Over the past few months, Lululemon has been under fire for shunning plus-size shoppers. Not only has one former employee stepped up confirming that discouraging "larger" women shoppers was the store's key strategy, but their stretchy pant leader, founder Chip Wilson, has implied that the reason some pants become sheer is because the plus-size consumer is ruining the fabric.
This ludicrous statement struck a chord with many shoppers, both those who were diehard Lululemon enthusiasts and those who had never step foot into the positive-quote-plastered athletic store. Tony Posnanski was the latter.
Posnaski, a health and fitness blogger for The Anti Jared, has lost 221 pounds over the course of five years. Being a fit, 198-pound male, Posnaski took Chip Wilson's statement as a challenge, convincing himself that he could comfortably wear a pair of women's yoga pants.
"I wear men’s medium shirts and pants. I lost over 200 pounds. Heck, I ran ten miles today. I could fit into a pair of those pants no problem," he blogged.
Posnaski decided to visit Target first to size himself. He was shocked that even though he was a medium in men's, he couldn't even get one of his legs into a size 12 women's yoga pant, confirming that he was, in fact, the size of a "plus-size" woman. Perturbed by this, Posnaski decided to visit a "plus-size" store to really find out what size he was in women's clothing.
"Size 20," said a sales associate at Avenue, a plus-size fashion retailer. This, of course, enraged Posnaski. "TWENTY!!! I got mad and told her she was crazy. There is no way in the world that I was a size twenty! I wore all medium clothes. I ran ten miles and I lost over 200 pounds."
On the way back to his car, Posnaski says he realized how unfair women's sizes are to men's sizes, how a double standard exists, and how wrong Chip Wilson was about his pants.
"I have not ripped or gone through a pair of pants in years," blogged Posnaski. So, the fact that "plus size" women are stretching out the fabric on Wilson's sacred yoga pants doesn't mean that they're too large for it, it just means that something is inherently wrong with the Lululemon brand, as well as the entire fashion industry's obvious prejudice against the average-sized woman.
If you, too, feel like sending Tony Posnaski an e-high five for all that he has done and proven, you can visit his site here.
Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
