Lululemon Athletica appointed Laurent Potdevin, president of the charitable shoe company Toms Shoes and a former long-time executive of Burton Snowboards, as its new CEO. It also announced that Chip Wilson, who founded the upscale yoga apparel retailer, would resign as chairman next year

Potdevin will take over from Christine Day in January, and will also become a Lululemon board member. Day had stayed on with the company to help find her successor as CEO after shocking Wall Street in June in announcing plans to step down.

Her pending exit followed revelations in the spring that Lululemon had recalled its black yoga pants – which accounted for 17 percent of its sales – after customers complained that they were see-through. Complaints about the sheerness and durability of the replacement product have since been heard. In the past supply chain issues had also continually led to understocks at the fast-expanding chain.

The Swiss-born Potdevin’s operations experience was said to have helped him win the job. After starting his career at French luxury conglomerate LVMH, he spent more than 15 years at Burton, where he served as COO, head of operations, and finally CEO from 2005 to 2010. Lululemon said Potdevin encouraged technical product innovation, product diversification and international expansion in helping build Burton into a global brand. In his brief time at Toms since early 2011, Potdevin was credited with building a world-class management team, establishing supply chains and operations globally, lead global expansion and strengthening the company's cultural identity. 

“I would probably describe myself as somebody that has a real passion for all functions across the business,” said Potdevin on the conference call with analysts,. And as more of a generalist that has had experience across all the functions in all the regions. So learning is what fuels me and I tend to be very curious, so I really look forward to spending some time with the team here and helping them continue to do what they have done so well.”

“During the course of the selection process the search committee recognized that Laurent has a deep understanding and enthusiasm for all functions in the business, from marketing to product innovation to supply chain and operations management,” added Michael Casey, Lululemon’s lead director of the board. “We also found him to be a very strong leader.”

On its third-quarter conference call last year, Lululemon officials noted three major hires in the product area over the last six months. They include Jennifer Battersby, SVP product operations, Steve Berube, SVP logistics & distribution, and more recently Tara Poseley as its chief product officer.

The bigger surprise was the planned exit of Wilson, who had sparked outrage after saying in a television interview this fall that “some women’s bodies just actually don’t work” in the chain’s popular yoga pants. Wilson, who has also been called out for other controversial comments in the past, will retain his seat on the board. The former Starbucks executive Michael Casey, who is Lululemon’s lead director of the board, will become chairman.

 “As a founder, Chip's critical role and focus going forward will be to advise and support the culture of the company and to educate on the original intent of the brand, product and operating principles, to ensure that the core values which make Lululemon unique and successful are maintained as the company grows,” said Casey.