LuLulemon Athletica is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company that was created in 1998 by Chip Wilson out of a Vancouver neighborhood. He created the company after noticing a constant rise in female athletes. The company now has 211 locations throughout Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Here are five things you didn’t know about Chip Wilson.
5. He created a meditation technique
Wilson and his wife created a quick 60 second meditation technique called Whil. It is a four step technique that helps us to not burnout throughout the day and stay set on our goals.
4. Stephen Colbert made fun of him
The one main controversy that Wilson has ever been in was when Stephen Colbert announced he was the “Alpha Dog of the Week”. This segment of Colbert’s show criticized Wilson about his personal views on cultural topics such as racism and birth control.
3. He and his wife started a school of design
Wilson and his wife also founded The Chip and Shannon Wilson School of Design that operates out of Kwantlen Polytechnic University. So far, there has been $36 million put towards the school and the Wilsons donated $12 million. The school wants to provide their students with the best environment to learn about the apparel industry.
2. Wilson founded a charity
Wilson and his wife, Shannon, started their own charity back in 2007 called Imagine 1day, which is dedicated towards improving the school conditions in Ethiopia and focusing on providing the children with better educations. The official goal of the charity is to deliver all Ethiopians with access to quality education funded free of foreign aid by 2030.
1. His first company was Westbeach Snowboard Ltd.
In 1979 Chip Wilson founded his first company, Westbeach Snowboard Ltd. The apparel company sold surf, skate and snowboard apparel. The company was very successful and Wilson was able to sell it in 1997, which is what allowed him to go on and start Lululemon a year later.
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