By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — Lululemon’s former CEO Chip Wilson is once again slamming the struggling company he founded, and he’s launching a campaign to shake up its board.
Wilson, Lululemon’s controversial founder and second largest shareholder, announced Monday that he nominated three new directors, including former executives from ESPN and Activision, as well as a former leader from rival On. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the proxy fight.
The battle comes a few weeks after Lululemon announced that its CEO Calvin McDonald is leaving the company, capping off a tumultuous seven-year stint. The athleisure brand failed to keep up with competitors toward the end of McDonald’s tenure, and its stock has lost more than 40% of its value in 2025.
In a press release, Wilson said that Lululemon “needs visionary creative leadership to thrive,” and its current board members “lack these skills.” He said that the new leaders are “needed to redefine Lululemon and begin this company’s next chapter of success.”
Wilson might not be alone in his fight for control of Lululemon: Elliott Investment Management, a prominent activist investment firm, has built up a $1 billion stake in the company and is fighting with management to name former Ralph Lauren executive Jane Nielsen as its next CEO, the Journal reported.
Lululemon, based in Vancouver, didn’t immediately respond to comment.
Wilson has also criticized Lululemon’s CEO change announcement, saying it was a “total failure of board oversight with no clear succession plan in place” and that shareholders have lost faith in the current board.
But Wilson isn’t nominating himself to the board, which he left in 2015. Instead, he said that the changes are “about recommitting Lululemon to genuine creative leadership that will re-establish a brand of enduring strength.”
One notable nomination is Marc Maurer, the former co-CEO of On, the high-end Roger Federer-backed Swiss shoe and apparel company. On is one of Lululemon’s main rivals and partly why Lululemon is struggling, especially in its home market of North America.
Lululemon is hurting because of growing competition, a softening market for athleisure, and clothing that looks dated, said Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData.
“This can be seen in current collections which do not feel all that well differentiated, and where the company has made pivots, it seems to be going into junkification territory with heavily branded hoodies and tops that simply do not speak to the traditional finesse and quality of the Lululemon brand,” he wrote in a previous note.
Saunders told CNN Monday that company has “run out of steam” under its current leadership.
“Wilson isn’t wrong to try and infuse some new blood into the management suite. The nominations include a good balance of experience, although the main challenge remains finding the right CEO,” he said.
Wilson stepped down as CEO in 2005 and has routinely attacked the company’s decisions. Last year, he criticized Lululemon’s diversity and inclusion efforts. In a 2018 interview with CNN, he said he lost control of the company when it went public and said he was stifled by its bureaucracy.
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