Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has criticized the company for its continued push towards inclusivity.
Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has criticized the company for its continued push towards inclusivity.
Chip Wilson, who started Lululemon in 2000 and later resigned due to comments about women's weight, spoke out about inclusion.
Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has criticized the company for its continued push towards inclusivity.
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I think [Wilson's] point is that the brand has an exclusive image and he's saying that they shouldn't want to be all things to all people, which is a place where the Gap brands live," Schwartz said. "There are, however, multiple benefits to having an inclusive brand image and a limit to how many wealthy, fit, young women you can sell to.
Chip’s point, as quoted in the article, seems to be a comment about brand positioning. And the criticism seems to be on two levels:
- a brand positioning retort (quoted above)
- a DEI retort that also frames him as a jerk
As a comment on positioning, what he said is Marketing 101.
Not sure if what he said was taken out of context, though, because his actual interview is a different Forbes article behind a paywall.
So is he insensitive, or talking about marketing basics, or both? I think it’s hard to tell.
Chip named the company with so many Ls to make it sound western to Japanese buyers then thought it was funny to hear them try and pronounce it.
He's a dick.
Also, his opinion means fuck all since he let the company go public in 2007.
He shows he is a dick, but his statements are marketing deciders. Like we coukd sell plus sizes but larger thighs would rub and pill the material, doing 2 things: forcing a different material to resist wear thus changing many manufacturing/auppliers, look of product, or leave it same as the rear of product line and have a brand look worn out. Rather than deal with either of those they chose to keep demographic narrow. This happens in various markets and products besides clothes, but typically the CEO is making decisions in private with more careful wording.