2024-01-06 23:46:12
The man making the criticism isn’t just anyone: Chip Wilson founded Lululemon himself in 1998. But he doesn’t like the way the Canadian sports brand is now aligning itself: “They’re trying to be like Gap: everything for everyone,” Chip Wilson recently told Forbes magazine. “And I think the definition of a brand right now is that you don’t try to do everything for everyone. You have to make it clear that you don’t want certain customers.”
The background is this: Wilson detests Lululemon’s “whole diversity and inclusion thing,” as he says. He is quoted in Forbes as saying that he finds models in Lululemon advertising “unhealthy,” “sickly,” and “uninspiring.” The company, which also operates two stores in Berlin (at Kurfürstendamm 26 and Alten Schönhauser Straße 32a), has started running more inclusive campaigns in recent years, showing people of different skin colors and also with curvier bodies.
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There is already heated discussion online and calls for a boycott of the Lululemon brand. It’s not the first time Wilson has caused trouble for his brand: Back in 2013, he said, Some women’s bodies are just not suitable for the skin-tight Lululemon leggings. This was met with so much criticism at the time that Wilson had to resign from his position as CEO.
Now the brand is once again distancing itself from its founder: “Chip Wilson does not speak for Lululemon,” said a spokesman, “and his comments do not reflect the views or beliefs of our company.” That may be so. However, Chip Wilson isn’t completely out: He holds eight percent of the company’s shares – making him the largest private shareholder in the sporting goods chain.
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