VANCOUVER - Lululemon Athletica Inc. says new independent tests conducted as recently as Wednesday night confirm the content of the VitaSea product line to be "consistent with the garment care and content labels."
The yoga wear retailer said in a statement late Thursday that tests done in Hong Kong overnight confirm the seaweed content in the fabric of some of its clothing, as well as testing done in June.
Lululemon said the testing was done by Switzerland-based SGS Group which tests the company's clothes each season.
"Recent tests on the VitaSea fabrics were performed in June 2007 in the SGS Laboratory in Hong Kong as well as confirmatory retesting conducted last night in the SGS Hong Kong lab. Findings from SGS confirmed that the fabric contains the lyocell fibres consistent with the care and content labels on the product,'' the company stated.
A report published in the New York Times Wednesday saying the seaweed product claims made by Lululemon might not be true sent the company's stock on a volatile ride, and drove the shares down Thursday by almost five per cent to $40.80 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The newspaper said it commissioned a laboratory test of a Lululemon shirt made of VitaSea, which is advertised as a fabric made partly of seaweed.
The company claims that the seaweed "releases marine amino acids, minerals and vitamins into the skin upon contact with moisture."
However, the Times said a laboratory test started by the newspaper and a review of a test by another lab "both came to the same conclusion: there was no significant difference in mineral levels between the VitaSea fabric and cotton T-shirts.''
The company's shares have traded between $26.40 and $58.77 on the Toronto Stock Exchange since going public in late July.
