Dennis “Chip” Wilson, founder and chairman of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Vancouver, B.C.), has stepped down, a few weeks after making the latest in a series of intemperate statements.
The company’s lead director, Michael Casey, will assume the chairmanship some time before the company’s annual meeting in June. Wilson will keep his seat on the board.
In November, Wilson publicly suggested that some women’s bodies were not made for his brand’s yoga pants, saying, “Frankly some women’s bodies just don’t actually work for [the pants],” also saying that thighs that are too large, rubbing over time, will cause the pilling and poor performance of the pants. He was responding to customer complaints about pilling after a few months of wear – or even just a few uses – and about holes and seams coming apart.
Wilson seemed to apologize to Lululemon’s workers for the criticism his comments received, but didn’t retract his original statements.
It has not been a good year for what had been such a focused and sure-footed company. In July, Lululemon insiders told The Huffington Post that discriminating against plus-sized customers was part of the company’s strategy. And then, of course, there was the notorious sheer yoga pants problem this spring, when a line of merchandise was pulled from the shelves because of its embarrassing transparency.
At the time, amid much company apologizing, ceo Christine Day said she would step down when a successor was found. Yesterday, Lululemon completed that search, naming Laurent Potdevin as ceo. He was most recently president of Toms Shoes (Santa Monica, Calif.). Before that, he spent more than 15 years at Burton Snowboards (Burlington, Vt.), and was ceo from 2005 to 2010.
Potdevin is expected to take over in January. He will also become a board member at that time.
Day is anticipated to stay with Lululemon through the end of its fiscal year to help with the transition.