Columbia Sportswear Company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Columbia Sportswear Company engages in the design, sourcing, marketing, and distribution of outdoor apparel, footwear, and related accessories and equipment in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. The company categorizes its products in four categories: outerwear, footwear, sportswear, and related accessories and equipment. The company offers outerwear products for men and women under Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, Sorel, and Pacific Trail brands, as well as for youth under Columbia and Pacific Trail brands. Its outerwear is designed to protect the wearer from the harsher inclement weather commonly encountered in fall and winter outdoor activities, such as skiing, snowboarding, hiking, hunting, fishing, and adventure travel. These products are used by mountaineering athletes and outdoor enthusiasts.Columbia Sportswear Company's ootwear products include hiking and trekking boots, trail running shoes, and rugged cold weather boots for activities on snow and ice; sandals for use in amphibious activities; and casual shoes for everyday use. The company offers sportswear products for men and women under Columbia and Mountain Hardwear brands, and for youth under Columbia brand. Its sportswear products are designed to be worn as a layering system with its outerwear and footwear products during fall and winter outdoor activities, or individually during milder weather. The company offers Columbia-branded accessories and equipment, including bags, packs, headwear, scarves, and gloves; and Mountain Hardwear accessories and equipment, which include tents, sleeping systems, and backpacks. These products are designed for mountaineering, ultralight backpacking and camping. The company sells its products through wholesale distribution channels, independent distributors, retail stores, and licensees.

Deckers Outdoor Corporation company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Goleta, California. Deckers Outdoor Corporation engages in the design, production, and brand management of footwear for outdoor activities and casual lifestyle use. It offers casual open-toe and closed-toe footwear, including adventure travel shoes, outdoor multi-sport shoes, trail running shoes, amphibious footwear, light hiking shoes and boots, sheepskin boots and slippers, rugged closed-toe footwear, sneakers, sustainable footwear, and sandals under various styles for men, women, and kids. The company also offers various accessories, including handbags, headwear, packs, and outerwear. It markets its products under the Teva, UGG, Simple, and TSUBO proprietary brand names. The company sells its products primarily to specialty retailers, department stores, outdoor retailers, sporting goods retailers, shoe stores, and online retailers. Deckers Outdoor Corporation sells its products directly to end-user consumers through its Web sites, catalogs, and retail outlet stores, as well as through retailers in the United States, and distributors in the Europe, Canada, Australia, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It has joint venture with Stella International Holdings Limited for the opening of retail stores and wholesale distribution for the UGG brand in China.

Bally International got the boot from Swiss conglomerate Oerlikon-Buhrle a decade ago, but the shoe designer still clings to its ballyhooed haute brand name. Bally focuses on selling its premium-priced shoes (50% of revenues). Other products include accessories (briefcases, handbags, neckwear, scarves) and apparel. Bally sells its products at about 200 company-owned stores worldwide. The firm has updated its image from fancy shoes to luxury goods and complete collections on par with Gucci and LVMH. Europe-based luxury goods holding firm LABELUX Group bought Bally from investment firm TPG Capital in 2008. LABELUX is owned by Joh. A. Benckiser.

Seiko Holdings (formerly Seiko Corp.) is way beyond its tradition of marking time -- whether it's wristwatches, clocks, or precision timing devices for athletic events. The corporation serves as a holding company for subsidiaries, such as Seiko Watch, maker of watches such as the Kinetic and Thermic series that generate power by the movement of the owner's wrist or body heat. The watchmaker also makes mass-market watch brands Pulsar and Lorus. Seiko Watch's other timepieces range from small bedside alarm clocks to large-scale public clocks. Seiko Holdings other subsidiaries include Seiko Clock, Seiko Instruments, Seiko Optical Products, Seiko Sports Life, and Seiko Precision. The Hattori family controls Seiko.

STAEDTLER makes pens, pencils, markers, and other writing instruments for arts and crafts, technical drawing, and everyday use. The company also makes inkjet cartridges for printers. Europe's largest manfacturer of pencils, STAEDTLER sells its products through more than 20 global subsidiaries and has eight production plants worldwide. Customers include students STAEDTLER traces its roots back to 1662 when Friedrich Staedtler is first mentioned as a pencil-making craftsman; in 1835, J.S. Staedtler was granted a manufacturing license and began making blacklead, red chalk, and pastel pencils.

Seachem Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1980 by Dr. Leo G. Morin, father of current CEO, Dr. Greg Morin. Seachem Laboratories company designs and manufactures a variety of premium aquarium water treatment products including activated carbon, buffers, conditioners, salts, and trace elements for fresh and salt water aquatic organisms. It also makes gravels, medications, and reverse osmosis units. Products are sold in aquarium and pet supply stores. Seachem's research, manufacturing, and office operations are housed together in a 48,000 sq. ft. building.

Luster Products Co. was founded in 1957 by hairstylist Fred Luster, Sr. The African-American-owned company makes professional and consumer hair care products for people of African descent. Its products are sold to men and women under several brand names, including Renutrients, Pink, and S-Curl. Luster Products sells children's items under the PCJ Pretty-n-Silky & Smooth Roots name and products for stylists under the Designer Touch line. It sells its products worldwide through its own sales force and through specialty retailers. The hair care firm operates manufacturing facilities in Illinois and international branch offices in South Africa and the UK.

Swiss Watch International is keeping its eye on the time. The Florida-based company designs and makes timepieces worldwide and distributes or owns watch lines including SWI (Swiss Watch International), Edox, Giordano, Jacques Lemans, Magico, Swiss Legend, Triumph Motorcycles, and Ventura. The firm sells watches to other wholesalers, as well as to retailers. Internet discount retailer Overstock.com buys the majority of its timepiece offerings through Swiss Watch. Well known throughout the watch industry, founder and chairman Eli Ben-Shmuel has his sights set on expanding the company's retail operations. Ben-Shmuel and his three sons run Swiss Watch International.

Owner Charlie Clifford founded Tumi, Inc. in 1975 after a Peace Corps stint in Peru. Tumi company is named after an Incan god of medicine, and has been a unit of Doughty Hanson & Co. since 2004. The high-end designer and manufacturer of such travel accessories as prestige suitcases, backpacks, garment bags, totes, and travel kits, specializes in corporate travelers whose cargo is arguably precious (the company has its own tracking system for retrieving lost bags). Tumi distributes its luggage in the US and abroad through some 50 of its own retail stores, its Web site, other specialty stores, and partnerships with hotel chain Starwood and luxury cruise line Seabourn.

Kalil Bottling has been all in the family since 1948. President George Kalil grew up learning the business from his father and grandfather. Today, Kalil oversees a company that serves Arizona and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and west Texas, supplying retail customers with a variety of beverages. Among its offerings are thirst-quenchers such as AriZona teas, Arrowhead water, and Vernors ginger ale, along with more widely known brands, including Gatorade, Big Red, 7UP, Snapple, and Sunkist. The company operates out of its production facility in Tucson, Arizona, and operates four distribution warehouses -- one each in Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas.

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