Chip Wilson

Brainstormer, Business adviser, Business leader, Business mentor, Entrepreneur, Idea generator, Life mentor, Parent, Philanthropist, World traveler

Chip Wilson is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, loving husband and a father to five boys. As the founder of the yoga-inspired clothing company lululemon athletica, Chip is a globally recognized innovator in the field of technical apparel and widely credited with starting the “athleisure” retail category, now a $100-billion-a year global business. Today, Chip is actively involved in Hold It All, a multifaceted organization with businesses falling under five categories: apparel, real estate, philanthropy, active private equity and passive investments. All share the principles of design, ingenuity, people development and making functional beautiful. A former competitive athlete, Chip’s function-over-fashion approach lead him to start his first retail apparel company, Westbeach, in 1979. Westbeach evolved from a skate/surf company to become Westbeach Snowboarding Ltd. and grew to a globally recognized brand in the snowboarding community. A year after selling Westbeach, Chip settled in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighborhood where he identified another athletic shift—the growing popularity of yoga. In 1998, Chip founded lululemon athletica and brought to market the best stretchy black pants that the world has ever seen. At lululemon, Chip became known for his people-before-product leadership approach. He surrounded himself with like-minded individuals; creative, driven, athletic locals with a love for work-life balance inspired by the West Coast. This cohesive culture fueled the innovation and growth of the brand. In 2007, lululemon athletica was taken public and Chip remains its largest individual shareholder and biggest cheerleader. In his personal life, Chip and his wife, Shannon, are passionate about Vancouver and developing its creative and entrepreneurial community. Through their foundation, they have supported local art and design initiatives such as the Wilson School of Design and the Wilson Arts Plaza at Emily Carr University.

Creating training catalysts for people under the age of 35 to maximize their short lives.

Each time I eliminate the angst of past events, I clear my brain for extra computing space. Is extra brain computing space linear or exponential?

People Development, Technical Apparel, Vertical Retail

The usual: rags to riches to rags to riches to rags to riches.

Designing couture apparel that is comfortable.