Lululemon pants ‘don’t work for some women’s bodies,’ founder says

While not quite in the same league as Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries saying that fat women and nerdy kids don’t belong in his clothes, Lululemon founder Chip Wilson came perilously close to bonehead territory in a Bloomberg interview Tuesday, when he explained that not every women should wear his company’s C$100+ pants.

After patiently entertaining a two-minute promotional pitch from Wilson’s wife on behalf of her new mediation business, Whil, Bloomberg interviewer Trish Regan cut to the chase, asking Wilson to speak to the ongoing technical problems with Lululemon’s yoga pants. Once again, complaints have risen about the fabric being too transparent, an obvious concern for the downward dog set.

Wilson endeavored to answer as candidly as possible, as is his norm, while still maintaining a degree of diplomacy. He started by explaining that Lululemon is a technology company that strives to push its technology as far as possible, and that anytime you’re dealing with a product with thousands of variables, its impossible to cover all the bases, all the time.

So far so good, sort of.

But then warming to the topic, he explained that “quite frankly, some women’s bodies actually don’t work for [the pants]. Adding “It’s about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there.”

If Wilson was tempted to go further, to discuss the tipping point where pressure in the thighs threatened to overwhelm the fabric, he had the great good sense to resist. By now, he surely realized that no right-thinking man atop a company with US$1.4-billion in sales last year, the vast majority driven by women, had anything to gain by delving into either the specifics of thigh pressure ratios, or what kind of women would be better off in a baggier sweatpant.

After all, it was only last week that one of his stores had the colossal poor sense to mock a charity focused on battered women. Announcing that “We do partners yoga, not partners card” in the front window of one of its Dallas outlets, the message seemed to signal that the company preferred couples yoga over Partners Card, a big fundraising initiative for a local women’s shelter.

If you’re confused, join the club. None of it makes any sense, and no doubt Lululemon HQ felt the same, as no sooner had the news made the headlines did the company cut a US$10,000 cheque for the charity.

All of which is surely enough to remind Wilson why he rarely grants interviews anymore. There are just some things better left unsaid.