The Adventure Life With Steve Casimiro Outdoor Gear Incorporated: Who Owns What?

Text by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

The saplings must fall so the big trees survive: Timberland is shutting down two of its brands—Mion footwear and GoLite footwear (GoLite products from the ankle up will continue).

Both were struggling and had been shopped around to prospective buyers, but, in a crowded shoe market and dodgy economy, nobody bit. Mion and GoLite shoes should be in stores throughout the summer, but production will end this fall. That leaves T-land with its eponymous brand, plus SmartWool, GoLite, IPath, and Howies … and two less distractions to its core business.

Hearing all of this got me to thinking about how many outdoor companies operate under the protection and loving care of a corporate mothership. It’s rather shocking, actually, how many of the best-known brands are part of a larger whole.

Here’s a survey of the biggest, along with their key outdoor brands. They’re listed alphabetically, with 2007 revenues.

Amer Sports Corp ($2.7 billion)
Arc’teryx
Atomic
bonfire
Dynamic
Mavic
Oxygen
Salomon
Suunto
Volant

Columbia Sportswear Co. ($1.36 billion)
Columbia Sportswear
Montrail
Mountain Hardwear
Pacific Trail
Sorel

Jarden Corp. ($4.7 billion)
Atlas Snowshoes
Coleman
K2 Bikes
K2 Skates
K2 Skis
K2 Snowboarding
Karhu
Line
Madshus
Marker
Morrow
Marmot
Planet Earth
Ride Snowboards
Volkl Skis

Quiksilver Inc. ($2.4 billion)
Bent Metal
DC
Dynastar
Gnu
Hawk
Lange
Leilani
Lib Technologies
Look
Quiksilver
QuikSilverEdition
Radio Fiji
Raisins
Rossignol
Roxy

Timberland Co. ($1.4 billion)
GoLite
GoLite footwear
Howies
IPath
Mion
SmartWool
Timberland

VF Corp. ($7.2 billion)
Clive
Eagle Creek
Eastpak
JanSport
The North Face
Napapijri
Reef
Vans