Lululemon’s Founding Family Gets Revenge With Cashmere

Cashmere has been collected from the undercoats of Mongolian goats for hundreds of years. “Technical cashmere” has been around for about two. It’s the creation of Shannon Wilson, the former lead designer for Lululemon Athletica who’s married to the company’s founder, Chip Wilson. The fabric is only 10 percent cashmere, blended with spandex and cotton or rayon. It’s the foundation for Kit & Ace, an apparel company Shannon began by selling slouchy $80 T-shirts to the so-called creative class.

“We have to make sure we’re providing function and performance,” Shannon says. “And time, right? The biggest thing is time,” adds JJ Wilson, co-founder of Kit & Ace, former creative director for “men’s vision” at Lululemon, and Shannon’s stepson. Shannon is the new company’s creative director; JJ is brand director. Chip, for now, is an informal adviser and financial backer, albeit one with unusual access to the founders. Kit and Ace are fictional muses, a single woman and man who are creative, active problem-solvers.