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Columbia Sportswear Company
Columbia Sportswear makes and sells outdoor clothing, shoes, and gear for hiking, skiing, fishing, and everyday wear.
Columbia Sportswear is an outdoor clothing and gear company. It sells jackets, hiking boots, fleece, ski pants, fishing shirts, and backpacks — the kind of stuff you wear and carry when you head outside. It sells these things under its own brand names to outdoor stores and directly to shoppers through its own shops and websites.
The company runs several brands. Columbia is the big one and the most affordable, the brand you might buy for a family ski trip or a rainy walk. Sorel makes winter boots and shoes that look good on city streets too. Mountain Hardwear sells serious climbing and camping gear for people who take the outdoors seriously. prAna makes clothes for yoga and climbing. The brands sit at different price points, so Columbia can reach both budget-minded families and dedicated adventurers. You can think of Columbia as a clothing company with weather on its mind. It buys fabrics, designs jackets and boots, has them made by factories overseas, and then sells the finished products to retailers like REI or Dick's Sporting Goods and through its own stores and websites. Like most apparel companies, it does not own most of its factories; it designs and sells, and others make. The business is a bit uneven. Its biggest market is the United States, but it also sells heavily in Europe, Canada, and Asia. It is a mid-sized player next to giants like Nike and VF Corporation, which owns The North Face. Its edge is value: reliable outdoor gear at prices below premium brands. Its weakness is that outdoor apparel is a crowded, weather-sensitive business, where a warm winter can hurt sales.
Columbia's history has a famous twist. The company nearly died in the 1970s, and it was rescued by Gert Boyle, a housewife with no formal business training, who took over after her husband died. Her son Tim later led the company for decades. Gert became the face of the brand, appearing in ads as "One Tough Mother" while testing jackets in grueling ways. The company still sells its gear, and that scrappy family story still shapes how it presents itself.
Saved answer · last researched 14 Nov 2026