Lululemon’s billionaire founder Chip Wilson criticized the company for prioritizing diversity and inclusion efforts over exclusivity.
In an interview with Forbes, the 68-year-old former athleisure CEO, insisted that making Lululemon products more accessible would hurt the brand. He told the outlet: “They’re trying to become like Gap, everything to everyone.”
“I think the definition of a brand is that you’re not everything to everyone,” he continued. “You have to be clear that you don’t want certain clients to come in.”
This is not the first time Wilson has sparked controversy and expressed disdain toward Lululemon’s “whole diversity and inclusion thing,” having repeatedly sparked outrage for her anti-Asian, sexist and fatphobic comments.
In an interview for Bloomberg Television smart street In 2013, the founder responded to growing criticism that the company’s popular leggings were low-quality and see-through, telling the outlet that they weren’t intended for everyone, meaning curvier women. “They don’t work for some women’s bodies,” he said, blaming women’s bodies for leggings becoming see-through. “It’s really about the rubbing of the thighs, how much pressure there is.”
A Lululemon store in Maryland applauded the then-CEO’s comments in a touching display that read: “Love: cups of chai/apple pies/thigh rubs?” It was soon knocked down and Lululemon issued an apology on Twitter, now known as X, saying Wilson’s comments did not reflect the company’s position.
The businessman left the position of CEO in December of that year, and two years later, in 2015, he would completely leave the company’s board of directors. But before he was publicly removed, he claimed that he chose a mark that included three Ls specifically because the sound does not exist in Japanese phonetics. “It’s fun to see them try to say it,” he told the Canadian newspaper National Postal Business Magazine At the time.
Despite his claims that inclusion efforts would spell doom for the company in the long run, he has continued to profit from the company, having recently added nearly $4 billion to his net worth since 2020 due to an 8 percent increase. percent stake in Lululemon stock. .
The Canadian company has been actively trying to shed its reputation as a brand made exclusively for upper-middle-class white women through marketing and implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives.
In November 2020, the company formed a new department called Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action, also known as IDEA, which was tasked with improving workforce diversity and leading DEI training, development and discourse. Unfortunately, dozens of employees revealed that the move had been nothing more than symbolic and had not represented any real and substantial change within the company.
The employees explained to Fashion Business that the creation of the department was a measure to protect the company’s reputation, rather than taking into account the best interests of its employees and customers. They claimed the company often denied promotions to black employees in favor of “less qualified white counterparts.”
The company responded to the allegations in a statement to boof, saying that they have “made considerable progress since the launch of IDEA and we are proud of the goals we have achieved, which include maintaining an ongoing two-way dialogue with our people.”
