After customers complained that a batch of the company's signature yoga pants were too transparent, Lululemon tried to make a scapegoat out of the Taiwanese company that manufactures the pants. Bad idea. Said supplier now says the pants were no different than any other batch. The Eclat Textile Company, whose clients include everyone from Gap to Under Armour, said Tuesday that Lululemon had signed off on the shipment, suggesting that Lululemon made the whole thing up. "All shipments to Lululemon went through a certification process which Lululemon had approved," Eclat's chief executive Roger Lo told The Wall Street Journal. "All the pants were manufactured according to the requirements set out in the contract with Lululemon." Ladies and gentlemen, we have a yoga pants scandal on our hands. 
 
 So which one is it? Did Eclat make a bad batch of $100 yoga pants, or did Lululemon just design transparent $100 yoga pants and milk the market for as long as it could? It's really hard to say. When Lo talked to the press, he said that Lululemon hadn't contacted his company about the recall — which is kind of weird since Lululemon effectively blamed Eclat for screwing up the "level of sheerness" during the manufacturing process. (It's worth pointing out that Lululemon also said it was working closely with the manufacturer "to understand what happened during the period this fabric was made.") It's possible that there's a third party, some company that supplied Eclat with the fabric for the pants, clearing it somewhat from the blame. But at this point, this particular incident really is a frustrating finger-pointing match that's left Lululemon out about $20 million in lost sales and a whole lot yogis out of high-priced pants. 
 
 Let's get real about this stretchy trousers tale, though. It's pretty obvious that the supplier gains nothing by saddling the blame, however the perhaps unexpected media circus that gathered around this see-through yoga pants scandal highlighted a number of questionable incidents in recent Lululemon history. As a Credit Suisse analyst pointed out in a note to clients that this is Lululemon's "fourth quality control issue in the last year." Not counting this latest debacle, two out of the other three issues involved the sheerness of its fabrics. Clearly, something is up. 
 
 Along these lines, other analysts suggested that Lululemon needs to spend more time in Taiwan to make sure the manufacturers' work is up to snuff. No matter whose at fault in the growing list Lululemon's quality control issues, it can't hurt to get to the root of the problem. Then maybe next time, someone will spot the bad batch, before they ship $20 million worth of transparent yoga pants around the world. 
 
 Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. 
 
 Adam Clark Estes ||||| Lululemon said it was pulling its popular black yoga pants from stores after some of them were found to be overly sheer. Shares tumbled. Andria Cheng reports. Photo: Reuters. 
 
 A Taiwanese supplier to Lululemon Athletica Inc. was bent out of shape on Tuesday after the yoga-clothes retailer blamed it for producing a shipment of pants that were unacceptably see-through. 
 
 The supplier, Eclat Textile Co. of Taiwan, hit back at Lululemon, saying the clothes it shipped weren't "problematic." 
 
 "All shipments to Lululemon went through a certification process which Lululemon had approved," Eclat Chief Financial Officer Roger Lo said in an interview. "All the pants were manufactured according to the requirements set out in the contract with Lululemon." 
 
 The Canadian company has built a billion-dollar business selling premium yoga gear at high prices, but the glitch with the recalled pants marks yet another recent stumble with products on its store shelves. The disclosure late Monday about the black Luon pants—one of its core items—followed a string of complaints last year that the colors were bleeding on some of its tops. 
 
 With the black Luon pant recall, Lululemon has now had its fourth quality-control issue in the past year, Credit Suisse analyst Christian Buss said. In addition to the problem with bright colors bleeding, the company had transparency problems with some colors of swimwear shipped for last spring as well as a subset of light colored pants, Mr. Buss said. 
 
 The string of glitches is a setback for a company that has attracted a devoted following for its high-end yoga wear, which faces growing competition. 
 
 Last July, Chief Product Officer Sheree Waterson posted an apology on Facebook for the colorfastness problem, long after complaints started cropping up. Two months later, CEO Christine Day mentioned the issue during an earnings call, acknowledging bleeding issues with colors including "Paris Pink" in "a couple of small, isolated issues." 
 
 This time, the company moved more aggressively, pulling all of the pants from stores and offering refunds, leading it to cut its sales first quarter forecast by around $20 million. 
 
 Some analysts expressed concern about the company's quality control. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close REUTERS A Lululemon Athletic shop in San Francisco. 
 
 Analysts at Sterne Agee said the company doesn't appear to be exercising enough supervision of its supply chain. 
 
 "We are concerned that LULU does not have the appropriate presence in and around its factories," the analysts said. "It appears that there is not appropriate oversight in place." 
 
 Lululemon wouldn't comment on its supervision of suppliers. 
 
 Linda Goldstein, vice president of sourcing, quality and production at Lululemon, said in an interview that the company's sourcing manager for raw materials is currently at Eclat's facilities in Taiwan. Lululemon has yet to determine the cause of the problem, she said. 
 
 Lululemon relies heavily on a limited number of suppliers, a risk it called out in its annual report in March 2012. The Luon fabric at issue in the see-through pants comes from that one supplier. 
 
 Ms. Day has intentionally kept supplies of hot sellers low in order to create scarcity and buzz—and to ensure customers pay full price as often as possible. 
 
 Lululemon's shares were down almost 5% in early trading Tuesday, although they rebounded to finish at $64.08, down 2.3%, on the Nasdaq. 
 
 The company's shares, after rising by about two-thirds last year, are down nearly 18% so far in 2013. 
 
 Write to Aries Poon at aries.poon@dowjones.com and Karen Talley at karen.talley@dowjones.com ||||| Lululemon has a sheerness problem. 
 
 Lululemon said it was pulling its popular black yoga pants from stores after some of them were found to be overly sheer. Shares tumbled. Andria Cheng reports. Photo: Reuters. 
 
 The yoga-apparel retailer's shares tumbled late Monday after saying it has pulled some of its popular pants from stores, after a mistake by a supplier left the pants too see-through. 
 
 Lululemon Athletica Inc. said the glitch involved pants using its signature fabric, known as Luon, that arrived in stores March 1. The retailer is offering refunds to customers. 
 
 The glitch could be a big hit to the company, affecting 17% of the bottoms it had in stock. Lululemon said the incident would reduce its expected first-quarter sales to $333 million to $343 million, down from the $350 million to $355 million it had previously expected. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Rob Bennett A Lululemon retail store in New York. 
 
 The company's shares fell more than 6% in after-hours trading to $61.75 following the news. They had already slipped nearly 4% during the day. 
 
 "The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the pants remain the same but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women's black Luon bottoms that falls short of our very high standards," Lululemon said in a release. 
 
 Lululemon said Monday it has used the same manufacturing supplier on key fabrics since 2004 and is working to understand what happened. 
 
 The material was supplied by Eclat Textile Co. Ltd., a person familiar with the matter said. Eclat, which manufactures in Taiwan, couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but its U.S. website does list Lululemon as a customer. 
 
 The disclosure was a rare stumble by a company that turned figure-flattering yoga gear into an empire that notched $1 billion in sales for the first time in the year ended January 2012 and which enjoyed a market value near $10 billion. 
 
 The company closely watches shoppers in its stores for signs of what is and isn't catching on to get its products right. It also likes to keep them scarce, a large part of its strategy under Christine Day, who has been chief executive since 2008. 
 
 Lululemon kept new colors and seasonal items on short life cycles to encourage customers to buy them at full price. "Our guest knows that there's a limited supply, and it creates these fanatical shoppers," Ms. Day told the Wall Street Journal in an interview last year. 
 
 The strategy raised some concern among investors, however. Conference calls with analysts often centered on Lulu's inability to stock enough items. 
 
 In its annual report in March 2012, Lululemon warned that it is exposed to risks from its heavy reliance on a limited number of suppliers. As an example, it pointed to the Luon fabric that is at issue in the glitch revealed Monday. The company said it sourced Luon from a single manufacturer in Taiwan, and that the fibers used to make the fabric were supplied by a single company. 
 
 "We may experience a significant disruption in the supply of fabrics or raw materials from current sources or, in the event of a disruption, we may be unable to locate alternative materials suppliers of comparable quality at an acceptable price, or at all," the company said in the filing. 
 
 On Monday, Lululemon said it is working with suppliers to get new gear in stock as soon as possible but expects a shortage for now. 
 
 Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com and Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@dowjones.com 
 
 A version of this article appeared March 19, 2013, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Lululemon Yoga Pants Recalled for 'Sheerness'.
– Lululemon's see-through yoga pants sound scandalous, and a scandal is what the company appears to have on its hands. The Taiwanese supplier of the pants is hitting back after the yogawear chain blamed its massive pants recall on the manufacturer. "All shipments to Lululemon went through a certification process which Lululemon had approved," Eclat's CFO tells the Wall Street Journal. "All the pants were manufactured according to the requirements set out in the contract with Lululemon." Writing for the Atlantic Wire, Adam Clark Estes sums up the drama thusly: "So which one is it? Did Eclat make a bad batch of $100 yoga pants, or did Lululemon just design transparent $100 yoga [pants] and milk the market for as long as it could?" For now, it remains unclear, and Lululemon may have larger problems on its hands than some potentially see-through pants: This is the fourth quality control issue the chain has experienced in the past year, and some analysts are expressing concern that the company "does not have the appropriate presence in and around its factories. It appears that there is not appropriate oversight in place."