Columbia Sportswear to move SOREL headquarters downtown

PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — Columbia Sportwear is moving the headquarters of SOREL Brand from Washington County to downtown Portland.

Forty-five employees will move first to the downtown space, which will have room for an additional 40 employees. The other company employees will remain in Washington County.

The announcement of the move is scheduled to be made at press conference at 10:30 a.m. today, Nov. 1. Scheduled to speak are Columbia Sportswear Company Chief Executive Officer and Director Tim Boyle, SOREL Brand President Mark Nenow, and Mayor-Elect Ted Wheeler.

The move was announced by Wheeler early Tuesday. The press release said that Columbia Sportswear Company was founded in Portland in 1938 as a small family business and has called Portland “home” for the past 78 years. It acquired the SOREL brand in 2000 and co-located the team with the company’s global headquarters in Washington County in 2001. SOREL, with estimated sales of $220 million in 2016 versus $50 million in 2008, has grown to become the second-largest brand within Columbia’s portfolio of global brands.

Columbia Sportswear moved from Portland to Washington County in 2001. City officials have been trying unsuccessfully to convince the company to move back ever since.

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