Columbia Sportswear hits sales record

Columbia Sportswear Announces First-quarter RecordOSBA
By Oregon Small Business Association

Columbia Sportswear Co. reported a 5 percent increase in net sales for a first-quarter record $348.3 million, compared with first quarter 2012 net sales of $333.1 million. In a press release, Tim Boyle, Columbia’s president and CEO commented, “During the first quarter, cold weather in North America helped us liquidate additional Fall season inventory, primarily through our direct-to-consumer channels, putting our inventory levels in better shape than last year at this time.” However, wholesale customers have not altered their cautious posture in placing advance orders for Fall, 2013 products. The company expects a low single-digit net sales increase in constant dollars in 2013 to be offset by anticipated negative foreign currency exchange rates, resulting in a slight net sales decline compared with 2012.

Columbia strives to broaden its year-round relevance by the introduction of two additions to their portfolio of differentiated performance technologies — Omni-Freeze® ZERO under the Columbia brand and Cool.Q® ZERO in their Mountain Hardwear brand — that produce sweat-activated cooling.
In January, Columbia will begin its joint venture in China with Swire Resources, which is currently a Columbia distributor in China.


Disclaimer: Articles featured on Oregon Report are the creation, responsibility and opinion of the authoring individual or organization which is featured at the top of every article.