Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle Is on a Mission to Become Footwear-First

A profound love for the outdoors emerged from COVID-19, and with it, the market for adventure-appropriate footwear experienced a boost. With nature’s moment here, Columbia Sportswear Co. is confident it can capitalize. “I’ve been saying since the company went public in 1998 that footwear should be the company’s largest product category,” Columbia chairman, president and CEO Tim Boyle told FN last month. “We haven’t grown our footwear business as much as we want, and even though it’s [developing] nicely, our apparel business is growing at the same time, so it’s a race. The shoe business is [about] making sure we’ve got products that can earn their way onto a footwear wall because they’re different and they are compelling for consumers.” And it appears the firm is moving in the right direction. To start the year, Columbia Sportswear — the home of the Columbia and Sorel brands, among others — experienced a 35% hike in footwear sales across its banners. And it saw a 20% increase in revenue from direct-to-consumer channels. (Yesterday, the company reported a net sales increase of 79% to $566.4 million for Q2 2021.) The company’s recent wins in footwear have also been thanks to some big hires in recent years,

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