While the world became a little more unsettled in 2025 — with political change sweeping the globe and AI promising a second machine revolution — the stock market continued to charge higher. 

The S&P 500 moved up 16.9 percent last year, trading at 6,873.97 as the market close approached on New Year’s Eve. It was a increase fueled by continued consumer spending and the big bucks being put up to build data centers to power the AI revolution. 

Fashion and retail can’t really compete with the juggernaut investment going on around AI, but the industry did have its winners, including some perennial performers.

On the downside were companies stuck in turnarounds that aren’t turning fast enough and are still trying to find their footing.

This is the second year in a row that Lululemon was among the industry’s biggest stock-market decliners. 

That’s a significant step down for the company, which for years was one of the industry’s few powerhouse growth brands and the face of the years-long movement toward athleisure. 

Now there’s a battle for the soul of Lululemon. 

Founder Chip Wilson has long agitated from the outside for change and is pushing for more change still by trying to remake the board with a proxy battle. Just who will sit on the board and who the directors choose as the next CEO are questions that should be answered this year. 

There are plenty of players looking to shape the change at Lululemon — and interestingly some are trying to transplant the savvy that helped position Ralph Lauren for the leader board for two years in a row. 

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has taken a more than $1 billion stake in Lululemon and is pushing for Jane Nielsen — former chief financial officer at Ralph Lauren and before that, Tapestry — as the next CEO.  

It’s an idea that some on Wall Street could get behind. 

Laurent Vasilescu, a senior analyst at BNP Paribas, told clients: “Jane is a true leader who can bring up morale after the mass layoffs this summer. During the Ralph Lauren turnaround pre-COVID[-19], Patrice Louvet, the CEO, and Jane Nielsen were able to retain talent and bring key decision makers within the organization.”

Vasilescu also gave Nielsen good marks for operational discipline. 

“Jane Nielsen brought operational rigor to the Ralph Lauren organization,” he said. “We used to refer to her in our research as ‘The Sheriff’ during the early days of the Ralph Lauren turnaround. She implemented operational disciplines on all fronts from [stock keeping unit] rationalization with a focus on the core, rightsizing the store base, supply chain logistics as well as corporate overhead.”

Vasilescu also said that Nielsen could help Lululemon bring in additional talent to drive a better product assortment. 

“Over the last few years Lulu has launched a slew of product categories that are not core to Lulu’s product offering,” the analyst said. “Self care in 2019 — discontinued. Mirror in 2020 — discontinued. Secondhand apparel with ‘like new’ in 2021 — who wants secondhand leggings? 2022 footwear — never see it on the streets. Then Wondermost, Breezethrough, Glow up and even a seersucker offering. 

“Like Ralph Lauren, if Lulu returns focus to its great core offering, the Lulu core customer may reengage with Lululemon again,” Vasilescu said.

It’s a compelling idea to take someone who has been key to one of the big stock market winners and moving them over to another company in need of a buff-up.

Even so, every brand, company and turnaround is its own beast, requiring rock-solid execution, subtle strategic thought and a good bit of luck — especially if the goal is to push a former industry star back up into the sky. 

The Bottom Line is a business analysis column written by Evan Clark, deputy managing editor, who has covered the fashion industry since 2000.