Vanoc Says New Lululemon Clothing Line Violates their Rules

by Amy Judd | December 16, 2009 at 04:50 pm

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VANOC, the company behind the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, have said that they are disappointed with the retailer Lululemon's new 'Olympic' style of clothing and say it is unsportsmanlike for them to produce a line that is trying to profit from the games.

Lululemon has launched a new clothing line called 'Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 and 2011 Edition'. VANOC said that is a direct attempt to profit from the games without contributing to the games.

Lululemon has said that they are not involved in ambush marketing and they have not infringed on any Olympic marketing rules.

VANOC's management director Bill Cooper had this to say:

"We expected better sportsmanship from a local Canadian company than to produce a clothing line that attempts to profit from the Games but doesn't support the Games or the success of the Canadian Olympic team," he said in a statement.

He went on to say:

Funds generated from the sale of officially licensed merchandise -- including the hugely popular red mittens -- goes directly towards the success of the Canadian Olympic Team and the successful staging of the Games."

Lululemon spokesman Eric Petersen released this statement:

“We never imagined or intended it to be that way,” insisted Petersen. “We did our homework and were very confident that this is within the letter of the law.”

“We sat in a room and people were going, ‘Let’s put 2010 on it, let’s put Vancouver on it,’” he said. “And we said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t say this.’

“We went through the litany of things you cannot say and started throwing out a bunch of things we felt we could say that were respectful of the rules and regulations.”