Columbia’s Omni-Freeze® ZERO Cooling Technology Hits Stores

Company will support launch with largest summer marketing effort in its history

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Just in time for summer’s inevitable heat, Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM) introduces Omni-Freeze ZERO, a sweat-activated cooling technology available starting April 5, 2013. The collection is available on www.columbia.com/omnifreezezero and at select retailers globally.

Columbia's Omni-Freeze ZERO Tour truck currently on tour through June. (Photo: Business Wire)

The culmination of a four-year development effort, Columbia created Omni-Freeze ZERO for athletes, outdoor enthusiasts, and everyone else who works up a sweat while they’re working or playing – something the company points out applies to nearly everybody on the planet.

When exposed to sweat (or any moisture), thousands of little blue rings embedded in the Omni-Freeze ZERO fabric create an instant and prolonged cooling sensation.

“We believe consumers will appreciate the fact that their hard-earned sweat can be used for something more than just passive evaporation,” says Columbia’s Vice President of Global Marketing, Dan Hanson. “Everyone knows that Columbia products are great at keeping people warm in the winter; now they can rely on Columbia to help keep them comfortable in the summer with the industry’s leading cooling technology. Omni-Freeze ZERO is the latest innovation that is helping to transform Columbia into a trusted brand for all seasons.”

The first season’s assortment of Omni-Freeze ZERO is literally “head-to-toe”, consisting of forty styles of apparel, footwear and accessories for men and women, ranging from performance shirts to athletic footwear, and from ball caps and boonies to snug-fitting briefs. And to keep anglers focused on the fish (not the heat), the cooling technology is also incorporated in Columbia’s successful line of Performance Fishing Gear (PFG).

To emphasize the significance of the new technology, Columbia is investing in its largest-ever summer marketing effort, including an exclusive multi-channel marketing campaign with ESPN to engage ESPN’s active (and sweaty) audience across television, print and digital platforms.

Columbia is also launching the “Omni-Freeze ZERO Tour,” an experiential tour featuring two converted ice cream trucks that will make more than 100 stops at major sporting events, summer festivals and key retailers across the United States from April through June. This tour will allow people to see and feel Omni-Freeze ZERO in action and enter a contest to win an Omni-Freeze ZERO shirt. For details on the tour and the daily prizes offered, go to: www.omnifreezezero.com.

Omni-Freeze ZERO products will only be available at leading sporting goods and outdoor specialty retail stores and websites, at Columbia branded retail stores, and at www.columbia.com starting April 5. For those who don’t cross paths with the Omni-Freeze ZERO Tour, more than 1,000 retail stores across the country will be offering consumers a chance to experience the technology for themselves.

To learn more about Omni-Freeze ZERO and view select apparel from Columbia’s upcoming Spring 2013 collection, go to: http://www.columbia.com/omnifreezezero

About Columbia

Columbia, the flagship brand of Portland, Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear Company, has been creating innovative apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment for outdoor enthusiasts since 1938. Columbia has become a leading global brand by channeling the company’s passion for the outdoors, and an innovative spirit of “trying stuff”, into technologies and performance products that keep people warm, dry, cool and protected year-round. To learn more, please visit the company's website at www.columbia.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130403005163/en/

Media:
Columbia Sportswear PR
Andy Nordhoff, 503-985-1739
anordhoff@columbia.com
or
Investors:
Columbia Sportswear Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Ron Parham, 503-985-4584
rparham@columbia.com

Source: Columbia Sportswear Company

Released April 3, 2013