Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM)
Outdoor apparel brand counted by store, warehouse, office. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 25, 2026. Ranked 20 of the 184 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
25%
End of 2028
34%
Employees, annual report
9,620
Leading staffing pattern
Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now25%
- End of 202732%
- End of 202834%
- End of 203035%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 65%
- Becomes checking a model's work 21%
- Handed over with lighter checks 13%
Columbia Sportswear’s 9,620 employees are 5,730 in stores, 990 in distribution centers and 2,900 in corporate and office work behind its brands, each counted by the filing.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 25% now, 32% at the end of 2027, 34% at the end of 2028, 35% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 35% desk work, 24% people work and 41% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 65% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 21% becomes checking a model's work and 13% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
9,620 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). The filing counts no employees by country; 58% of revenue is in the United States.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, our employee workforce of approximately 9,620 employees consisted of approximately 5,730 full-time and part-time retail employees, 990 distribution center employees and 2,900 corporate and/or office employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers | 60% | By (a): the filing counts 5,730 full-time and part-time retail employees of 9,620, the brand stores and outlets, clothing retailers. |
| Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers | 30% | By (a) and description: the 2,900 corporate and office employees, a bundled count holding the design, wholesale, sourcing and corporate work of the brands, read at apparel wholesaling, the products made by third parties. |
| Warehousing and Storage | 10% | By (a): the filing counts 990 distribution center employees, warehouse work. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 9,620 employees: 5,730 full-time and part-time retail, 990 distribution center, 2,900 corporate and office; the human capital section is four sentences.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- TJX (TJX, 377,000 employees)24% now, 31% by 2028
- Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST, 111,000 employees)23% now, 29% by 2028
- Burlington Stores, Inc. (BURL, 83,309 employees)24% now, 31% by 2028
- The Gap, Inc. (GAP, 79,000 employees)24% now, 32% by 2028
- American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO, 45,000 employees)24% now, 30% by 2028
- Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF, 43,200 employees)24% now, 30% by 2028
- Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU, 39,000 employees)24% now, 30% by 2028
- Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN, 31,000 employees)24% now, 30% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
1 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI once: keeping up with data analytics, AI and machine learning.
- “In addition, our inability to keep up with rapid technological change (including the successful utilization of data analytics, artificial intelligence ("AI") and machine learning) could adversely impact our business.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20240median 4
- Fiscal 20251median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 5,730 | 2026-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 5,630 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 5,770 | 2024-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 5,040 | 2023-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 4,500 | 2022-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 7,275 | 2021-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 8,900 | 2020-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 6,511 | 2019-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 6,188 | 2018-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 6,023 | 2017-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 5,978 | 2016-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 5,326 | 2015-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 4,320 | 2014-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 4,166 | 2013-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 4,161 | 2012-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | not read | 2011-03-11 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 3,113 | 2010-03-12 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 3,163 | 2009-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 3,057 | 2008-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 2,810 | 2007-03-06 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 2,712 | 2006-03-14 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 2,387 | 2005-03-09 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 2,092 | 2004-03-03 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 1,809 | 2003-03-21 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 1,636 | 2002-03-29 | 10-K |
| 2000-12-31 | 1,445 | 2001-03-28 | 10-K405 |
| 1999-12-31 | 1,379 | 2000-03-30 | 10-K405 |
| 1998-12-31 | 1,357 | 1999-03-30 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The Index’s 5,730 was the retail count alone; the filing states 9,620 (rule 2).
- The 2,900 corporate and office count bundles corporate staff with the brands’ design and wholesale work and stays in the wholesale pattern (rule 6).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001050797-26-000028, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Columbia Sportswear Company, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Columbia Sportswear Company's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 25% now and 34% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Columbia Sportswear Company's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Columbia Sportswear Company employ?
- 9,620 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Columbia Sportswear Company's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers; by those patterns the work is about 35% desk work, 24% people work and 41% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Columbia Sportswear Company's annual report say about AI?
- 1 sentence in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 0 and 1 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.