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Lululemon Athletica would not have gotten its start or become the powerhouse brand it is today without the vision and design savvy of its founder and exiting chairman, Chip Wilson.

But the Vancouver resident and meditation aficionado has never been afraid to share his opinions, a trait which has drawn him into an above average number of corporate PR snafus.

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Here are five of his most controversial comments over the years:

“Frankly some women’s bodies just actually don’t work for [wearing Lululemon pants]… it’s really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it,” – Wilson’s response, when asked by a Bloomberg TV reporter about consumer complaints related to “pilling” fabric in the yoga pants

“Mediocrity is doing an ‘okay job,’ having a relationship that ‘works,’ being just ‘a little’ overweight, or having a job that ‘pays the bills.’ … Most people live in a state of mediocrity. Mediocrity is as close to the bottom as it is the top.” – Wilson writes in a blog post on Lululemon’s site

“The reason the Japanese liked [my former skateboard brand, ‘Homeless’] was because it had an L in it and a Japanese marketing firm wouldn’t come up with a brand name with an L in it. L is not in their vocabulary. It’s a tough pronunciation for them. So I thought, next time I have a company, I’ll make a name with three Ls and see if I can get three times the money. It’s kind of exotic for them. I was playing with Ls and I came up with Lululemon. It’s funny to watch them try to say it.” – Wilson in a 2004 interview with National Post Business Magazine

“Breast cancer also came into prominence in the 1990’s. I suggest this was due to the number of cigarette-smoking Power Women who were on the pill (initial concentrations of hormones in the pill were very high) and taking on the stress previously left to men in the working world.” — Wilson writes in a blog post on Lululemon’s site

“The Landmark program helps you understand the connection between integrity and performance. The definition of integrity is doing what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. It’s recognizing that what you say and how you say it determines your effectiveness in life and also determines the type of people you end up surrounding yourself with — because people surround themselves with like people. I was looking for something that would be a catalyst for people to be leaders and managers more quickly, and Landmark was the best thing I saw.” — Wilson explaining his support of the controversial Landmark Education program

At Lululemon, Wilson is also known as the man behind its ‘manifesto’:

Some of the more controversial mantras have been removed since the manifesto’s inception [e.g. “”Coke, Pepsi and all other pops will be known as the cigarettes of the future. Colas are not a substitute for water. They are just another cheap drug made to look great by advertising.”]