Source: Christopher Morris – Corbis / Getty
We’ve covered some real pieces of s#!t in our day but this guy is making a solid case for the head honcho of the Trash Human Alliance.
Chip Wilson is the man who founded the athleisure apparel outfit known as Lululemon back in 1998. In Dec. 2013, Wilson resigned from his CEO position at the company after an inflammatory interview with Bloomberg about the company’s lack of inclusivity regarding sizing for many women’s body types.
Via CNBC:
“Frankly some women’s bodies just don’t actually work for [the pants],” he said in an interview last month on Bloomberg. “It’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it.”
Fast forward a decade and nothing about Wilson’s character has evolved. Like a snake that never shed its skin, Wilson is back in the news for doubling down on his unhinged hate speech in a recent interview with Forbes.
“They’re trying to become like the Gap, everything to everybody,” Wilson, who has an estimated net worth of $8.7 billion, said in an interview with Forbes.
“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.”
Source: Jim Bennett / Getty
Whomst might this $8 billion packet of mayo be referring to when he says “certain customers”? Well, we’re always going to err on the side of “everybody not white” when we hear a soup cookie disparaging a particular demographic, that said, in this case, there is sufficient evidence that Wilson specifically does not enjoy Asian folks. That’s not playing the race card either. He said the following out of his very own mouth with no hesitation via Fortune:
Wilson previously declared that when founding Lululemon back in 1998, he specifically came up with a brand name that has three L’s because the sound does not exist in Japanese phonetics.
“It’s funny to watch them try and say it,” he told Canada’s National Post Business Magazine.
While the company has been spending big marketing dollars to wash away the stench of its founder’s sentiments, employees and the public at large are not here for the DEI rebrand. Let some tell it, it’s bigoted business as usual despite Wilson’s absence.
A piece in Business of Fashion points out that Black Lululemon employees are still denied advancement opportunities in favor of mediocre white workers.
We’d be the fools to act surprised but it doesn’t make Wilson’s comments any less egregious. However, even with his disdain for Lululemon’s efforts to include all people at potential customers, Wilson hasn’t exactly put his money where his mouth is because Fortune notes that he has profited $4 BILLION since 2020 as his remaining 8% stake in the company continues to rise.
He’s having his caKKKe and eating it too.
