Billionaire
Chip Wilson has officially resigned from the board of Lululemon
TORONTO — Chip Wilson is leaving Luon — Lululemon’s proprietary fabric — behind to devote his entrepreneurial zeal to a new fabric with an equally fanciful name: Qemir.
The outspoken founder of Lululemon Athletica Inc. officially resigned from the Vancouver-based sportswear retailer’s board on Monday, seven months after a high-profile feud with company directors. The dispute was settled last August when he sold half his stake for $845 million US to Boston-based private equity firm Advent International, which added two members to Lululemon’s board with his approval.
And while Wilson’s spat started because he believed Lululemon was straying from its classic value of innovation, it appears his beef also had something to do with Qemir (pronounced ‘ka-meer’), a type of washand-wear cashmere developed in 2013 by his wife, Shannon Wilson.
“The board rejected it,” James Courtovich, a spokesman for Wilson, said Monday.
Vancouver-based Kit and Ace, run from Vancouver by Shannon Wilson and Chip’s eldest son from his first marriage, J.J., now has seven stores in the U.S. and Canada and plans to add 30 more by the end of this year.
“Oftentimes entrepreneurs want to have a kind of grassroots control — there is a growth point where a company can get too big for the founder to be in the driver’s seat — and maybe that is where (Chip Wilson) enjoys it the most,” said Sandy Silva, fashion industry analyst at NPD Group in Toronto.
In 1979, Wilson founded Westbeach, a skate and surf apparel designer and retail company that he sold in 1997, a year before opening Lululemon. On Monday, Wilson said he was satisfied that Lululemon is now in a solid position, adding his move away from the retailer will give him more opportunity to work on Kit and Ace.
The family has invested $7 million in the company and plans to take on about $300 million in debt by 2019 and expand the company into Europe, Asia and Australia.
Its first collection is pricier than Lululemon and includes about 50 cosy chic pieces: a $488 wool and cashmere “blanket wrap” sweater coat for women is described on the company’s website as adding “Utah-during-Sundance class to the comfort of your duvet”; a men’s white crew neck T-shirt in the proprietary cashmere is $84.
Fashion is notoriously fickle, but Wilson has a keen eye for trends and is a passionate salesman. Shannon Wilson was lead designer of Lululemon throughout its swift rise, but left the company in 2005.
By then, the brand had ignited a casual fashion trend as women, touting the cut and impressive compression abilities of the proprietary Luon fabric, began wearing Lululemon’s $100 yoga pants everywhere they used to don a pair of jeans.
Shannon Wilson describes Kit and Ace clothes as “technical” street wear because the line is designed and sewn in the same way as movable athletic garments. Come spring, there will be a broader range of designs and new fabrics, including a washable silk.