A Texas woman said she tried to buy a Lululemon jacket, only to have an employee take it out of her hands and disappear into the back of the store. After waiting about 20 minutes, she said the worker returned with a stained jacket instead.
Keke Jones (@keketherealmsjones), who accused the store of racial profiling, directly addressed the company in a video.
“ Lululemon, if y’all don’t want us in there, just put a sign on the door, [and] tell the truth. Because I shouldn’t be having to spend this much money to be racially profiled,” Jones said.
Jones’ experience buying a Lululemon jacket
Jones said she visited a Lululemon store, believed to be inside Memorial City Mall in Houston, to purchase a jacket. She was speaking with store associates when a different employee took the jacket out of her hands.
According to Jones, the employee said the item did not have a tag and ran to the back of the store. Another associate apologized for his actions, but Jones said she waited roughly 20 minutes. When the employee returned, she immediately noticed he was not holding the jacket she originally selected.
Instead, Jones said he offered her a different jacket with a visible stain and claimed it came from the back. When she pointed out the difference, the employee told her he wanted her to exchange the jacket she chose for the stained one.
Eventually, the employee went back again, taking the stained jacket and returning with what Jones believed was her original selection. She then noticed the jacket appeared to have had a tag on it the entire time.
“ Y’all, I have never been racial profiled in my life. The [male employee’s] name was Chase. It was horrible. The lady was like, she was, she was apologizing. From how I was just treated. She was apologizing,” Jones said.
What may have led up to the incident
Toward the end of her video, Jones said she was not dressed to shop at Lululemon that day. While she stressed that appearance should not justify her treatment, she said she felt something was off from the moment she entered the store.
Jones said she believed the employee named “Chase” watched her while she shopped. While she noticed it early on, she said the situation escalated when he attempted to swap her jacket for a stained one.
The experience left her feeling uncomfortable, especially given Lululemon’s high prices and the amount she was prepared to spend.
Lululemon’s history of racial profiling allegations
Lululemon has faced repeated criticism and calls for boycotts over past racial profiling allegations. In 2024, a woman in New York said an employee accused her of shoplifting after she purchased about $600 worth of merchandise. She claimed the employee contacted police, who later confronted her.
Company founder Chip Wilson has also drawn backlash in the past after controversial remarks about the brand’s diversity efforts, calling some models “sickly” and “uninspirational,” comments that many noted were directed at people of color.
More recently, a woman accused Lululemon employees of racial profiling after they refused to allow her to return an item purchased in Louisiana at a New York store. She said staff referred to the store as “the person you got it from,” which some viewed as implying theft.
Was the incident racial profiling?
Some viewers questioned whether Jones’ experience amounted to racial profiling, suggesting the situation could have happened to any customer.
“When did the racial part happen? Sounds like he took the jacket thinking it had no tag to go grab one that did,” one commenter wrote.
Others echoed that view, saying, “As a previous manager for lululemon, we have to create new tags for products missing one. It really is like a 10 [minute] process. Friend it ain’t always what it seems.”
Jones later told her followers she was reconsidering the purchase.
“Y’all , really got me thinking. I should take it back. I just never been in a situation like that before so I really didn’t know how to handle it,” she said.
Other commenters supported Jones, arguing the incident reflected how Lululemon treats people of color differently than white customers. Some went as far as calling her attempt to shop there “the definition of insanity,” given the company’s ongoing reputation for similar controversies.
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