Lenskart has publicly issued a revised in-store style guide after a backlash over an alleged internal dress code and a separate Pongal-themed advertisement, seeking to draw a clear line under a dispute that has widened into a broader debate over cultural literacy, workplace rules and brand sensitivity. The eyewear retailer said employees are welcome to wear symbols of faith and identity at work, explicitly listing bindi, tilak, sindoor, kalawa, mangalsutra, kada, hijab and turban among the items allowed in stores. The company published the new guide on 18 April and said it was standardising the document and releasing it publicly to remove ambiguity. In the text now hosted on its website, Lenskart says it wants stores to appear professional, hygienic and safe, while also respecting personal, cultural and religious expression. It adds that the guidance will be applied fairly and consistently across its network of more than 2,400 stores.
The move followed days of online criticism after a document described as an internal training or grooming guide circulated on social media. The document was read by critics as permitting black hijabs and turbans while appearing to restrict or omit some Hindu symbols, especially bindi and tilak. The controversy escalated as former staff members publicly alleged that audit scores, incentives and workplace treatment had been affected by how such rules were interpreted at store level.
Founder and chief executive Peyush Bansal responded by saying the viral file was an outdated internal training document rather than a formal human resources policy. He said the reference to bindi and tilak in that material was incorrect, should never have been written, and had been discovered and removed on 17 February. He also apologised for the confusion and concern caused by the episode.
That explanation did not fully settle the matter. Reports citing former managers and staff suggested the underlying dispute was not only about wording on paper but also about enforcement, with allegations that informal or training-linked instructions had practical consequences inside stores. Those accounts have not been independently adjudicated in public, but they helped shift the controversy from a single leaked document to a wider question of whether company culture and compliance systems were aligned with the inclusive position now being stated in public.
At the same time, Lenskart was pulled into a second controversy when an older Pongal-themed campaign resurfaced online. The advertisement was criticised by some viewers for what they said was an inaccurate portrayal of the Tamil harvest festival, including the use of dates and styling choices that did not reflect familiar festive imagery. Social media criticism linked the campaign to the dress-code row, with detractors arguing that both episodes pointed to weak cultural judgement rather than an isolated communications error.
The pairing of the two disputes has turned what might have been a contained internal-policy issue into a sharper reputational test. For consumer-facing retailers, appearance rules and festive campaigns both operate in highly visible spaces where cultural cues matter. A company that serves a national customer base, employs frontline staff across regions and relies heavily on aspirational branding carries a higher burden to show that standardisation does not slip into insensitivity. That challenge becomes even more acute when social media compresses reaction time and merges separate controversies into a single narrative of trust. The market registered some of that pressure, with Lenskart shares coming under strain as boycott calls spread online.
Lenskart’s updated guide appears designed to close down ambiguity by naming items that are allowed rather than relying on general language about inclusion. That is a practical shift, because retail dress codes often run into conflict when local managers, trainers or auditors are left to interpret broad standards without explicit examples. By publishing the guide openly, the company has also made itself easier to hold accountable, since future disputes can now be measured against a text visible to employees and customers alike.