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About Columbia sportswear Columbia Sportswear is a United States company that

manufactures and distributes outerwear and sportswear. It was founded in 1938 by the late Paul Lamfrom, father of

present chairperson, Gert Boyle. The company is headquartered in Washington County,

Oregon, in an unincorporated part of the Portland metropolitan area.

Columbia Sportswear is known for their footwear, headgear, camping equipment, skiwear, and outerwear accessories.

Columbia became a publicly traded company in 1998.

They later acquired footwear maker Sorel Corporation in 2000, and Mountain Hardwear in 2003.

In 2006, Columbia acquired the Pacific Trail and Montrail brands.

On June 15, 2008, Columbia Sportswear announced a three-year sponsorship of the cycling team formerly known as Team High Road and before that T-Mobile and Team Telekom.

The sponsorship began on July 5, 2008 with the start of the Tour de France.

Specific dates

Columbia Sportswear’s mission is achieving a 70-year history of industry leading outdoor apparel and product which takes passion, and an understanding of people who love the outdoors as much as they do.

They have cutting edge Titanium pieces, to their innovative heritage in Bugaboo, their jackets, pants, fleece, boots and shoes are all tested tough so that anyone can enjoy the outdoors.

Columbia’s mission

One of their biggest accomplishments was in 2001, they were the largest American seller of ski apparel.

The most famous apparel item sold is their wide variety of Columbia jackets. The jackets are constructed out of a waterproof fabric that is also breathable.

The new jackets feature interchangeable shells and liners. Also, they have multiple wearing options and fabric technology which fueled rapid sales growth.

Fashion in sportswear Columbia Sportswear relates to fashion in sports by making

a company with apparel that has up to date technology and comfort so you can enjoy the outdoors as much as possible.

They made a statement on their history section stating, “Blue eyes may be sexy, but blue lips aren’t. And, while a sunny day is excellent, sunburn sucks.”

They want to make high-quality performance products that keep you comfortable and protected, no matter where your excursions take you.

The activities that Columbia Sportswear sells apparel for is trail, water, hunting fishing, travel, winter, and collegiate.

In simpler terms, this means that they have specifically made merchandise for running, hiking, camping, boating, swimming, surfing, commuting, cycling, snowboarding, skiing, and deep sea fishing.

Their target market is geared towards men and women ages 15-70, and kids from 1-14 who value the environment and physical activity. They are very active in the community, and enjoy traveling. The average customer usually had very strong family morals and lives in a suburban town or rural area.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Opportunities/threatsA few opportunities that Columbia Sportswear has is they have lower prices than some of their competitors, the impact on the “green” market, and has a variety of technology components infused in their apparel. Some threats include loss of apparel agreements with universities to companies like Nike, seasonal fluctuations, and advertises almost the same way everytime with the same medium.

Strengths/weaknessesThe strengths of Columbia Sportswear is maintaining their brand identity through the years, offers a wide range of sizing, and the distribution of the merchandise is easily accessible.

The weaknesses include a limited product line, celebrities don’t endorse frequently, and are not accessible on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

New t-shirt line! As marketing director for Columbia Sportswear, I wanted to

pitch a t-shirt line in Spring 2012 for both men and women. Columbia is always so focused on performance apparel, I

feel that bringing an environment friendly cotton t-shirt into the company will broaden our customer base. If we have more apparel that represents lifestyle, it will attract a different customer than one who just shopped for performance gear.

The product being sold would be a collection of basic t-shirts for men and woman.

The material I feel would be the best make to represent Columbia Sportswear is 90% Modal and 10% Lycra because Modal is a natural fiber that is easy to care for.

This material is environmentally friendly, which is something that Columbia strives for.

The Modal material for the new t-shirt line will help support our belief in having a passion for the great outdoors.

We are committed to building a company of which we can be proud of.

Columbia Sportswear believes in giving back to communities, reducing our environmental impact, and we believe corporate responsibility is a companywide effort.

While this new t-shirt line is targeted toward a more casual and leisure lifestyle rather than performance, we still want the line to connect to the rest of the merchandise.

Our objective is global reach, local impact. The following programs we support are the Summit III, Rethreads, Employee Matches, Community Relations Purchase, and employee investment.

About the t-shirt

Styles of the new shirtsSome of the styles that the new t-shirts will come in for women are:basic short sleevea gathered ruffle scoop necka half sleeve scoopa jewel twisted neck scoopdrape short sleeve v-neck

For men, they will all have a crew neckline with either a long or short sleeve. Some of the men’s shirts may also have a breast pocket detailing.In addition to the environmentally friendly material, the t-shirts will come in white, black, beige, and a select of four pastel or muted colors that would best fit the mood of the shirt.

Prices of the t-shirts The best fit for the price of the women’s t-shirts would be around

$25-$30, and $30-$38 for men’s.

Currently, the prices for women’s shirts that are more performance based and has technology driven into them, such as the Women’s Seize the Freeze short sleeve top runs at $38, so for a casual t-shirt the price should be less. Along with the Women’s Seize the Freeze short sleeve top, the men’s edition is called the Trail Pro Freezer crew for $50.

Competition

THE NORTH FACEThe North Face has recently come out with basic tee’s a few years ago that are sold online, in their stores, and in shop-in-shops such as Dick’s Sporting Goods. They run from about $25-$50 in price, and has increased their sales due to the new customer base.

LANDS ENDLands End will also be difficult competition because this company is known for their casual, leisure, basic comfortable clothing. I picture the designs of the new t-shirt line will be based off the simple Modal material tee’s that Lands End sells. Lands End apparel is sold via catalog, online, and in stores.

WHERE WILL THE T-SHIRTS BE SOLD? Once Columbia Sportswear’s product development team

comes out with this new completed line, we will have the shirts sold first in our flagship store in Oregon, then within the next month in the rest of the stores nationwide.

After about a year of this new t-shirt line, I hope to extend it to the shop-in-shops within sports retail stores.

PROMOTION To promote this new t-shirt line, I think the best way to

advertise would be in magazines and commercials. I would join the advertising team to help develop a new ad campaign to launch the new line.

The advertisement would consists a 30 year old women running around doing errands modeling a few of the new tee’s in different scenes. The advertisement will have her voice over talking about her daily tasks and what she’s passionate about.

For example, it could show her doing daily errands, shopping, walking the dog along the neighborhood, and picking up the kids up from school. I want the advertisement to display that Columbia is reaching out to a new customer, and wants them to be open about the new line.

Day in the life of a Columbia customer A customer that would best fit the new t-shirt line from

Columbia Sportswear is a women who is about 30 years old who is involved in many activities.

She is a mother and married to someone who is into the outdoors, and they live in the suburbs of Denver.

Her job is that she is a teacher in a public school, and is very passionate about non profit organizations.

Customer continued… One of the most recent volunteer work she just did is the

robust Book Group program and their Inspirational Teachers.

For this organization, the classes are divided into groups of 4-5 kids and one book group leader. A new book is reviewed each session, with each group member participating in a different active role each week.

The result of her volunteer work is an exciting interactive discussion that facilitates the kids’ understanding in how to analyze both literature and authors. By wearing one of the new t-shirts, she will be comfortable and stylish.

The cross over that this new t-shirt line will have on sports and fashion is that its a athleisure basic tee. Instead of the apparel that Columbia Sportswear mostly sells, they can now have a basic tee that is casual.

They can wear it with a casual outfit during the day, or they can still wear it while running around. The tee’s are still considered activewear, but not performance based.

Now the customers who aren’t exposed to all the outdoor sports Columbia Sportswear sells to, they can be open to purchase these tee’s because it will fit their everyday lifestyle.