Lululemon Founder Chip Wilson Steps Down From Board

Chip Wilson, who founded yoga put on brand Lululemon Athletica in 1998, announced as of late that he has stepped down from his position on the company’s board. The move comes a bit of greater than a 12 months after his resignation as Chairman, precipitated by controversial comments he made about buyers’ physique varieties.

considering that Lululemon’s founding, Wilson has made a fortune from his model’s loyal following of self-proclaimed “Luluheads,” who spend upwards of $90 on stretch pants, and has taken on plenty of roles at the company in addition to chairman, together with CEO and Chief Innovation officer. The trade has struggled in contemporary years, and no longer simply on account of Wilson’s foot-in-mouth disease—in 2013, many shoppers complained the yoga pants have been so sheer as to be see-through, and others complained web page they have been shoddily crafted, often pilling up and coming apart at the seams.

though he’s stopped working for Lululemon, Wilson hasn’t stopped making questionable comments: “i believe that Lululemon was once so successful because I used to be almost definitely the only straight guy that was making women’s apparel, and that i knew what a man appreciated,” Wilson informed the big apple instances this week. “girls ended up carrying it, and guys commented on it.”

As a ship-off to Wilson, we have now compiled some of his most memorably asinine remarks:

• Wilson confessed he named his firm Lululemon because he likes staring at jap individuals mispronounce the letter L: “it’s funny to look at them try to say it,” he advised Canada’s nationwide publish industry journal.
• In a 2009 blog post, he attributed Lululemon’s founding to the beginning of the tablet, breast cancer, and high divorce rates: “Breast most cancers additionally got here into prominence in the 1990’s. I recommend this was as a result of the choice of cigarette-smoking power girls who were on the pill (preliminary concentrations of hormones within the tablet have been very excessive) and taking over the stress previously left to males in the working world…. in a roundabout way, Lululemon was once fashioned because feminine training ranges, breast cancer, yoga/athletics and the will to decorate female got here together all at one time.”
• When Bloomberg asked why buyers had been complaining concerning the pants pilling, he mentioned, “Some women’s bodies don’t work for the pants. It’s in reality about the rubbing during the thighs, how much power is there over a time period.”

Wilson plans to focus on serving to his spouse and sons enhance their streetwear model, equipment & Ace, which sells computing device-washable cashmere clothing.

[by way of the brand new York occasions]