Chip Wilson Net Worth: Fortune explored as Lululemon's founder criticizes company's Diversity and Inclusion efforts

Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has directly aimed at the company's diversity and inclusion policy. Wilson, who resigned from the Canadian-American multinational athletic apparel company's board of directors back in 2015, stated in a latest Forbes interview,

"You’ve got to be clear that you don’t want certain customers coming in."

Chip Wilson, who reportedly commands an impressive estimated net worth of $7 billion, founded Lululemon Athletica in 1998. He had previously come under fire after a 2013 Bloomberg interview, where he made a few unsavory weight-related comments. He resigned as the chairman of the company in the very same year.

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Chip Wilson's Lululemon Saga

Many consider Chip Wilson to be the person who revolutionized and even created the buzz around athleisure. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Wilson commands a very impressive estimated net worth of $7 billion. Most of his fortune comes from his creation of Lululemon Athletica.

Chip Wilson, born in San Diego and raised in Canada, founded Lululemon Athletica in 1998. Before the athleisure brand, he founded a successful snowboard apparel shop named Westbeach Snowboard Ltd, which he sold for $15 million in 1997, only a year before founding Lululemon.

Lululemon launched as a yoga apparel shop but quickly rose to prominence due to its excellent use of technical fabric in creating a unique blend of high-quality athletic wear and fashion. This brand pioneered the athleisure trend, which altered the fitness and fashion industry landscape, blending them for a crossover of the ages.

Wilson reached billionaire status in 2007 after Lululemon grew up to be a perfect community hub that fostered a unique, never-before-seen level of personal customer engagement and loyalty. In 2013, the company was hit with controversy after its signature sheer pants were found to be see-through.

It further escalated when Wilson responded to the controversy by claiming that the pants were not fit for all women's bodies. He resigned from the chairman position in the company in the same year, and a couple of years later, in 2015, he left the board of directors. He stated to Forbes in 2015:

"I have achieved the goals I set when I came back, and after careful thought, I believe that now is the right time to step away from the board."

Wilson was initially married to a woman named Nancy Herb but later married one of Lululemon's original designers, Shannon Wilson, in 2002. He has five children, two from the first marriage and three from the second. Shannon and her stepson, J. J. Wilson, founded the Cashmere wool clothing brand Kit and Ace in 2014. Chip Wilson still holds 8% of the stock in Lululemon.

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"They’re trying to become like the Gap": Chip Wilson on Lululemon

Chip Wilson's latest Forbes interview, published on Tuesday, January 2, landed the Lululemon Athletica founder in a pit of controversy. The publication highlighted Wilson's displeasure with the athleisure company's "whole diversity and inclusion thing", including the appearence of the models in their ads, which he finds unfavourable. He told Forbes,

"They’re trying to become like the Gap, everything to everybody,"

He added,

"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."

He also voiced his distaste for the brand's more fashion-focused trajectory and called their dress shirts "appalling" as they strayed away from the company's quality athletic apparel origins. Despite the brand's stock catapulting 60% from the previous year, he called the money made from selling these new items, which he was not a fan of, "bad profits."

Wilson is well-known for similar controversial remarks. While talking about the brand's controversial sheer yoga pants, which were found to be see-through in 2013, he told Bloomberg,

"Frankly some women's bodies just don't actually work for (the pants)"

He added,

"It's really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it"

He later issued an apology for his comments. This was also the same year that Wilson resigned from the company. A Lululemon spokesperson told Newsweek that Wilson does not speak for the company and does not reflect the "company views or beliefs. " The spokesperson also detailed that the brand was "a very different company" from when he left.