Columbia Sportswear Company said it will place all sales, marketing and service functions for Montrail Inc. under the management team of Mountain Hardwear Inc. effective May 1.
Mike Wallenfels, president of Mountain Hardwear, will be responsible for overseeing operations of the Montrail brand from Mountain Hardwears Richmond, California offices.
“We see this as an ideal marriage of two specialty brands,” said Tim Boyle, president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear. “The Mountain Hardwear customer and the Montrail customer are often the same and the management team at Mountain Hardwear knows that demographic very well. By moving Montrail under Mountain Hardwears leadership we can best serve our retailers while keeping a focus on creating innovative products.”
Mountain Hardwear and Columbia Sportswear will work together on product direction and development using the established Montrail footwear team in the Columbia Sportswear headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Mountain Hardwear and Montrail already share resources for international sales management in key markets such as Europe, South Korea and Canada and this change will help consolidate and streamline their efforts. Service and sales operations will formally transition after May 1, 2008.