Columbia Sportswear History

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The Company Description of Its Time

Columbia Sportswear Company is filed in its Apparel Search profile as a business that grew, in its own words, from a small family-owned hat distributorship founded in 1938 to one of the world's largest outerwear brands and the leading seller of skiwear in the United States. The scale figures attached to that arc are dated and are kept dated here: in 2008 the company reported net sales of approximately $1.32 billion, its products were available in more than 100 countries, and it employed approximately 3,200 people around the world, with corporate headquarters remaining in Portland, Oregon, wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada, Japan and Korea, and sales offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

From Columbia Hat Company to the Tough Mother

Columbia's history, as recorded, began in the 1930s when Gert's parents fled Germany and settled in Portland, Oregon. They bought a small hat distributorship and named it Columbia Hat Company, after the river bordering the city. Frustrated by poor deliveries from suppliers, the family started manufacturing products themselves, and expanded the line to include jackets, fishing vests and shirts - the first step from distributor to maker, and the origin of the outerwear range the company is known for. In 1948 Gert married Neal Boyle, who joined the family business and later took the helm of the growing company.

In 1970 Neal died of a heart attack, leaving three children, an expanding company leaning heavily on bank loans, and a wife without business experience. What followed is plain: the day after the funeral the phones were ringing with salesmen and vendors who assumed the company was going out of business; the bank, concerned that a housewife was going to run the company, summoned a meeting - and Gert bought herself a little time, pledging Columbia's building as collateral, trimming the company, and sending Tim to the trade shows. Profits rose, and Gert's no-nonsense approach eventually became the 'Tough Mother' persona of Columbia's global advertising, the tyrant mother who makes sure each product can stand up to her standards and the worst weather - a message, the profile notes, that is universally understood around the world.

Interchange, Bugaboo and the Omni Technologies

Columbia is known as a product innovator, and its defining concept is dated precisely: the Interchange System, developed in 1982, pairs a weatherproof outer shell with an insulating inner jacket that can be worn together or separately, making each parka several garments in one. The first Interchange jackets were made for hunting; applied to a ski parka, the same concept became the Bugaboo, which the profile calls one of the best-selling ski jackets in history and credits with propelling the company to the forefront of the outerwear industry. In 1991 the company introduced its Omni-Tech products, featuring waterproof breathable fabric, and became one of the world's largest providers of waterproof breathable performance products designed for authentic outdoor adventures.

The innovation list continues with Omni-Shade clothing, recommended by The Skin Cancer Foundation as effective protection from the sun's harmful effects on your skin. Around the lead brand, the company's family of brands has grown to include Montrail, Mountain Hardwear, Pacific Trail and Sorel. The profile closes with the company's community record: support for organisations specialising in human assistance, conservation, the environment, the arts and education; the Rethreads program, which provides returned or slightly flawed but still wearable garments to people in need throughout the United States; membership of the Conservation Alliance; and an employee volunteer program organised around causes such as SMART (Start Making A Reader Today), the American Hiking Society and the American Heart Association. The routes below lead to the Apparel Search outerwear guides for men, women and children and to the separate Columbia brand filings for each audience.

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