• by Sarah Mahoney , December 12, 2025

After a long reign as the alpha brand of athleisure, Lululemon is heading into a period of leadership uncertainty. CEO Calvin McDonald announced his resignation this week, with the board launching a search for a new chief executive at a moment when the brand is struggling to recapture its former glory days.

The news arrived alongside the Vancouver-based apparel company’s third-quarter results. Overall revenue climbed 7% to $2.6 billion, but sales fell again in the Americas, down 2%. Lululemon also issued a weaker-than-expected holiday forecast, citing higher promotions and stepped-up marketing spending.

As  Fast Company notes, the quarter itself largely beat expectations and showed pockets of resilience. But the longer-term picture has grown more complicated. The  New York Times points out that Lululemon’s stock has fallen roughly 50% over the past year, reflecting growing investor concern about the brand’s trajectory.

For now, chief financial officer Meghan Frank and chief commercial officer Andre Maestrini will serve as interim co-CEOs, while board chair Marti Morfitt steps into the role of executive chair. “The Board is focused on identifying a leader with a track record of driving companies through periods of growth and transformation to guide the company’s next chapter of success,” Morfitt said in the company’s announcement.

The leadership transition will be closely watched by apparel insiders. McDonald, who joined Lululemon from Sephora in 2018, brought a period of relative calm after years of C-suite drama. He replaced Laurent Potdevin, who was ousted following conduct violations. And Potdevin had stepped in to rescue the company from lingering fallout from founder Chip Wilson’s public controversies.

Wilson, who founded Lululemon in 1998, remains a vocal presence. He owns about 8% of the company and has spent years criticizing its direction. That includes a blistering full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal in October, calling Lululemon a "sinking ship."

“Chip Wilson has not been involved with the company for a decade, and he continues to make inaccurate and misleading statements about Lululemon, our history, and our board and leadership team,” the company said, according to BIV, a Canadian business publication.

Some analysts argue the brand’s problems go beyond leadership. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, says Lululemon has struggled to deliver product innovation that matches its premium positioning. The brand “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 writes. He also points to rising excess inventory, now being cleared through discounts — a tactic Lululemon once avoided.

At the same time, the competitive landscape has shifted. The athleisure market is no longer enjoying the organic growth it saw earlier in the decade, and premium competitors such as Alo Yoga and Beyond Yoga are fighting aggressively for share.

That combination — softer category growth, intensified competition, and a brand identity that appears less distinct — makes the timing of the leadership change especially delicate. “Lululemon is now a brand without a captain at the very time when it needs a strong sense of direction,” Saunders writes. “While the market and investors may welcome a change, this shift seems very sudden and hasty.”

Whether a new CEO can restore Lululemon’s once-dominant cultural position remains an open question. The brand still commands scale, loyalty, and pricing power. But in a more crowded and less forgiving athleisure market, recapturing its cool-girl aura may require more than a leadership reset.