An article out today on CNN Money, Lululemon: In An Uncomfortable Postion, is a fascinating read about the dynamics of Chip Wilson and Christine Day over the past year.
As a brand follower and fan, a lot of the tension from the executive team was really noticeable, especially after Sheree Waterson was terminated/left (which I feel was a mistake) and then subsequently Christine Day stepping down as CEO. The results of this dysfunctional dynamic has been several class action law suites alleging fraud with the handling of shares and disappointed and embarrassed customers at being the butt of sheer luon jokes.
I do feel that in the past month, Lululemon is slowly finding its way back to the designs that really captured my attention. As much as the Billionaire CEO Chip Wilson has made me cringe at times (Ayn Rand and his libertarian beliefs, Landmark, and his many ‘interesting’ quotes) for sure he is an equally charismatic and eccentric billionaire, he is the creative energy behind Lululemon. I am always interested to see what kind of genius that creative, half reckless megalomaniac will create next because you know he has it in him to produce something the scale of Lululemon again. Christine Day on the other hand, to me has always been the antitheses of that creative Lululemon energy. Its true that lululemon needed that structural organization. Unfortunately she was not able to do that without simultaneously stagnating the brand and resorting to cheap tricks of watering down designs and relying on sub par materials.
 |
| Incognito Billionaire. |
