Buyers of Lululemon threaten the boycott of controversial comments from the founder
His most recent remarks have aroused significant indignation on social networks.
A company is often as strong as its leadership, and the founder of Lululemon can weaken the brand's position with consumers. Billionaire Chip wilson founded the Athletic wear Company in 1998 before resigning from president in 2013. But despite his departure a decade ago, Wilson still talks about the fashion brand inspired by the yoga he built. And now his controversial comments of a new Forbes interview Ask Lululemon buyers threatening to boycott.
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Asked about the modern Lululemon and its new leadership, Wilson did not retain what he thinks of the "diversity and inclusion of the company" of the company.
"They try to become like the gap, everything for everyone," he said Forbes . "And I think that the definition of a brand is that you are not everything for everyone ... You must be clear that you don't want some customers to come."
The founder of Lululemon also shared his disgust for the appearance of people in recent advertisements of the brand, saying that they looked "unhealthy", "unhealthy" and "non -inspiring", according to the magazine.
In response to the remarks of Wilson, the company seems determined to be behind its former president. In a recently declaration provided at Fortune , a spokesman for Lululemon said that Wilson "does not speak for Lululemon, and that his comments do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of our business."
They added: "Chip has not been involved in the company since its resignation from the board of directors in 2015 and we are a very different business today."
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Despite this, Wilson's criticism against inclusiveness in his Forbes The interview aroused significant indignation against the brand on social networks. "I knew that Lululemon gave me a nasty atmosphere," wrote a person in a January 4 x post . Another X user wrote , "I just cleaned my Lululemon cart so quickly that it is crazy."
Some Lululemon buyers even threaten to boycott the company for the controversial comments of its founder. "Yeah, I think Lululemon has finished getting my money", recently a customer Written on x . Another Posted on January 4 , "Boycott @lululemon. If Chip Wilson only wants some customers to arrive, cool, he can have them."
But this is not the first time that Wilson has been landed in hot water for controversial comments. In fact, the founder of Lululemon resigned in 2013 in the midst of the counterpoup for similar reasons. To find out more about his other controversial remarks, read the rest.
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1 He blamed product problems with the body's types of certain customers.
Just before his departure in 2013, Wilson also made derogatory comments on the inclusiveness of the company. In response to customer complaints regarding looting and sheerness problems with Lululemon pants at the time, he suggested that they were not made for everyone.
"There have always been harassment. The fact is that women will wear safety belts that do not work or they will wear a bag that does not work or, frankly, the body of some women simply does not work for that" , Wilson Tell Bloomberg TV In 2023, by CBC. "This is really friction through the thighs, the pressure that there is ... over a period of time, and how much they use it."
2 He defended severe working conditions.
But Wilson's controversial comments extend beyond the brand's inclusiveness. During the 2005 Business Alliance of Local Living Economies conference in Vancouver, the founder of Lululemon Apparently champion Severe working conditions and have indicated that China people prefer to work more than 40 hours per week.
“In Canada, for example, 99% of our factory workers are Chinese sewers. If you had to work for eight hours, they will be angry with you. If you only work them five days a week for only eight hours, they will "I will say," What are you doing? " I don't want to work for you, "he said, according to the newspaper Elephant. "If you don't work them as much, they leave their quarter of work at four o'clock and cross the street to another factory and work for six hours."
3 He joked that the Japanese could not pronounce Lululemon.
The same year, Wilson also made another problematic remark directed towards the Asian community. He said in Canada National Post Business Magazine that he named the Lululemon brand As a marketing stratagem Because it is difficult for the Japanese to pronounce. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
"L is not in the vocabulary [from Japanese]. It is a difficult pronunciation for them. So I thought, the next time I have a business, I will make a name with three LS and I see if I can get the money three times, "Wilson said by Shiteshark. "It's a bit exotic for them. I played with LS and I came with Lululemon. It's funny to see them try to say it."
4 He said birth control has contributed to breast cancer.
In a bizarre, Blog article now deleted On the Lululemon website, Wilson shared Regarding comments Also on birth control, according to Atlantic .
"Breast cancer also got importance in the 1990s," he wrote. "I suggest that this was due to the number of women of power that smoke the cigarettes that were on the pill (the initial concentrations of hormones in the pill were very high) and occupying stress previously left to men in the world of work. ""
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