Columbia Sportswear - Fashion Company Profile
Columbia Sportswear is the Portland, Oregon outdoor company founded in 1938 as a family hat distributorship and grown into one of the world's largest outerwear businesses. Still led by the Boyle family - chairman and chief executive Tim Boyle, son of the late Gert Boyle - it sells outerwear, sportswear, footwear and accessories in more than 100 countries under the Columbia name, alongside its Sorel, Mountain Hardwear and prAna brands.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - one of the world's largest outerwear companies; its brands today are Columbia, Sorel, Mountain Hardwear and prAna
- Type
- Public - NASDAQ: COLM
- Headquarters
- Portland, Oregon, United States
- Founded
- 1938, in Portland, Oregon, as the Columbia Hat Company, a family-owned hat distributorship
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Company Profile
Today the company trades on its product systems as much as on its founding story: the Interchange System of zip-together shells and liners, the Bugaboo ski parka that grew out of it, and the Omni family of waterproof-breathable and sun-protective fabrics. The Boyle-era history behind those products - the 1938 hat company, Gert Boyle's rescue of the business after 1970 and her 'Tough Mother' advertising persona - is summarised in the profile below and kept in full on the history page.
The product line historical descriptions describe is broad on purpose: a wide variety of outerwear, sportswear, rugged footwear and accessories, built on a reputation for developing innovative products that are comfortable, protective, functional, stylish and offer great value. Two names lead the family story behind that line - Gert Boyle and her son Tim Boyle, described as a leading force in the success of developing Columbia Sportswear - and the sections below follow the profile in the order it tells it: the family's flight from Germany and the hat company named for a river, the crisis of 1970, and then the inventions, from the Interchange System to Omni-Tech, that carried a regional maker to the forefront of the outerwear industry.
Columbia Sportswear History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Columbia Sportswear History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
When was Columbia Sportswear founded, and what was it first called?
Founded in 1938, in the historical record. Gert Boyle's parents bought a small hat distributorship in Portland, Oregon and named it Columbia Hat Company, after the river bordering the city, before the family began manufacturing jackets, fishing vests and shirts itself.
What are the Interchange System and the Bugaboo?
The Interchange System, developed in 1982, combines a weatherproof outer shell and an insulating inner jacket that can be worn together or separately. Applied to a ski parka, the concept became the Bugaboo, described in the original as one of the best-selling ski jackets in history.
Which brands sit in the Columbia family, and where is the company based?
Montrail, Mountain Hardwear, Pacific Trail and Sorel, in the historical record. Corporate headquarters remain in Portland, Oregon, with wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada, Japan and Korea and sales offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
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