Lululemon founder Chip Wilson criticizes company’s diversity and inclusion efforts

VANCOUVER –

Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s founder has criticized the Vancouver-based apparel company’s diversity efforts in a new interview.

In an article published this week by Forbes, Chip Wilson shares his distaste for Lululemon’s “whole diversity and inclusion thing” and says the people the company is using in its ads are “unhealthy,” “sickly” and “not inspirational.”

Wilson adds that he feels Lululemon is trying to be like the Gap by wanting to be everything to everybody. He thinks the company should be clear it doesn’t want certain customers visiting the business.

Lululemon declined to comment on Wilson’s remarks.

Wilson previously attracted controversy in 2013, when he told Bloomberg some women’s bodies don’t work for the company’s products after Lululemon pulled some of its yoga pants from shelves over concerns they were too sheer.

Wilson, who started Lululemon in 1998, eventually stepped down from the company and relinquished his board seat but remains a shareholder.

Wilson now spends his time on real estate and private equity investments along with pushing for a cure for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, a disorder he has been diagnosed with.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2024.