Lululemon cuts 100 staff as pressure mounts on the brand

• Lululemon is laying off 100 part-time employees at its customer service center.
• The company told Business Insider that layoffs are part of "strategic efforts" to strengthen the business.
• The company has seen sales slide in its core North American market in recent months.

Lululemon has laid off 100 part-time employees in its customer service department in an effort to "strengthen" the business.

The layoffs have affected staff in North America working at the company's contact center.

A Lululemon company spokesperson said: "Over the past several months and as part of our ongoing strategic efforts to strengthen our business, we have been assessing ways to optimize and better support this experience for our guests and employees in North America.

"After careful consideration, we have made the decision to transition our North America GEC to a full-time employee staffing model. As a result, approximately 100 part-time positions in our GEC have been impacted," they said.

The company has come under pressure in recent months. Its sales in the Americas have slid, and analysts say the brand has veered from its yoga roots and become more generic. Its stock price has sunk 53% in the past year.

It previously cut around 150 corporate staff last summer.

Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon, has also become increasingly vocal in his criticism of the athleisure company.

At the end of last year, he launched a proxy battle to change the leadership of Lululemon's board.

Wilson weighed in again last week, when the brand briefly halted online sales of its "Get Low" leggings after customers complained they were see-through. Wilson described this as a "total operational failure," and the fault of the company's board.

Lululemon's current CEO, Calvin McDonald, will step down at the end of this month. His permanent replacement has yet to be announced.

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