Columbia is known as a product innovator and has an unparalleled reputation for quality and value. These basic principles guide Columbia through the creation of inventive and highly popular designs, including our famous Interchange System™. We developed this revolutionary concept in 1982 and it has since propelled Columbia to the forefront of the outerwear industry. Our first Interchange jackets were made for hunting and featured a weatherproof outershell and an insulating inner jacket that could be worn together or separately, so that each parka was really three or four garments in one. This product was so popular that we applied the same concept to a ski parka and called it the Bugaboo™, which became one of the best-selling ski jackets in history. In 1991 we developed our own proprietary waterproof, breathable coating — Omni-Tech® — and are now the second-largest user of waterproof, breathable fabric in the world.
