As it announced its quarterly results at the beginning of February, Columbia Spotswear also spoke of the need to reduce its workforce and costs. According to the group, which owns the Columbia, Sorel, Mountain Hardware and Montrail brands, this was due to the lower earnings caused by the warmer-than-usual winter in much of the northern hemisphere.

Columbia Sportswear

As confirmed by an article published on Oregon’s website, the company’s restructuring will affect 80 out of its 4,100 employees, or 2% of its staff. The press release stated that most of the layoffs will occur in the United States, with a few other people affected in Europe and Asia. Workers in Europe will be notified around the end of March and all the necessary legal procedures will be followed. In the United States, cuts which had begun in February have just ended last week.

In 2011, the outerwear/sportswear manufacturer reported net sales of 1.3 billion euros (1.694 billion dollars), up 14% from 2010 which had already registered a 19% growth. In that period, the company’s net profit rose 34% to 79 million euros.