And the reign of Chip Wilson comes to an end. Lululemon co-founder will be cutting ties with the brand, maybe for good? Wilson has announced his resignation as non-executive Chairman after a long and painful run of controversies. He will stay on through next spring but will depart before the company’s annual meeting in June 2014.
The news was announced via press release which was actually an announcement about the new CEO. They’ve finally found someone to take over Christine Day’s position which has been hanging in limbo since she resigned earlier this year in June post see-through pantsgate. The new CEO is Laurent Potdevin, current president of TOMS Shoes and former CEO of Burton Snowboards, who will take over for Day in January. Michael Casey, Lead Director of the Board of Directors, will fill Wilson’s spot as the next Chairman of the Board.
This is all rather big news after a year-plus of bad moves. What will the new CEO do differently? And how will lulu operate as Wilson-free? We’ll have to wait and see.
Said Potdevin in a statement via the press release:
“I am excited and honored to be joining lululemon,” said Laurent Potdevin. “It is an exceptional brand with an extraordinary team that creates technical, beautiful products, and builds authentic consumer experiences. The tremendous success of this company to date and the potential for future growth are both exciting and inspiring. I look forward to working with everyone at lululemon to continue to build and drive the brand forward.”
Pretty diplomatic and gaffe-free so far. This could be interesting.
As for Chip. Where there’s a whil, there’s a Wilson creeping.
[LA Times]
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Earlier…
I heard they are going to go for the plus size market and they’re bringing Rob Ford on board to help ease into that market of plus size men and woman and the addiction market.
Don’t worry about Chip loosing his job he’s worth 2.9 billion http://www.forbes.com/profile/chip-wilson/
Well it’s about time. I wonder if they are going to revert to making the line made in Canada again at any point in the future….naive I know but one can dream lol.
What to wear to Yoga-class, what to wear ? Let’s see now :
$10 T-shirt from Wal-Mart.
$10 track-pants or gym-shorts from Wal-Mart.
There. All done !
Lulu-who ?
When, none other than New York City’s own Alanna Kaivalya speaks out against Chip, I am awakened from my slumber … http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alanna-kaivalya/chip-wilson-can-kiss-my-f_b_4415790.html