Columbia Sportswear 2003 Annual Report Download - page 14

ability to test new marketing and merchandising techniques. We also operate eight outlet stores in various
locations throughout North America. These outlet stores are designed to sell excess and distressed inventory
without adversely affecting our retail accounts.
We inspect, sort, pack and ship substantially all of our products sold to United States retailers from our
Rivergate Distribution Center, which consists of approximately 850,000 square feet located in Portland, Oregon.
This distribution center currently serves as the U.S. distribution center for all Columbia and Sorel-branded
products.
In 2003 we began construction of an additional distribution center in Henderson County, Kentucky, which
we will own and operate. This distribution center is expected to consist of approximately 450,000 square feet and
we anticipate that the new facility will be operational in 2005. Although it will be constructed with a specific
focus on footwear, the facility will be designed and engineered to support other product lines as well. The facility
will improve proximity to major footwear customers and, we believe, will help facilitate reorders.
All Mountain Hardwear products sold to United States retailers are inspected, sorted, packed and shipped
from the Richmond, California Distribution Center, which consists of approximately 58,000 square feet. Raw
materials for domestic production of Mountain Hardwear products are also housed in this facility.
We handle Canadian distribution from a leased warehouse in Strathroy, Ontario. In some instances, we
arrange to have products shipped directly from our independent manufacturers to customer-designated facilities.
Europe
We have European sales offices in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with our European
headquarters office located in Zurich, Switzerland. We sell our products directly to approximately 5,200 retailers
in Western European countries, including the United Kingdom, where we began direct sales in spring 2001. Our
marketing and sales efforts, particularly in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, resulted in
net direct sales of our products in Europe of $135.2 million in 2003.
We distribute our apparel and footwear products in direct markets in Europe through our newly constructed
distribution center in Cambrai, France, which we own and operate. The new facility in Cambrai consists of
approximately 269,000 square feet and began operating in January 2003.
Other International
We have distributed our products through independent distributors in Japan since the mid-1970s. In the fall
of 1998, we began distributing our products directly in Japan, predominantly through retailers. We now sell our
products primarily through a combination of retailers and wholesalers. We believe that our sales approach in
Japan creates an opportunity for accelerated sales growth in this region when economic conditions improve. We
distribute our products in Japan from a leased warehouse in Funibashi, near Tokyo. In 1997 we began selling our
products directly in South Korea, principally through retailers. Korean distribution is conducted from a leased
warehouse in Seoul.
In several other countries throughout the world, we sell our products to independent distributors. These
distributors service retail customers in locations such as Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe, Russia
and China, among others. For 2003, shipments to Russia represented the largest segment of the international
distributor business.
Intellectual Property
We own many trademarks, including “Columbia®,” “Columbia Sportswear Company®,” “Convert®,”
“Sorel®,” “Bugaboo®,” “Bugabootoo®,” “Omni-Tech®,” “GRT®,” “Omni-Grip®,” “Columbia Interchange
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