Chip Wilson, the founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Canada-based apparel company Lululemon, has criticised the firm for its continued push towards diversity and inclusivity. In an interview with Forbes, Mr Wilson, who launched the activewear firm in 1998 in Vancouver, blasted his company's recent moves to expand its product line to a wider market. He particularly criticised what he referred to as the company's "whole diversity and inclusion thing". He also claimed that he has a distaste for the appearance of the people in Lululemon's ads, who he thinks look "unhealthy, sickly and not inspirational".
"They're trying to become like the Gap, everything to everybody," Mr Wilson, who left the company in 2015, said. "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," he told the outlet.
However, in response to the article, Lululeom issued a statement distancing itself from the former CEO. "Chip Wilson does not speak for Lululemon, and his comments do not reflect our company views or beliefs," the fitness brand said, as per NBC News. "Chip has not been involved with the company since his resignation from the board in 2015 and we are a very different company today," the company added.
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Notably, Mr Wilson stepped down as Lululemon chairman in 2013 and then left the company entirely in 2015. His resignation followed controversial comments stating that Lululemon's leggings "actually don't work" for some women's bodies after the company's yoga pants were criticised.
"Frankly some women's bodies just don't actually work for [the pants]," Mr Wilson told Bloomberg in a 2013 interview. "It's really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it," he added.
He later issued an apology for the same, but a petition went viral requesting more sincerity in addition to a change in Lululemon's clothing styles to cater to those with larger sizes.
According to NBC News, Mr Wison remains the company's largest single-holder, with holdings worth more than $4 billion.
Meanwhile, the fitness brand made headlines last year as well, but for a different reason. Newsweek reported that two female employees at Lululemon's Georgia store were terminated for what the company described as breaching company policy after they confronted masked shoplifters.
