Columbia Outerwear - Jackets/Coats/Parkas
Founded in 1938, Columbia Outerwear Company® has grown
from a small family-owned hat distributorship to one of the world's
largest outerwear brands and the leading seller of sporswear in
the United States. Columbia's extensive product line includes a
wide variety of outerwear, sportswear,rugged footwear and accessories.
Developing innovative products that are functional yet stylish and
offer great value is what we do.
At the head of our company are 78 year-old matriarch Gert Boyle,
Chairman of the Board, and her son, Tim Boyle, President and CEO.
Columbia's history starts with Gert's parents, Paul and Marie Lamfrom,
in 1937 when they fled Germany. They bought a small hat distributorship
in Portland, Oregon, and named it Columbia Hat Company, after the
river bordering the city. Soon frustrated by poor deliveries from
suppliers, the Lamfroms decided to start manufacturing products
themselves.
In 1948, Gert married college sweetheart Neal Boyle, who joined
the family business and later took the helm of the growing company.
When Neal suddenly died of a heart attack in 1970, Gert enlisted
help from Tim, then a college senior, and together they led Columbia
from near bankruptcy.
After that it wasn't long before business really started to take
off. Columbia was one of the first to make outerwear from waterproof/breathable
fabric. Columbia introduced the breakthrough technology called the
Columbia Interchange System® where a shell and liner combine
for multiple wearing options. In the early 80s, then 60 year-old
Gert began her role as "Mother Boyle" in Columbia's successful
and popular advertising campaign. And in 1998 the company went public,
and Columbia moved into a new era as a world leader in the active
outerwear industry.
Today, Columbia Outerwear employs more than 1,000 people around
the world and distributes and sells products in more than 40 countries
and to over 10,600 retailers internationally. You'll find Columbia's
flagship store in downtown Portland, Oregon with other retail stores
currently in Nagoya, Japan; and two in Sydney, Australia. Columbia
Outerwear also has eight outlet stores: two in Portland; and one
each in Bend, Oregon; Lincoln City, Oregon; Birch Run, Michigan;
Medford, Minnesota; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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