The name is hard to pronounce for a reason. According to The Huffington Post, former CEO of the company, Chip Wilson absolutely loved the idea that the three l’s in the name formed syllables that were incredibly hard for the Japanese to pronounce. Wilson publicly stated that he adores making fun of Japanese culture. If that’s not bad enough, in 2005, Wilson took his business overseas, using child labor in China to produce the garments for his stores. Current CEO, Christine Day is a former Starbucks executive excited to branch the company out overseas. Lululemon has also made news for their controversial reusable shopping bags, two shoppers discovered subliminal messages underneath the feel good quotes depicted on the bags. To top it all off, there was a brutal stabbing in one of Lululemon’s stores recently.

Lululemon is a company that has found a niche by seeking buyers who are upper class yogis. The so-called “ethical” brand has over 100 stores in the country. Of course the company has some critics. According to the New York Times, editor and writer, Elaine Lipson, from Boulder, Colorado has been practicing yoga since 1993 and she is not happy.

The Lululemon brand is friggin’ expensive. Yoga is free to practice. This is Lipson’s main complaint. Lululemon has taken the idea of yoga and turned it into something that people associate with class and lots of money. Uptown urban chic yoginis are everywhere these days thanks to Lululemon forming a niche market. Majority of its devoted customers don’t even practice yoga. They instead favor wearing the sexy, form fitting, yoga pants to go shopping, for example. There’s a name for these types of people (those that wear yoga pants and do not practice yoga, instead choosing to wear that brand strictly for the label), we call them posers.

Hmm, former CEO likes to poke fun at the Japanese and outsource to sweat shops that promote child labor. The current CEO previously worked for another large corporation that does not promote fair trade practices either.

So what’s a distressed yogi to do? There’s a simple answer. Turn your attention to a yoga apparel company that actually cares about fair trade and women and children’s rights in the workplace. One such company: The Bali Yoga Shop.