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Dive Brief:
- Columbia named Tricia Shumavon president of its prAna brand, the company announced this week. The news came ahead of its Q2 earnings call on Tuesday, where it reported $620.9 million in net sales, a 7% increase year over year.
- Shumavon will take on the role in September. She was most recently the global vice president of women’s, men’s and kids sportswear apparel at Adidas. She previously worked with Nike, Gap and L Brands, according to a company press release.
- Columbia’s hire of Shumavon is part of its plan to reposition the prAna brand for growth in future seasons, company executives said on the earnings call.
Dive Insight:
Shumavon succeeds Craig Zanon, senior vice president of emerging brands at Columbia, who has held the role in an interim capacity.
“We are excited to have Tricia Shumavon join our team to lead the prAna brand,” Zanon said in the release. “Tricia brings a wealth of experience to the job and a consumer-led mindset, which will help propel the prAna brand.”
Columbia completed its acquisition of prAna in 2014 for $190 million. At the time, prAna was fast-growing, with a 30% increase in sales over a three-year period.
However, during Columbia’s 2022 fiscal year, the company took on $35.6 million in impairment charges for the brand. At the time, executives said they were bullish on the prAna brand, and referenced a “reset” of the product, but added it was “taking longer than we anticipated and wanted to make sure that we were prepared to give ourselves the time to turn that brand around.”
During its first-quarter earnings call earlier this year, Columbia announced it was conducting a search for the next leader of prAna. At the time, it said it was looking to reposition the brand to “energize growth.”
In its most recent quarter, prAna’s sales decreased 32%, which Columbia executives attributed to a decline in wholesale.
The company’s other brands include Columbia, Sorel and Mountain Hardwear. Sorel is also under interim leadership, after Mark Nenow stepped down in June. The company didn’t reference any leadership searches for this role on the call.
By region, Columbia saw increased sales in Asia and other international markets, but sales in the U.S. lagged. Sales in the Latin America and Asia Pacific region grew 28% year over year and sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa market grew 75%. In the United States, sales decreased 3% and Canada fell 21%.
Columbia decreased its guidance on its full-year projections for 2023. It now estimates sales to grow 2% to 3.5% to reach $3.53 billion, as opposed to the previous estimate of 3% to 6% growth.
“The current environment is making it difficult to achieve the long-term growth algorithm that I believe we’re capable of,” Tim Boyle, CEO of Columbia, said in the earnings call. “Given current trends we’re seeing in the business, we are taking a more conservative approach to how we plan the second half of the year.”
