Joining me now is Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle. Thank you for your time and thank you for welcoming us to your headquarters.
Absolutely. Welcome. Yeah.
We are here to talk about a very exciting award Columbia Sportswear just won. Tell us about it.
Well, I mean the most exciting thing frankly other than it being like the Oscars of the marketing and creative world is that it's named after Dan Widen. So just I knew Dan well and he as our company grew he was obviously somebody who represented Nike and helped Nike become this spectacular business that they are. But he was always somebody I could call and say, 'What do you think?' And he'd say, 'Well, yeah, I think you're right about this ad.' So we had a great relationship and just thrilled to win that award.
Really one of the biggest names in advertising and a local Portlander. Yeah,
We want to show that advertisement now. Hi, I'm Tim Boyle. I'm the CEO here at Columbia Sportswear. And this message is for flatearthers. You guys claim there's an end to the earth. Well, just go snap a picture, send it to us, and you get the assets of the company. All of it. No paperwork, no lawyers, no catches.
Tim, there is some paperwork. Hey, we're giving you all this, this, this. There's a lot of good stuff in here. This has a note on it. This This This How long is this meeting? All this, this. How did he do that? This. That's actually a rental. No, not this. All this, this, and all of that.
Hey, flatearthers, do me a favor. If you're going to the edge of the earth, wear Columbia. You'll need it. Best of luck. We done.
What made you decide that it was time to revamp the brand?
Well, you know, we talk about this all the time at the company. There are so many brands of footwear and apparel. Nobody needs another one. So, how can we possibly be successful with that kind of competition? And it's really about being different. So if you remember the commercials that my mom and I made, many of them really were very different because there were very few women who were involved in business certainly at a senior level. And not very many sons working for mothers and so we were very fortunate to have a great connection and collection of interesting things to talk about. So it made us very different from the typical outdoor company which would have really beautiful scenes and beautiful models and we had my mother
And the comedic element of it.
Yep. So that was very successful and then after my mom passed we sort of cast about to try and find some other way to talk about the business. We ended up being way too close to other brands and so we said you know what, let's be different. And so my son who runs the Columbia brand did an exhaustive global search for a firm that could help us provide differentiation and that's how we came up with what we got today.
And it really is a fantastic idea. Have you heard from flatearthers?
Oh absolutely every day. And not only that, I get people who have submitted photographs that prove that the earth is flat. They haven't heard from us. They send notes. Hey, I haven't heard anything. What's up? We're the keys to the business.
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so obviously receiving the award huge for Columbia, but really what does it mean for the city of Portland and Oregon in general?
Well, I think it's a recognition of what a terrific place this is. You know, we built our business globally on the premise that the West, the US West is such a fabulous place. And of course, everybody thinks about cowboys and the whole aura around the west, but it's really the Northwest is really where you can have true, in my opinion, Western United States activities. And so, we get recognized for that and it's terrific.
Your family has been in business for decades. What is your assessment of where Portland is business-wise in 2026?
Well, I get asked that question all the time because we travel around the world and around the United States, and I can definitely say with great confidence that we're 2% better than we were before, but there's a long way to go to get back to where we were.
Well, I think, and I've talked to the mayor and others, our governor about this topic. I think there are really two issues. First and foremost is public safety. We have to live in an environment where you can feel safe and that's critical and we have to have a competitive tax environment today. We do not have in my opinion either of those things.
Are those the biggest challenges facing Portland right now?
Yes, there are other challenges but those are the two key ones.
A recent state of the economy report from Portland Metro Chamber raised some red flags including slow job growth and declining exports. How has Columbia Sportswear been impacted?
Well, I'm a Portland resident. Sometimes I have to scratch my head about that, but I live here in Portland so I get firsthand view of this. You know, the company's based in Washington County and many of our employees do not live in the city of Portland. This state tax system is very favorable for companies like ourselves, like Nike and others, in terms of how the structure is built. It's not good for key employees, highly compensated employees, or frankly, as said many times, Oregon is a bad place to die.
What are employees telling you that they need to see change?
Well, I think that as I said, the public safety thing is first and foremost. You know, you can be a resident of this general economic area, call it the Portland metro area, and never go downtown, which I think is a bad thing. But you can live in Washington County or Clackamas County and it's a totally different environment than if you live in Multnomah County and live downtown.
Tell me more about why it's a bad place to die.
Well, Oregon is one of 13 states that has a death tax and it's the most onerous of all 13. So, if you're fortunate enough to be able to put together even a small amount of wealth, it's a very expensive place to live.
One of the reasons we're seeing a lot of high-income earners leave.
What conversations have you had specifically with city leaders as well as the mayor?
I've had frankly, I've only talked to the mayor. I don't know any of the council members. I've only just spoken with the mayor and the governor. But it's been very pointed about those two topics that I said. You know, there are lots of issues in Portland. We talk about holes in the road and other things. But frankly, the key things for me are those two.
Young professionals can really move anywhere. So, what is attractive about Portland to draw that top talent to a company like Columbia Sportswear or a Nike?
Well, you know, started with the environment here is spectacular. There's only a few places in the world where you can go skiing and surfing in the same day, and we're one of them. So, if you like the outdoors, if you like a place where you can open your windows in the summertime and have no bugs, I mean, this is just I could go on and on about the list of great things about Portland and about Oregon. The difficulty is the economic engine of Portland is not operating at a high level because the public safety issues are front and center and the taxation system is not established to encourage people to be downtown and working.
What will have to happen in order to create that change? Because it feels like we're hearing more voices speak up about this. Like this is a problem. We're seeing more people close up shop. We're seeing a lot of people move out of the city or even the state. What needs to happen in order for change to really take place?
Well, I mean I honestly I would challenge the elected leadership here in the state in the city. We elect these people to make this place better. And there are lots of people working hard to make Portland better. But it has to be it can't be me. I mean all I can do is complain. But you know it needs to be
Squeaky wheel though. Well, yeah, but you know, it's frankly here's why we're having an issue is it's just easier to leave than fight with this stuff. But so I can't really tell you why I'm still here fighting, but frankly, it's all about making this place better and what needs to happen simply. We need to make a bigger investment in public safety and we need to be competitive from a tax perspective. Are you committed to staying in Portland in Oregon?
Well, I mean, we're going to fight the fight as long as we can, but you know, you have to look at the economic realities.
