Dive Brief:

• Lululemon Athletic Inc. has filed the regulatory paperwork to allow founder Dennis “Chip” Wilson to sell his 14% stake in the company, more than 20 million shares valued at some $1.34 billion.

• Both the company and Wilson said there are no plans just yet, but that Wilson and his family are thinking about it and that the filing paves the way for them to liquidate.

• Wilson sold half his stake last summer when he voted against two directors, including the chairman, over differences in how to run the company.

Dive Insight:

Chip Wilson hasn’t been CEO for 10 years, but has had a rocky relationship with the company he founded since stepping down as chairman in 2014. His demeaning remarks then, saying that pilling of the company’s trademark fabric happened only to women of a certain size, helped delay taking action to fix the quality control issue and did the retailer (and himself) no public relations favors. 

The company has put that quality incident behind it, finally, but finds itself competing with apparel makers of every size and price point in the yogawear-as-streetwear space it essentially created. 

Wilson has continued to be at odds with the company's leadership, and the leadership in turn is reportedly concerned about his involvement with Kit and Ace, the performance-cashmere retailer recently started by his wife and son that has a Lululemon vibe.