It's long past time for Lululemon to stop choosing racism
I don’t do yoga nor do I run anymore. Therefore, I’m not part of the demographic targeted by Lululemon.
Ideally, I could ignore Lululemon. However, as a fat, crass American Born Chinaman1, I do have vested interested in racism, especially anti-Asian racism that has been foisted upon me time and time again since I was a kid. I didn’t choose ‘Lululemon’; Canadian-American billionaire and promoter of children working in factories Chip Wilson created it. Its continual embrace by a constituency that is mostly white women is a reminder of how little people care about Asian Americans.
“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.”
(Emphasis added by me.)
In 2009 Wilson told a cleaned up, slightly less racist version of the story on Lululemon’s company blog, which as since been removed from Lululemon’s website.
Wilson hasn’t been directly involved with Lululemon since he stepped away from their board of directors in February 2015, but the company he founded continues to preserve the racist, anti-Asian name he created.
Today in 2022, Lululemon exists in the space formerly occupied by the professional American baseball team the Cleveland Guardians and the professional American football team the Washington Commanders before they changed their names. The Guardians and the Commanders were founded in the 20th century by rich white men who chose to tie their sports franchises to racist, anti-indigenous slurs and logos. Long after their founders died, both franchises retained their respective racist names and logos. Non-indigenous fans took to wearing headdresses and face paint to games, and creating pseudo-indigenous “war chants”. Both franchises and their fans downplayed and outright denied the derogatory nature of their names and logos, going so far as to claim that the caricatures and slurs honor indigenous people. It took generations of protest by indigenous advocates and allies, the murder of George Floyd, and the threat of lost revenue before each franchise decided to change their name and logo.
One aspect of Lululemon’s name arguably makes it worse. The original owners of the Guardians and Commanders attached already existing racist slurs and caricatures to their franchises. Lululemon’s founder couldn’t find an Asian slur that quenched his racist thirst, so invented a new slur just for himself.
It’s long past time for Lululemon to drop their racist name.
Their refusal to do so is calculated. The majority of Lululemon’s customers aren’t Asian American, so as long as Lululemon keeps erasing and downplaying the racist origin of their name and engaging BIPOC models and ambassadors to do the heavy lifting of diversity and inclusion, Lululemon can preserve their anti-Asian name and continue to generate profits from brand recognition. While I believe in the importance and the sincerity of the BIPOC models and athletes that have chosen to engage with Lululemon (probably unaware of the racist origin of their name), it is not fair for Lululemon’s leadership, specifically, their board and CEO, Calvin McDonald, to use diversity, equity, and inclusion work other people are doing to deflect from their moral responsibility to change their company’s racist name. No amount of white washing or corporate DEI-washing will cleanse Lululemon of its anti-Asian meaning.
Rebranding is bound to be a headache that demands time, resources, and money. Correcting a wrong and doing the right thing is often complicated and resource consuming, which is why many people and institutions choose to invest in public relations professionals instead. Lululemon ought to invest just as much into rebranding as they did into promoting their racist name. I am not the first person to point out the racist origin and meaning of Lululemon and demand change. I hope that by the time my daughter is old enough to wear athletic gear I won’t have to explain to her what ‘Lululemon’ means. Unfortunately, my sense is that as Lululemon continues to expand and generate billions in revenues, they’ve already decided that they’re too big to do the morally right thing.
Update: We have Instagram and Twitter accounts.
The word ‘Chinaman’ is a racist epithet that was and still is deployed by white people against Asians, Chinese and otherwise. Its usage is always offensive and painful. Decades ago I chose to reclaim this slur for myself and to refashion it in a way that suits my needs. It’s nice to have a word that I can use thoughtfully and non-Chinese people can’t. However, I understand that there are people who believe that all slurs ought to be banned. I disagree because I believe that words can be reclaimed and redeployed, and simply banning ‘bad’ words and punishing everybody who uses them strips away nuance and discourages thoughtful conversation. I refer to myself as ‘Chinaman’ in my own spaces. You do not have permission to call me ‘Chinaman’. I like that. Other people don’t. For some (many?) people, this is one of a myriad of reasons that I’m a bad Asian American.