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Lululemon has long been the butt of jokes about the hollow nature of diversity efforts in capitalist corporations. Their “resist capitalism” gaffe was one for the ages, and there have been plenty more just like it from the high-end clothing brand.
However, they’re still raking in the money from wealthy white women who claim to love yoga and hate people speaking anything other than English, and don’t see the contradiction between those two things. This is a great bit of news for the brand’s controversial founder, Chip Wilson, although from his latest interview you would think that he’d seen his home burned down.
Wilson was ousted from the board over a decade ago after making fatphobic comments, but his 8% stake in the company has seen him amass a huge amount of wealth in the years since. This, once again, proves that nobody actually gets cancelled for having gross views and loudly blaring them out at every opportunity.
Wilson is currently in the news thanks to controversial statements made during an interview with Forbes, who are more than happy to give him a platform (he’s contributed to the outlet with op-eds in the past). In the depressingly uncritical piece, the once respected magazine are quick to do what most mainstream outlets do when interviewing this sort of subject: allow them to victimize themselves and downplay the horrible things they’ve said and done, while also painting themselves as misunderstood geniuses.
One of the more fawning passages from the article includes the line: “no one is more tormented about Lululemon moving on than him.” We’re sure he can cry into his billions.
This attempt at rehibilitation is aided by Wilson’s recent admission that he’s suffering from facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). While we sympathize with anybody facing terrifying genetic conditions like FSHD, it’s telling that the former yoga pants magnate is, by his own admission, only pouring money into research as he’ll need “a wheelchair in the next few years.”
Unlike Forbes, we think it’s important to remember some of the grim things Wilson has said and done when he crawls back into the news cycle. If you want a list of some of his biggest gaffes, insulting statements, and general idiocy, you’re in the right place. Here are the Lululemon founder’s controversies, explained.
He called to end Lululemon’s “whole diversity and inclusion thing”
In the recent sycophantic profile by Forbes staff writer Jemima McEvoy, Wilson referred to Lululemon models with words like “unhealthy,” “sickly” and “not inspirational.” He then added:
“They’re trying to become like the Gap, everything to everybody. And I think the definition of a brand is that you’re not everything to everybody… You’ve got to be clear that you don’t want certain customers coming in.”
In the grand scheme of things, this is actually quite tame for Wilson. What’s indicative of a greater problem is how Forbes treats the statement. The next line after his quote about not wanting “certain customers coming in” reads:
“While his rant against more inclusive marketing shows why Wilson isn’t the person to run a 21st century retailer, he’s not always wrong.”
But at least he wasn’t an outright bigot this time. Which leads us on to number two in this list…
He claims he called his company Lululemon because he thought it was funny that Japanese people couldn’t pronounce the letter “L”
This is so egregiously racist that at first glance you’d think it was leaked from a private conversation or online chat. However, Wilson actually claimed this in an interview with Canada’s National Post Business Magazine. We’re pretty sure he knew he was being recorded, but you never know.
To be fair, the entire quote is a little less damning, but only just:
“The reason the Japanese liked [my former skateboard brand, ‘Homless’] was because it had an L in it and a Japanese marketing firm wouldn’t come up with a brand name with an L in it. L is not in their vocabulary. It’s a tough pronunciation for them. So I thought, next time I have a company, I’ll make a name with three Ls and see if I can get three times the money. It’s kind of exotic for them. I was playing with Ls and I came up with Lululemon. It’s funny to watch them try to say it.”
He once called plus-sized clothing a “money loser”
Like every business ghoul who seems incapable of understanding economic value isn’t the be-all and end-all, Wilson is notoriously profit-driven. In 2005 he showed his commitment to this belief by defending his business model, which excluded plus size products.
In an interview with the Calgary Herald, he argued the extra fabric costs would eat into his profit margin, and he’d only sell plus-size products for a higher price. He then added that charging more wasn’t feasible, as plus-size people are “sensitive.” He did have just enough decency to add: “I understand their plight, but it’s tough.”
He’s argued in favor of child labor, and made his own kids work from age 5
Wilson’s psychotic Randian beliefs shone through when he used his platform at the Vancouver Business Sustainability Conference in 2005 to advocate for child labor in poorer nations. This view was reitterated in his book Little Black Stretchy Pants.
But don’t worry: Wilson is no hypocrite. He claimed that he made all of his kids work in the family business from age 5. We doubt he had them sewing for 14 hours a day, though.
He lied to the SEC, then lied about his lie
When you give an idiot a fortune, they begin to believe in their own invincibility, regardless of the truth that’s hitting them in the face (see: Elon Musk). In October 2023 Wilson appeared on The Businessweek Show and admitted to lying to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission to save “his family.” He added: “If I would’ve said what was true, then I would’ve spent three or four years in court.”
He didn’t give any more details, and when the show tried to get more information about his claims, his legal team said he lied. As he’s wealthy and well connected, we expect the SEC to do absolutely nothing about this.
He claimed some people weren’t meant to wear his products
The gaffe that got Wilson fired from Lululemon. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, he claimed that it wasn’t shoddy workmanship or poor quality fabric that was behind his company’s leggings being too sheer, instead blaming the thighs of his customers. He said:
“Some women’s bodies just don’t actually work for it. It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there. I mean over a period of time, and how much they use it.”
Lululemon recalled thousands of products, which makes us think otherwise.