By Larry Westrum, PhD - Organic Chemistry
In April 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into whether athletic apparel retailer Lululemon has misled the public over its claims about the safety and health of its products.
Paxton is investigating the possibility that chemicals are leaching into the body through sweat. An article in Greenprophet, a sustainability-focused news platform reporting on the Middle East, claims microplastics and PFAS are found in Lululemon’s apparel. “Your sweat is unlocking microplastics and chemical coatings sitting in the most absorbent parts of the human body.”
The investigation led by Paxton includes the alleged presence of so-called PFAS or “forever chemicals” in Lululemon apparel. “I will not allow any corporation to sell harmful materials to consumers at a premium price under the guise of wellness and sustainability,” Paxton said, according to USA Today.
Lululemon is a Canadian-American company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded in 1999 by Chip Wilson. He had previously developed skin-tight fabric intended for yoga apparel to enhance appearance. Since then, the business has expanded into sportswear, lifestyle apparel, athleisure wear, shoes and personal care products.
Lululemon produces upscale activewear and advertises claims of health and wellbeing as well as sustainability. The company denies the allegations of harmful substances in its activewear.
In 2024, Lululemon published a comprehensive list of forbidden chemicals. A section is devoted to PFAS and other fluorinated chemicals. These chemical lists identify specific forbidden chemicals and the maximum concentration levels in their products.
Lululemon reported revenue of $11.1 billion in its most recent fiscal year, ending February 2026.
How the Texas investigation plays out remains to be seen. Lululemon will have to fight the allegations vigorously not only for itself, but for all of the other apparel manufacturers who also use perfluorinated substances based on PFAS or other fluorocarbons to provide water repellency.
But, what does “perfluorinated” mean? The word is verbal shorthand that makes these substances easier to talk about than the gobbledygook formal names. The word breaks into two parts: “per” and “fluorinated.” With these substances, per indicates that a molecule in question has fluorine atoms attached to every carbon atom that would otherwise have hydrogen atoms.
Take butane, for example. Butane is a four-carbon atom chain bristling with 10-hydrogen atoms. It is a simple hydrocarbon substance consisting of only two chemical elements, hydrogen atoms and carbon atoms. It is the fuel in a butane lighter. To qualify as perfluorobutane, it would need 10 fluorine atoms instead of the 10 hydrogen atoms.
—Teflon—
A unique property of fluorocarbons is that they repel both fatty, oily substances as well as water. As a result, many fluorocarbons are impossible to dissolve. In one sense, this is good, however, because it means that fluorocarbon materials, once applied to a surface, will not readily wash away. This applies to Teflon as well.
Teflon was discovered by accident at the chemical company DuPont in 1938 when a gas cylinder of a fluorinated raw material was found to be empty by its pressure gauge, but still had the correct weight.
Rather than simply returning the cylinder to the supplier, the scientists decided to look into this odd occurrence. When the cylinder was cut open, it was found to have a white and waxy coating on the inside. This substance turned out to be a perfluorinated polymer and was given the trade name Teflon.
The trade name is now owned by the Chemours Company, a spinoff of DuPont. The trademark, Teflon, refers to the Chemours Company product only. Outside of Chemours’ products, it is commonly referred to as “PTFE” for polytetrafluoroethylene.
—Coatings and Membranes—
What makes these perfluorinated substances so useful in clothing? Perfluorinated coatings are used to repel water and stain-producing materials that soil the fabric. To manufacture the product Gore-Tex, PTFE is stretched to form material that has microscopic perforations to allow water vapor to penetrate, yet also repel liquid water. This expanded PTFE is referred to as “ePTFE.”
Gore-Tex is used as an inner membrane layer in waterproof apparel. The layering is needed because if the Gore-Tex membrane is coated with rainwater, the pores are blocked and the breathability disappears. To prevent this, the inner Gore-Tex membrane is covered with an outer layer of water-repellent PTFE-coated synthetic fabric layer.
One of the very earliest protective fluorocarbon coating products was Scotchgard, produced by 3M Company. It was discovered accidentally by a 3M chemist who spilled a bit of chemical on her shoe. When she was unable to clean off the substance, her product development mind began to realize that this substance may have commercial potential as a stain-releasing coating. The first 3M patent from 1968 claimed a polymer made of both hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon segments.
3M has long been an engine of innovation, and it quickly patented the composition of the substance. According to the first patent, a substance was claimed that, when applied as a coating to fabric, was able to repel fatty, oily stain-producing materials. The patent was issued on April 13, 1971.
Fluorine atoms are often found built into drug molecules to enhance their effectiveness or lifetime in the body. In agricultural use, some plastic pesticide bottles are internally fluorinated to prevent pesticide seepage in storage.
Fluorinated molecules, including drugs, can resist biodegradation and accumulate in the environment. Resistance to biodegradation is