Texas probes Lululemon over alleged PFAS in activewear marketing

Texas has put Lululemon’s clean, post-yoga polish under a microscope. On Monday, April 13, 2026, Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into whether the brand’s activewear contains PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, and whether its safety messaging goes further than the clothes themselves can support.

The state’s Civil Investigative Demand to Lululemon USA Inc. is not just a splashy press shot. It requires the company to turn over materials tied to testing protocols, its Restricted Substances List and supply-chain practices, all of which will be judged against the promises embedded in Lululemon’s wellness-heavy branding. Paxton said customers who buy into that image would not expect PFAS to be part of the equation. He also pointed to concerns that some synthetic materials may be linked to endocrine disruption, infertility, cancer and other health risks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says PFAS are associated with harmful health effects in humans and animals.

That is why this story hits harder than a routine regulatory dust-up. PFAS are prized in performancewear because they help fabrics repel water, stains and oil, which is exactly the sort of invisible engineering that can sit inside a sleek tank or featherweight shell while the brand talks about movement, recovery and wellbeing. If a label is selling a sweat-friendly, technically polished lifestyle, shoppers will assume the chemistry underneath matches the marketing. Texas is testing that assumption.

Lululemon pushed back, saying it does not use PFAS in its products and phased them out in fiscal 2023. The company said the chemicals had only been used in durable water-repellent products, a small slice of its assortment, and that its products meet or exceed global regulatory, safety and quality standards. It also said it was cooperating with the inquiry by providing requested documentation.

The timing is ugly for Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lululemon Athletica Inc. Its shares were trading at $163.59 on April 13, down nearly 22% for 2026, and the brand had already absorbed the embarrassment of pulling its “Get Low” workout collection from its website after user complaints before later resuming sales. That is the real pressure point here: Texas is not only probing one brand’s chemical claims, it is asking how much trust activewear can borrow from words like safe, sustainable and wellness before the industry has to prove what those words actually mean.