Last Updated:
4/25/21 8:39 PM
overall rating:
do better
Columbia Sportswear
Internal Representation & Support
13%
Public Commitment
40%
External Communication
40%
To evaluate this pillar, we take into consideration a range of factors, including but not limited to:
- Employee representation
- Diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI)
We weigh a company’s degree of public commitment primarily on their monetary contributions to DEI matters or organizations fighting racial injustice.
Forms of monetary support we look for:
One-off donations
Recurring donations
Grant initiatives
Employee donation matching
Highlights
Columbia Sportswear makes an effort to work and strengthen their partnerships with Black-led organizations centered around health and the outdoors, such as GirlTrek and EbonyAnglers. These partnerships seem to be ongoing, as these groups have been featured since Fall 2020.
Lowlights
Columbia Sportswear lacks internal leadership diversity and further transparency around workplace demographics beyond age or gender. Though they have ERGs for many communities, there is no information online about a Black-centered ERG nor a DEI office. Their social media content remains white-dominant, and their few posts about racial justice or partnerships with Black organizations/influencers are mainly features rather than informational posts.
We scour the company’s website and official social media channels to determine what message they are sending around racial injustice, how they are communicating it, and whether their communications are perceived as genuine or performative.
Public statement: We verify that companies have made a formal statement regarding racial injustice.
Social media: We consider how a company uses their platform(s) beyond performative allyship.
Representation: For companies that have the opportunity to showcase diversity in their feed, we consider whether they have adequate Black representation and BIPOC representation across their models.
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Deep Dive
I. Internal Representation & Support:
Board of Directors:
0% (none) Black, 0% (none) BIPOC, 21% - 25% Women
Executive Leadership:
0% (none) Black, 0% (none) BIPOC, 21% - 25% Women
Information not publicly available
Workforce:
Information is not publicly available
DEI Support:
II. Public Commitment
Columbia Sportswear has pledged a donation of Unspecified contribution amount towards racial injustice, specifically for Black lives. Additionally, Columbia Sportswear has engaged in actions that advance racial justice and/or uplift BIPOC communities, such as partnerships with nonprofits or mission-based organizations, sponsorship of individuals who use their platform to speak out on racial injustice, and matching donations to a broad range of qualifying organizations.
III. External Communications
Columbia Sportswear has issued a public statement, both on social media and in a public memo, addressing racial injustice that acknowledged that they can be doing better to combat racial inequality within their company, and explicitly stated "Black Lives Matter." Since June 2020, 0.1% - 9% of the brand's social media content has been centered around racial injustice with posts seeming performative in nature. The brand has not made an effort to include ethnic diversity on social media and there is little to no evidence on social media of inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community (beyond posting for Pride), people living with disabilities, or a wide range of models with varying body types.
