FEBRUARY 2020 BCBUSINESS 45
W
When Chip Wilson talks, other clothing manufacturers listen.
And for good reason. When he spoke in October at a meeting of the newly formed
BC Apparel & Gear Association (BCAG)
at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
on
SFU's downtown campus, Wilson was introduced as "the most disruptive entrepre-
neurial legend the Vancouver apparel industry has ever seen" and "widely credited
with the mega innovation of creating the athleisure retail category."
Yet the founder of Westbeach Apparel and Lululemon Athletica, now part owner of
North Vancouver–based Arc'teryx Equipment, France's Salomon Group and Chicago-
headquartered Wilson Sporting Goods Co., struggles with the same shortage of work-
ers as the rest of the industry in B.C.
"The last 35 years, I've recognized that probably my biggest bottleneck, notwith-
standing pattern makers, has really been technical apparel designers," Wilson told the
IN HIS ELEMENT
Mustang Survival's
Mark Anderson reckons
the province's apparel
business will need to
fill about 5,000 jobs in
the next five years
COURTESY OF MUSTANG SURVIVAL
