Lululemon Founder Blames Japanese L’s for Corporate Controversies
KEY POINTS
- •Chip Wilson founded Lululemon in 1997 after selling his first apparel company, creating a global athleisure phenomenon.
- •He made controversial remarks leading to his 2015 board resignation but stayed vocal, launching a proxy fight in December 2023.
- •Wilson, diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at 32, lives in Vancouver with his family and focuses on philanthropy and research.
Dennis 'Chip' Wilson, the 70-year-old Canadian-Californian who kicked off the yoga pants empire in 1997 after botching sales of wild-patterned shorts, somehow thought naming Lululemon would trip up Japanese pronunciation of 'L'. Between raising five sons in Vancouver, surviving a rare muscular dystrophy diagnosis at 32, and clashing with ex-Starbucks exec Christine Day post-IPO in 2007, he couldn’t resist tossing controversial comments about women’s bodies and Asian communities. Despite being ousted in 2015, the $7.8 billion billionaire staged a proxy fight in December naming three new board hopefuls, proving even yoga pants moguls can’t yoga away from drama.
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Imagine founding a $7.8 billion brand by accident, blaming Japanese pronunciation for its name, and then flopping into controversies like a bad yoga pose. Chip Wilson’s life proves even billionaires can’t stretch far enough from their own problems.
Nothing screams corporate genius like naming your brand to confuse a whole country’s language—bonus points for awkward cultural assumptions.
Chip’s entrepreneurial journey: Start with baggy shorts, fight with Starbucks exec, step down amid scandals, then demand board seats. A real retail trilogy.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 12/29/2025 | Author: Jordan Hart,Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins
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