Columbia Sportswear is a designer and retailer of sportswear, outerwear and active-lifestyle accessories. The brand can trace its origins all the way back to 1937, when the Lamfrom family settled in Portland, Oregon, after fleeing Nazi Germany. In Portland, they purchased a small hat-making company and named it Columbia Hat Company. The family business was eventually renamed Columbia Sportswear and passed from Paul Lamfrom to his daughter, Gert Boyle.