Does Lululemon Have PFAS? What the Evidence Shows

When Texas settled its forever-chemicals investigation into Lululemon in October, the only specific problem the state alleged was paperwork: two suppliers hadn't signed an acknowledgment of the company's chemical rules for one edition of its list.

So does Lululemon have PFAS? Lululemon says it stopped using them in its 2023 fiscal year, and Texas says the documents it reviewed didn't show PFAS in Lululemon products. Nobody has published a newer independent test, and the older testing we found turned up fluorine in one pair of Lululemon leggings and none in a pair of its shorts.

Does Lululemon have PFAS? What the settlement says

Texas sent Lululemon a demand for documents on March 26, 2026, and announced the investigation on April 13. It was looking at whether Lululemon misled shoppers about product safety and the possible presence of PFAS.

The settlement is an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance filed on October 19, 2026. In paragraph 28, it says the state did not identify PFAS in Lululemon products or materials after reviewing the documents Lululemon provided. It doesn't describe any testing by the state, and those documents aren't public. Lululemon says they included third-party lab reports.

Under the settlement, Lululemon will continue to require its suppliers to prove their materials meet its chemical rules, with lab reports or third-party certificates, for three years. There's no payment, and it isn't an admission: Lululemon expressly denies breaking any law.

What does Lululemon say about forever chemicals?

Lululemon told KBTX that it doesn't use PFAS in its products. It said it phased them out in its 2023 fiscal year, and that they had been used in durable water repellent products, "a small percentage of our assortment." Its April 2026 statement says suppliers have to test for restricted substances, PFAS included, through third-party labs.

"Doesn't use PFAS" isn't the same as zero, though. Lululemon's restricted substances list sets a limit for suppliers of 50 parts per million of all PFAS, measured as total organic fluorine. Suppliers can meet it with lab reports or with a bluesign or OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certificate instead (paragraphs 4 and 29 of the settlement).

Lululemon doesn't publish results for individual products, and only 2% of the Lululemon listings in our catalog disclose a certification.

Has anyone tested Lululemon for PFAS?

In June 2021, Mamavation had a lab test a pair of Lululemon Align High-Rise Pants for total fluorine and found 32 parts per million. Environmental Health News published the wider leggings study in January 2022. Mamavation's activewear guide also lists the Align High Rise Short with Pockets 8" as non-detect, with a detection limit of 10 parts per million.

Total fluorine is an indicator. It counts all fluorine, so it can't tell you which PFAS were there, if any. And 32 parts per million is under Lululemon's current 50 ppm limit and under the 100 ppm limit California started enforcing in 2025. The pants were also tested two years before the phase-out Lululemon describes.

We didn't find any newer independent test of Lululemon clothing.

Do Lululemon leggings have PFAS?

No recent test shows that they do. But the only Lululemon item that tested positive for fluorine was a legging, and about one in four of the leggings and yoga pants in Mamavation's study had detectable fluorine. So with leggings, don't assume a finish only matters on jackets. Read both the fiber label and anything the listing says about a finish.

Our look at what leggings listings disclose shows how often brands leave those details out.

Which Lululemon pieces mention a water-repellent finish?

We read all 135 Lululemon product pages in our catalog for anything about PFAS or water-repellent finishes, and a person reviewed every line we found. Eleven jackets describe their fabric as water-repellent or water-resistant, with lines like "Water-Repellent, SoftMatte Fabric," and one rain poncho is sold as waterproof. None of those pages say which chemistry the finish uses now, and none of the Lululemon pages we read make a product-level statement about PFAS or fluorine.

Those finishes are where PFAS were used in the past, which is what Lululemon's own statement says too. If you're shopping for a jacket, ask what the finish is.

Is there a Lululemon PFAS lawsuit?

We didn't find one with a court docket. The Texas settlement doesn't create one either: paragraph 40 says it creates no private rights or claims. The lawsuit people sometimes mix this up with is Gyani v. Lululemon, a 2024 class action over the company's "Be Planet" environmental marketing, which a federal court in Florida dismissed in February 2025. It wasn't about PFAS.

What do state PFAS laws require?

California's AB 1817 has banned intentionally added PFAS in clothing since January 1, 2025, and it also caps total organic fluorine at 100 parts per million, dropping to 50 in 2027. Outdoor gear made for severe wet weather is exempt until 2028 if it's labeled "Made with PFAS chemicals." New York has banned intentionally added PFAS in new apparel since January 1, 2025.

Each law covers what's sold in that state, and neither one requires a brand to publish test results.

How Greener Closet scores Lululemon

Greener Closet scores clothes from the fibers and certifications the listing discloses. Our Lululemon profile covers 133 distinct products, with a median score of 6 out of 100 and a range from 4 to 83. Only one scores 80 or higher. Most Lululemon pieces are mostly nylon, elastane and recycled polyester, which is what you'd expect from activewear, and synthetics score low because they're plastics that shed fibers. The highest-scoring pieces are organic cotton tees and tanks.

That score isn't a lab test, and it can't tell you whether a given piece has a PFAS finish. A listing that says nothing about PFAS is unknown, not proof either way.

To compare, Vuori vs Lululemon puts the two brands side by side, and our Lululemon alternatives page lists higher-scoring pieces from other brands. Our guide to avoiding PFAS in clothing goes through what to ask a brand about a finish and what the answers mean.

How to check a Lululemon piece before you buy

Read the full fiber label, because a nylon-elastane legging and a cotton tee are very different pieces even from the same brand. For anything sold as water-repellent, look for a statement on that product that it's made without PFAS, and what it covers, and don't stretch one product's answer to the whole brand.

If you've got a specific Lululemon piece in mind, paste its link or type the label from the tag into the checker at the top of this post.