By Trendsetter Tribune 
A Texas woman says she was racially profiled at Lululemon after employees took the jacket she planned to buy, replaced it with a stained item, and made her wait 20 minutes.
A Texas woman says what should have been a simple shopping trip turned into an uncomfortable experience she believes was racial profiling — and now, her story is sparking debate online.
Keke Jones went into a Lululemon store in Houston, reportedly at Memorial City Mall, to buy a jacket. She said she was casually chatting with employees when another worker suddenly grabbed the jacket straight out of her hands.
He told her the jacket didn’t have a tag and disappeared to the back of the store.
Jones said she waited nearly 20 minutes.
When the employee finally returned, he brought back a completely different jacket — and this one had a stain on it. According to Jones, he wanted her to swap what she picked for the stained one, saying it came from the back.
She immediately noticed something wasn’t right.
Eventually, the employee went back again and returned with what appeared to be her original jacket — now with a tag clearly attached. Jones said the jacket had a tag the entire time.
“I have never been racially profiled in my life,” Jones said, explaining that the experience left her embarrassed and confused. She added that another employee apologized repeatedly for how she was treated.
“Watched the whole time”
Jones said she wasn’t dressed up when she went shopping — something that shouldn’t matter, but that she believes influenced how she was perceived.
From the moment she walked in, she said she noticed the male employee watching her closely. Things escalated when he replaced the jacket she chose with a worse one.
The entire interaction made her question whether she had just experienced racial profiling — especially given the price of the jacket and how much money she was prepared to spend.
A pattern — or a misunderstanding?
Lululemon has faced multiple accusations of racial profiling in the past.
Shoppers have reported being followed, questioned, or accused of theft. One woman in New York said police were called on her after buying hundreds of dollars’ worth of clothing. Others have complained about being treated differently when trying to make returns.
Some commenters, however, argued that in Jones’ case, the employee may simply have been trying to retag the item — something former managers say can take several minutes.
Still, others said the behavior — the stain, the swap, and the suspicion — didn’t feel like an honest mistake.
Jones ultimately decided she may return the jacket altogether.
“I just never been in a situation like that before,” she said. “I really didn’t know how to handle it.”
For many viewers, the story raises a bigger question: Why does shopping at a high-end store ever have to feel like a test — especially for people of color?
@keketherealmsjones Bad business at the memorial Center location! @lululemon ♬ original sound – keketherealmsjones