factories abroad to make their goods, some forward-thinking companies have begun to walk the walk. Compared to Patagonia, which made headlines this week because its onetime-billionaire CEO quite literally [gave away the company]() in his own efforts to fight climate change, Lululemon's arguable hypocrisy seems especially potent. There's no telling if this kind of consumer campaign will work on the high-end yoga clothier, but at very least it's worth a shot. **READ MORE:** [Practice what you preach: Open letter to lululemon]() \[Stand.earth\] **And now for some good climate news:** *[Companies Are Turning Coal Plants Into Solar Farms]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()