NEW YORK聽鈥 Lululemon is suing Costco, alleging that the discount wholesaler is selling of its $128 pants and other pricey athleisure clothing.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, Lululemon said Costco has 鈥渦nlawfully traded鈥 on the athleisure brand鈥檚 鈥渞eputation, goodwill and sweat equity by selling unauthorized and unlicensed apparel employing knockoff, infringing versions鈥 of its products.
Specifically, the Vancouver-based athletic apparel maker says Costco鈥檚 private-label line Kirkland is selling similar pants, hoodies and jackets at a fraction of the price. The company accuses Costco of leading customers into believing that the Kirkland-branded 鈥渄upes are in fact manufactured by the authentic supplier of the 鈥榦riginal鈥 products.鈥
A Lululemon store displaying pants.
In the lawsuit filed in California, Lululemon shows the alleged design similarities of its products with Costco鈥檚, as well as the price differences. One example in the lawsuit is that Lululemon sells a Scuba hoodie for $118, while a Costco version sells for about $8.
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Costco didn鈥檛 immediately respond to CNN鈥檚 request for comment.
In a statement to CNN, Lululemon said as 鈥渁n innovation-led company that invests significantly in the research, development, and design of our products, we take the responsibility of protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights very seriously and pursue the appropriate legal action when necessary.鈥
Lululemon said that 鈥渙ne of the purposes of selling 鈥榙upes鈥 is to confuse consumers 鈥 into believing that the 鈥榙upes鈥 are (Lululemon鈥檚) authentic products when they are not.鈥
Lululemon is seeking to 鈥渞ecover fully鈥 the financial losses by seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages as well as asking a court to demand that Costco to stop selling these products.
The retailer has sued others before. In 2021, for allegedly making similar-looking apparel. Two years later, the companies patched up their relationship and partnered to sell .
Lululemon recently cut its full-year guidance citing a 鈥渄ynamic macroenvironment鈥 that includes a decline in visits to its U.S. stores, the impact of tariffs and rising competition from other brands, such as Vuori and Alo.
Shares of Lululemon are down 37% for the year.
