Lululemon's Ayn Rand Bags Irk Customers

An upscale yogawear chain isn't the most likely place you'd expect to find promoting the works of free-market libertarian author Ayn Rand, say some Lululemon shoppers. Since late October, the chain has been using shopping bags with the words "Who is John Galt?" in reference to Rand's controversial 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged. The book—which has been added to the staff reading list—hails the virtues of self-interest.

A post on the company blog says Lululemon founder Chip Wilson read the novel when he was 18 and it inspired him to "elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness." One fitness instructor and Lululemon shopper says she has been slowly becoming disillusioned with the company and the Rand bags are the last straw. "I don’t want people looking at me with that little logo on my pants or on my hoodie and thinking I’m going home to read Atlas Shrugged after, you know, downward dog," she tells the Globe and Mail. (More Ayn Rand stories.)