Columbia Sportswear Company - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 beat on both revenue and EPS vs guidance and Street: net sales $778.5M (+1% YoY) and diluted EPS $0.75; both exceeded prior company guidance and S&P Global consensus, driven by international strength, 30 bps gross margin expansion to 50.9%, and lower outbound shipping costs, partly offset by unfavorable FX hedge rates. The company withdrew its FY25 outlook due to U.S. tariff uncertainty.
• International momentum remained robust (LAAP +10% reported/+14% cc; EMEA +3%/+7% cc), while U.S. and Canada declined modestly; wholesale grew 2% and DTC was flat.
• Management flagged incremental 2H tariff costs of $40–$45M to COGS at current rates (to be largely absorbed in 2025), stable fall order book, and stepped-up brand investment (marketing 6.4% of sales in Q1) despite cost headwinds.
• Near-term stock narrative hinges on: (1) tariff path and mitigation, (2) durability of international growth vs U.S. DTC softness, and (3) execution of the Columbia brand ACCELERATE strategy and demand creation ramp.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • International outperformance: LAAP grew double-digit and EMEA high-single-digit cc; Europe direct and China cited as strong, with localized assortments and marketplace execution.
  • Margin resilience: Gross margin expanded 30 bps to 50.9% on lower outbound shipping, higher closeout margins, and favorable Spring’25 input costs.
  • Brand investment momentum: Marketing spend reached 6.4% of sales in Q1, with a new global platform launching in August to target younger/active consumers; management sees this as competitive advantage amid peers’ potential spending constraints.

• What Went Wrong

  • North America softness: U.S. net sales -1% (DTC down low-single-digits, e-commerce down high-single-digits) and Canada -9% cc; weather and category headwinds weighed on spring demand.
  • Tariff overhang: Withdrew FY25 guidance; expects $40–$45M 2H COGS headwind at current incremental 10% rate, to be absorbed this year; vendor sharing uncertain.
  • Operating cash flow reversal: Operating cash flow -$32.0M vs +$106.8M last year; accounts payable and accrued liabilities outflows were notable drivers.

Transcript

Moderator (participant)

Greetings. Welcome to the Columbia Sportswear First Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Andrew Burns. You may begin.

Andrew Burns (VP of Investor Relations)

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us to discuss Columbia Sportswear Company's first quarter results. In addition to the earnings release, we furnish an 8K containing a detailed CFO commentary and financial review presentation explaining our results. This document is also available on our investor relations website, investor.columbia.com. With me today on the call are Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Tim Boyle, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jim Swanson, and Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Peter Bragdon. This conference call will contain forward-looking statements regarding Columbia's expectations, anticipations, or beliefs about the future. These statements are expressed in good faith and are believed to have a reasonable basis. However, each forward-looking statement is subject to many risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from what is projected. Many of these risks and uncertainties are described in Columbia's SEC filings.

We caution that forward-looking statements are inherently less reliable than historical information. We do not undertake any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this conference call to conform the forward-looking statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. I would also like to point out that during the call, we may reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including constant currency net sales. For further information about non-GAAP financial measures and results, including a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures and an explanation of management's rationale for referencing these non-GAAP measures, please refer to the supplemental financial information section and financial tables included in our earnings release and the appendix of our CFO commentary and financial review.Following our prepared remarks, we will host a Q&A period during which we will limit each caller to two questions so we can get to everyone by the end of the hour. Now, I'll turn the call over to Tim.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Thanks, Andrew. Good afternoon, everyone. First quarter net sales and earnings exceeded our guidance range. Globally, our wholesale business was better than planned, driven by late-season demand for winter products and early-spring product shipments. Our business outside of North America, which represents approximately 40% of annual sales, remained strong. During the quarter, we generated healthy growth in nearly all of our international markets, with double-digit % growth in the LAAP region and high single-digit % constant currency growth in the EMEA region. Before the April 2 tariff increases were announced, our solid first quarter performance put us on track to achieving our four-year targets. I'd like to begin this call by outlining our view on global trade and our plans to mitigate the impacts associated with the recent U.S. tariff increases.

Let me start by stressing the unprecedented level of public policy uncertainty that our industry is facing in the U.S. We have been in business since 1938 and have navigated successfully through many incredibly challenging environments. Our industry has never faced a period when the rules and regulations around trade with the U.S. are simply unknown and unknowable. I have never been more excited than I am today about our brands, our strategies, and the overall strength of our company. We have a diversified supply chain and a team of experts with deep international trade experience. We began this year with a fortress balance sheet, healthy inventories, and building momentum in the Columbia brand's accelerate growth strategy. These strengths give me confidence in our ability to emerge from this period as a stronger company with an improved position in the marketplace.

When the rules around trade are unknown, it's impossible for any company to predict with confidence what the cost of U.S. products will be, what the returns on certain investments in the U.S. will be, and ultimately how the U.S. marketplace will be impacted overall. Quite simply, companies are unable to confidently plan and invest in their U.S. businesses until there's clarity with respect to U.S. trade policy. History has shown that tariffs are designed to raise the price of imported goods. In the U.S., well over 90% of all apparel and footwear is imported and is already heavily taxed under legacy trade laws. The additional 10% universal tariff is on top of already existing high duties. The magnitude of the additional proposed country-specific tariffs has the potential to profoundly impact our industry and significantly raise prices to U.S. consumers.

For many consumers, the affordability of apparel and footwear will increasingly become a household issue. This will be further exacerbated if higher tariff rates go into effect. To date, we have taken several actions. Prior to the April 2 tariff declarations, we domesticated all on-hand U.S. inventory through our own foreign trade zone distribution centers, saving us millions in potential tariff costs. For products that are impacted by the reciprocal tariffs, we are accelerating shipments to the extent possible in order to receive products during the 90-day tariff pause. Because it's not practical at scale nor affordable, we do not intend to utilize air freight as a solution to accelerate inventory receipts. China remains a strategically important country for us, and we intend to continue leaning into opportunities for increased product creation and manufacturing in China, not only for our China direct business but for other markets around the globe.

We have very little direct exposure to tariffs on products from China. A low single-digit % of our finished good products imported into the U.S. are manufactured in China. Given the exorbitant tariffs on these goods, we will be diverting the vast majority of this product to other markets where it can be sold profitably. While much of our Fall 2025 product has been ordered and sold, we are rationalizing inventory buys where possible to reduce the risk of excess inventory in a challenging environment. We're also taking actions to restrain discretionary spending and, where appropriate, pausing capital investments in the U.S. until we have clarity. For Fall 2025, we're focused on maximizing our marketplace opportunity. We're working with our retail partners to deliver value to consumers and keep inventory and dealer margins healthy.

As a result, we expect to absorb much of the incremental tariff costs in 2025 at the current incremental 10% universal rate. For 2026, we're contemplating strategies to offset the impact of higher U.S. tariffs on our business. We have a team of experts exploring possibilities to mitigate the impact of increased tariffs, including redesign, redevelop, resource, and reprice products, among other mitigation factors. Overall, we're taking a multi-pronged approach to managing the business during this period of uncertainty. On the one hand, we're taking decisive actions to preserve capital and to mitigate the impact of higher U.S. tariffs. On the other, we believe that our brands and strong financial position can enable us to gain market share. The Columbia brand's exceptional value will be a competitive advantage in this period of rising prices for U.S. consumers.

As part of the Columbia brand's accelerate growth strategy, we remain committed to increasing our investment in demand creation to bring our new, highly differentiated marketing campaign and enhanced product assortment to life. We have a long history of irreverent, daring, and downright hilarious brand advertising, often featuring Gert herself. Columbia's marketing has always been distinctive from the rest of the outdoor category. In recent years, that has been less present in our marketing. With the Columbia accelerate growth strategy clearly defined, this is the moment to embrace our roots and write a new chapter for our iconic brand. Starting this August, we will begin to roll out our new global marketing platform that will be the Columbia brand character and voice for years to come. We will scale our new distinctive voice through a full-funnel strategy, with greater emphasis on a consistent year-round share of voice in the market.

Not only are we planning to invest more in marketing, we're also leveraging modern digital and social-first strategies to be more efficient and effective with our demand creation investments. In this period of tariff turmoil, we have the opportunity to set ourselves apart. Turning to our financial outlook, given the heightened uncertainty regarding tariff rates and the impact this will have on product cost and consumer demand, we are withdrawing our full-year 2025 outlook. With that said, I'd like to provide some details on how we're approaching the balance of the year. Prior to the tariff increases, we were on track to deliver on our full-year financial targets. For the second quarter, we anticipate net sales to grow 1-5% year over year. This is in line with the first-half net sales outlook we provided in February.

As of the date of this release, the incremental 10% universal tariff and the higher tariffs for China are in effect. Applying these tariff rates to the product that we have yet to receive in the U.S. for the Fall 2025 season would add between $40 million-$45 million to the cost of sales as the underlying inventory is sold. Given our focus on delivering exceptional value to consumers and maximizing the marketplace opportunity, we do not expect to offset these higher tariff costs in 2025. Our tariff mitigation strategy will evolve in response to trade policy changes. We continue to make progress on our profit improvement plan and have identified cost savings and profit-enhancing opportunities beyond the $150 million three-year target we established in 2024. We expect the U.S. market to be challenging in the back half of the year.

Consumers will be paying higher prices for many of the goods they buy, and we expect this to negatively impact consumer demand. Our fall order book has not meaningfully changed since our call in February, but we anticipate retailers will be cautious with their inventory intake in this uncertain environment. As a result, we're planning our U.S. business conservatively to minimize inventory risk and preserve profitability. We haven't seen a meaningful change in trends in most of our international businesses, which were quite healthy in the first quarter. It's not possible to predict the extent to which U.S. tariff actions will impact international economic growth and consumer demand for our products globally. I'll now quickly review first-quarter financial performance. Net sales increased 1% year over year to $778 million. Wholesale net sales increased 2%, while direct-to-consumer was flat.

Gross margin expanded 30 basis points to 50.9%, and SG&A expenses increased 1%. This performance resulted in diluted earnings per share of $0.75, up 6% year over year. Looking at net sales by geography, U.S. net sales decreased 1%. U.S. wholesale business was relatively flat. Spring 2025 shipments worked up modestly. During the quarter, winter weather boosted late-season fall product sales but hindered early spring season sell-through. In addition to weather, challenging outdoor category trends and consumer uncertainty had weighed on spring season demand. U.S. DTC net sales declined low single-digit %. U.S. e-commerce net sales were down high single-digit %. We had an excellent winter clearance sale in February, but it was not enough to offset challenging market conditions. U.S. brick-and-mortar net sales were up low single-digit %, driven by contribution from new stores.

We exited the quarter with eight temporary clearance locations, down from 28 exiting the fourth quarter. For my review of first-quarter year-over-year net sales growth in international geographies, I will reference constant currency growth rates to illustrate underlying performance in each market. LAAP net sales increased 14%. China net sales increased low teens %, led by strong e-commerce growth. Through our product offerings, marketing activations, and marketplace strategies, we're working to create a more premium Columbia brand experience for Chinese consumers. Building off the prior season success of our transit line, we continue to expand our localized product offering designed to meet the unique needs of younger Chinese consumers and the growing outdoor market. This quarter, we opened our first high-street store in China on Waihai Road in Shanghai. This celebrates Columbia's deep heritage and drove consumer engagement through both online impressions and in-store events.

We remain committed to investing in our business in China in the years ahead. Japan net sales increased mid-teens %, benefiting from strong demand for late-season winter product with growth across all channels. Our localized product in Japan blends style, functionality, and performance to create wear-anywhere product. Our team in Japan has done a great job building successful franchises that resonate with consumers. Some local product highlights from this quarter include our Sapland winter boots, Hawthorne waterproof footwear, and backpack offerings to support the back-to-school season. In May, we'll be opening a Columbia High Street location in the center of Harajuku, a premier retail area in Tokyo. I'm excited to see this premium expression of the brand come to life. Korea net sales increased low single-digit %, aided by late winter weather. LAAP distributor markets were up low 20s %, primarily reflecting robust spring 2025 order growth.

In both our LAAP and EMEA distributor markets, Omnimax Footwear has continued to be an incredible success story, demonstrating the power of great product, marketing activations, and retail presentation. The Columbia brand is strong, and our partners are investing in retail door expansion. EMEA net sales increased 7%. Europe direct net sales increased high single-digit %, with growth across all channels led by DTC stores. For spring 2025, Europe's key marketing campaign positions Columbia as the leader in hike. The team is focused on bringing young, active consumers into the brand through local activations like the Columbia Hike Society, as well as social content with hike influencers. Across the European marketplace, our team is doing a great job evaluating the consumer experience with in-store marketing and brand-managed spaces in concert with our strategic partners.

Our EMEA distributor business was down slightly despite strong spring 2025 orders, as the timing of shipments is more heavily weighted to the second quarter. Canada net sales were down 2% in the quarter, with sales down modestly across wholesale and DTC. Looking at first-quarter performance by brands, Columbia net sales increased 3%. On the product front, we introduced our lightest shoe ever, the Omnimax Chronos Featherweight, designed to perform on the trail and in the city with adaptive cushioning, flexible support, and grippy outsole. The incredible versatility of this product is being highlighted to consumers with the new footwear marketing campaign, "Every surface is a trail." Marketing efforts to promote Columbia's new running shoes include title sponsorship of the View Trail Race Series in Sedona, Arizona.

The event draws elite runners from across the Southwest and provides our teams with the opportunity to engage with this important audience at the grassroots level. Our new Rain No Shine Jacket was awarded Conde Nast Traveler's best overall pick for lightweight rain shells. This jacket is designed to keep you dry in the wettest conditions and features our OutDry Extreme waterproof breathable membrane in a new matte finish. In March, Columbia partnered with KIFF and Japanese clothing brand South2West8 to create a custom outdoor-inspired collection. Each piece blends KIFF and South2West8 silhouettes with Columbia's utility and outdoor functionality. Our popular PFG fishing line had several collabs and collections this spring. Our PFG Artist Series featured popular South Florida artist Bentley. This limited edition collection highlights original work inspired by Miami's graphic artists and its local fish species.

We activated this collection with a Bubba Wallace in-store event at Dick's Sporting Goods House of Sport in Miami. For the Homestead Miami NASCAR race, we wrapped Bubba's car in PFG graphics inspired by the collection. During the quarter, we also partnered with Columbia brand ambassadors Luke and Nicole Combs to create their own collections. We collaborated with Nicole to create a PFG specialized edition of apparel and accessories designed to take her from the boat to the beach and beyond. We worked with Luke to create a PFG special edition turkey hunting collection featuring premium field-ready features, advanced tech, and his favorite Mossy Oak Greenleaf camouflage. These incredibly successful collections and collaborations validate Columbia brand's authenticity and allow the brand to reach new consumers. I'd also like to congratulate the Columbia team for earning the top apparel and footwear brand score in Newsweek's America's Best Loyalty Program survey.

Newsweek takes input from thousands of loyal program members to uncover which offerings consistently deliver the most rewarding experiences. It measures customer satisfaction, perceived value, customer support, trust, and overall benefits. Columbia's Greater Rewards program delivers a meaningful portion of our DTC sales and is an important component of our overall consumer retention strategy. Well done, team. Shifting to our emerging brands, Mountain Hardwear net sales decreased 14% in the first quarter. While full-price selling was healthy across channels, we had lower closeout sales compared to elevated PFAS clearance activity last year. We remain committed to investing in the Mountain Hardwear brand, including elevating our presentation at wholesale. For spring 2025, we open a handful of branded retail environments in the specialty outdoor channel. Initial sell-through trends have been promising at these locations, and we plan to open more for fall.

prAna net sales decreased 10% in the quarter, reflecting challenging e-commerce performance, in part due to lower clearance activity compared to elevated levels in the prior year. I remain excited about prAna's product and marketing direction. As we head into the fall season, new product collections and refreshed brand imagery will be increasingly evident to consumers. During the quarter, prAna refreshed its Boulder, Colorado retail location to better highlight key product franchises and elevate brand storytelling. The immediate lift in store performance indicates that prAna's improved product assortment and presentation at retail is resonating with consumers. SOREL net sales decreased 8%. The team is making great progress refreshing the product line with new styles like the Ona Avenue Sneaker and the Roman Clog, which have the potential to become important product franchises in the seasons to come.

SOREL's evolution will continue into the fall season with new women's styles, an expanded men's collection, high-energy collabs, and refreshed brand imagery. In closing, Columbia Sportswear is a strong company that has weathered many challenges. We have an amazing portfolio of brands, decades of international trade experience, and a fortress balance sheet. I'm confident we have the strength to navigate near-term uncertainty and unlock significant long-term growth opportunities. We remain committed to investing in our strategic priorities to accelerate profitable growth, create iconic products that are differentiated, functional, and innovative, drive brand engagement with increased focus demand creation investments, enhance consumer experiences by investing in capabilities to delight and retain consumers, amplify marketplace excellence that is digitally led, omnichannel, and global, and empower talent that is driven by our core values. That concludes my prepared remarks. We welcome your questions for the remainder of the hour. Operator, could you help us with that?

Moderator (participant)

Certainly. At this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the Star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Once again, please press Star 1 if you have a question or a comment. Our first question comes from Laurent Vasilescu with Exane BNP Paribas. Please proceed.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director)

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for taking my question. Thank you, Tim, for all your thoughts on the tariff situation. It sounded from the prepared remarks that your fall order book did not meaningfully change, if I heard correctly. I know, Tim and Jim, I know you're not guiding for today, but should we assume that wholesale for 2H should be similar to what you expected in early February, which I think was somewhere in up low single digits? Longer-term, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Sorry. Maybe second part of that question is just longer term, I believe there's a lot of private label offering in the U.S. that comes from China. Are there any opportunities to take market share near-term and longer-term just because of the situation? Thank you.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Certainly. Again, under the category of headwinds, we really do not know what the consumer is going to be doing in the back half of the year. On the tailwinds, there's so much product that comes from China, both from private label and from smaller brands, where we believe there's an opportunity for the company to gain market share. We will be focusing on making sure that as it's available to us, we are going to take advantage of it. We think that there will be an opportunity for us to grow the business from a market share perspective just based on what you pointed out as it relates to China's shortfall in deliveries to the U.S.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Laurent, as it relates to the fall order book, as we took that through February and March, there were no surprises in the wrap-up of that order book relative to what we reported in February. As Tim noted, we've not seen any meaningful cancellations to date.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director)

Thank you, Tim and Jim. I appreciate that. I know it's hard in this volatile environment, but I appreciate that you called out $40-$45 million of incremental COGS based on the tariff rates as of today. Should we assume that that kind of splits between 3Q and 4Q? Clearly, I think you called out that you're not offsetting that with pricing for fall order books, but could you raise pricing starting for spring 2026? If that's the case, how much would you raise pricing globally or just in the U.S.? Thank you very much.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Certainly. I think our plans for spring 2026, which are in flux right now, because we really don't know what we're likely to pay for things in fall 2025, let alone spring 2026. Again, we will be surgically viewing the business. When the opportunity arises for us to either take market share by keeping existing pricing or offering some incentives, we'll be doing that on an almost ad hoc basis as we begin to take orders for the season.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. Laurent, as it relates to the $40 million-$45 million in tariffs, by and large, we would expect that to be in the second half of the year. We do not ship a lot of the or very little of the fall merchandise here in the second quarter. There may be a little bit that goes out. That $40 million-$45 million is incurred or realized through our P&L, the underlying inventory sold. There is the potential that you would see some of that cost actually out into 2026. To the degree we haven't shipped it or sold it through our own DTC channels at the end of the year.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director)

Very, very helpful. Last housekeeping question here, just the midpoint of guidance for 2Q rebs. Appreciate that you're giving that to us tonight. The 3%, any color around how we should think about that by the key markets that you report? If you're seeing anything in terms of near-term sentiment in China, because you've done very well over the last several quarters in China. I'd just love to get some color there. Thank you very much.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. I mean, from an overall standpoint, the guidance range that we provided, a 1-5, the 5% would essentially align with the prior outlook that we provided back in February. Keep in mind that from a wholesale standpoint, we had an order book for the spring season that we had last reported on that contemplated a mid-single-digit rate of growth. This is generally consistent with that, barring anything significant changing from a wholesale customer standpoint, which we've not seen to date. Aside from that, Laurent, we're assuming that the trends that we've more recently seen in the business, which include our international business, has continued to be healthy. Our outlook would contemplate that continuing to be the case across Europe and China. Continued some slowness that we've seen in our US direct-to-consumer business.

Laurent Vasilescu (Managing Director)

Okay. Thank you very much and best of luck.

Moderator (participant)

The next question comes from Peter McGoldrick with Stifel. Please proceed.

Peter McGoldrick (VP of Equity Research)

Hi. Thanks for taking our question. You pointed to opportunity to take market share in the current environment. I was hoping you could elaborate on those comments, if that's a global consideration. Given the level of consumer uncertainty, could you share your internal expectations for market performance in the various regions you participate?

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Certainly. Let me answer the first one. As it relates to market share, many of the companies that we compete with, and as Laurent mentioned, many of our customers that have private label businesses that are centered in China will have a difficult time importing products at all or maybe paying very high prices for it. We see opportunities to take share from those smaller brands and also take share, but potentially from our customers' private label business. That's the primary why we feel confident that there's going to be an opportunity for us, just based on our balance sheet and the fact that, frankly, we have a very structured, well-established expertise in navigating tariffs globally. Because the U.S., while it's a crazy time right now for tariffs, we navigate tariffs around the world and are quite good at it. The opportunities for us to be successful when others are not should be quite good.

Peter McGoldrick (VP of Equity Research)

Thank you for that. I was hoping you could talk about your plans to support demand creation. Previous guidance had considered a step up to 6.5% of sales. I recognize that you've withdrawn guidance, but I was hoping you could talk about your level of commitment to growing demand creation relative to the prior outlook.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. We intend to continue to spend at a higher level than we have in the past on projects and campaigns starting really in August of this year. We think that it's going to be quite good for the company for a couple of reasons. First of all, we're going to spend more. Second of all, we're going to be more efficient with our spend. We're changing strategically how we spend the money. Lastly, the campaigns created is very different. We'll have an opportunity to show you that beginning in August when you'll see much more of the company's marketing assets being distributed. I think that those three things will give us a very big leg up, especially in a time when competitors will not be able to be investing as heavily as we will.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Peter, while we're not providing a full year outlook, you'll note in the CFO commentary that we've published, if you look at the SG&A analysis that's in there, our marketing spend is a percentage of sales for the first quarter of 6.4%. That's somewhat indicative of that intent that we've got in terms of putting more dollars behind marketing and the accelerate strategy.

Peter McGoldrick (VP of Equity Research)

I appreciate the perspective, and I look forward to the advertising campaign.

Moderator (participant)

Next question comes from John Kernan with TD Cowen. Please proceed, John. Good afternoon.

Krista Zuber (Investment Analyst)

This is Krista Zuber on for John. Thank you for taking our questions. Just first on the SG&A cost saves. On the last call, you really spoke to achieving sort of the $90 million in cost saves for 2024. And you're now tracking, I believe, the 8K suggested roughly $150 million annualized for fiscal 2025. What have you since identified in your cost structure review as potential areas that's driving this spend reduction? Ultimately, kind of what do you view as the optimum SG&A rate longer term for the company, excluding this—I do not even know if you can exclude this current period, but in a rosier picture, I guess. Thank you.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. Krista, this is Jim. Yeah. What we described, the $150 million, keep this in mind, those are annualized cost reduction plans that we have that encompass both what we set out and we achieved in FY2024, so the $90 million, and then the incremental amount that we intend to execute on this year that would bring the cumulative amount up to the $150 million by the time that we exit this year. By and large, it's reflective of the components that we've described up to this point in terms of operational cost savings. We've described some work that's going on within our supply chain that's encompassed distribution costs, whether that be third-party logistics and distribution savings that we achieved in the last year, including labor optimization. There's automation efforts that are ongoing. We did execute a reduction in force last year. Certainly, that's on the table in terms of factors that we need to be considering for the balance of this year as well.

In addition to that, all forms of other spend, and whether that's capital spend, as we're pulling back on that a bit in the U.S., given the uncertainty of the trade environment that we're operating in, and all other forms of discretionary spend. We feel like we've got a good beat on achieving that $150 million as we exit this year. To your question regarding the longer-term goal here, without getting down to the specifics on this, certainly our expectation would be that we make progress towards driving leverage in our SG&A and pushing that back in the direction where it had historically been, as well as in the case of our operating margin and seeing our operating margins return into the double-digit and beyond zone. It is going to take time given the uncertainty of the environments that we're operating in here today.

Krista Zuber (Investment Analyst)

Got it. Thank you for that. Just my second question just on China. The turnaround in your business there has been very encouraging. What you're seeing, just to get some insight into what you're seeing there, you were up low teens, I believe, constant currency in Q1. Can you talk more to the recent trends, the positive outdoor category trends, the elevation that you've really been able to achieve in that market, and kind of how that's shaping your view more or less for the balance of this year and the longer-term opportunity in the market? Thank you.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. I mean, it's good to remember that we are quite small in China compared to many of our competitors. The opportunity for us to grow rapidly is there. The expansion opportunities are good as well because there's an established retail operation there with not only our own stores but stores that our customers would operate, for all intents and purposes, under a franchise agreement. Outdoor is strong there. The brand is strong. We are seeing lots of opportunity for expansion. We are also going to be continuing to invest there in localized design and production, which we believe can give us a leg up against many of our competitors.

Krista Zuber (Investment Analyst)

Thank you.

Moderator (participant)

The next question comes from Mitch Kummetz with Seaport Global. Please proceed.

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Consumer Analyst)

Yes. Thanks for taking my questions. Tim, as you think about the consumer or maybe some of your wholesale partners, have you seen any preemptive buying, any pullback in the spending? Also maybe just from a top, as far as sales and margins, what is your kind of FX outlook? How has that changed given what we have seen with the dollar over the last since you guys last reported?

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. I can take the FX portion of that, Mitch. We are not providing a full year outlook here today. In terms of what's embedded in our Q2 outlook that we've provided, I think it's on the conservative end of the range, knowing that the dollar has weakened a fair amount. That should be a bit more of a benefit relative to what we anticipated coming into the year. Speaking to it any further than that on the full year, I'll back my comments at this stage.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. I think for us, even though we're what, a month or so into this tariff—I don't even know how to describe it—tariff world, our customers, as it relates to the retail customers, are looking to us for guidance on much of this stuff. Unfortunately, we're not really able to do much other than tell them, "the company's strong. You can rely on us from a balance sheet perspective, that we will be stronger than many of your vendors, and we will provide as much information as we can. Recently, I was in touch with virtually every one of our major customers at a high level to tell them, "Here is our approach. We do not know much, but as we know, we will be filling you guys in. We think there is an opportunity to take market share from weaker competitors." The consumer, I think, clearly is spooked on what is going on. We have seen that across all different kinds of commodities. It is just too difficult to be speculative right now.

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Consumer Analyst)

As a follow-up, you guys mentioned that there has not been any change to the order book. Tim, I think you said that you expect retailers to be cautious. Are you going to be building to the order book? Are you going to be maybe paring that back, assuming that there are some cancellations? Might hit. How are you thinking about your willingness to hold inventory? Are you more likely to kind of pack and hold, knowing that stuff that you have in inventory now, you've bought it maybe at a lower cost than you might down the road? Is there more willingness to kind of hold on to things, especially if it's kind of like basic kind of carryover product?

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. We sold the bulk of this inventory November of last year. We bought it then, but we have not received it all. Depending on when the merchandise actually shows up, I think we've got something like half of our products received some of the new tariffs, but basically half of our inventories in the US is here in-house. We're going to continue to receive inventory. Hopefully, it'll be at some reasonable tariff charge. Between a potential shortage from other vendors and our strong balance sheet, we believe we can be a provider of product as it's required to our retail partners and to consumers through our own DTC business beyond where others will be able to provide that.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

I'm assuming maybe just a couple of added remarks related to that. For the Fall 2025 season, we've purchased the lion's share of our inventory. It's in the 85-90+% range of Fall 2025 that have been bought. Certainly, these final buys that we're making as we finish out the season, we're rationalizing those inventory purchases relative to any given number of scenarios from a demand standpoint. With regard to holding inventory, we've had a strong preference in the past to ensure that we do that in the least disruptive way and profitable way and leveraging the fleet of outlet stores that we have. That'll be top of mind as we get to that point, and we need to make those decisions in the latter part of the year.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

I might also comment to you. We have a global business. To the extent we can move product around the world to take advantage of markets that don't have the crazy tariff implications, we'll do that.

Mitch Kummetz (Senior Consumer Analyst)

Great. Thanks again.

Moderator (participant)

Next question is from Paul Lejuez with Citigroup. Paul, please proceed.

Paul Lejuez (Managing Director)

Thanks, guys. On that $40-$45 million of tariff pressure that you talked about in the second half, I'm curious if that already considers the sharing of some of the burden by your vendors or if that's an opportunity to work that $40-$45 million lower. Can you just remind us of your top three customers and what % of sales they represent within the wholesale business? Thanks.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. As it relates to our vendors, we have a well-established grouping of large vendors to the company. We consider them to be partners, and we will work together to the extent possible to mitigate as much of this additional tariff cost that we can. It may not be through discounts. It may be through some other help that they may give us on where we're shipping merchandise or shipping merchandise over a longer period of time, etc. We consider the fact that we have these strong relationships with our vendors to be another example of a high-quality company with a great balance sheet that can weather storms like this. As it relates to our customers, we don't really provide top customers. We do not have a 10% customer. We have customers all over the globe. We think we're quite well set to weather this storm.

Paul Lejuez (Managing Director)

Just to be clear, the $40 million-$45 million, that already includes some vendor sharing in the tariff burden or no?

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

No. That's the direct tariff cost to us on the universal 10% incremental tariff for the Fall 2025 season.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. In the U.S. We do not really know if it goes to 175%. In every country in the world, it may be a different number. Okay.

Paul Lejuez (Managing Director)

Do you think that you will have some success with getting the vendors to share in some of that burden?

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

These are partners of ours. We will work together to do what we can, whether that is moving an order to a different time, moving an order to a different ship-to location, meaning a country that is not the US, discount, or there are all these myriad ways we can work together to help together move through this stormy period.

Paul Lejuez (Managing Director)

Got it. Thank you. Good luck.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Thanks.

Moderator (participant)

Next question is from Jonathan Komp with RW Baird. Jonathan, please proceed.

Jonathan Komp (Senior Research Analyst)

Yeah. Hi. Good afternoon. If I could just follow up to ask further on the China to US sourcing, it sounds like you are shifting a lot of that product. Essentially, you do not have exposure on that piece, China to U.S., this year. Could I just ask, will that also be the case going forward, or is that just unique to the Fall period? Any risk from that that you see in terms of suboptimal assortments or any potential shortages here in the U.S. based on some of those shifts?

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

No. The company, for years, has been moving from China for a number of different reasons, not the least of which China has for a while been the least competitive sourcing operation for products that we sell. We were able to reduce the company's intake into the U.S. from China to a very low single digit. We were able to further reduce that this year because we moved product around the globe so that we would keep the orders in our factories there and still provide profitable sales around the world. I do not see any impact on the company's ability to provide high-quality products across our offerings from areas outside of China. We will continue to produce products in China for local China production and for consumption around the world where China's products are considered to be not heavily tariffed.

Jonathan Komp (Senior Research Analyst)

Okay. Great. That is really helpful. One more follow-up just on the unmitigated exposure of the $40-$45 million this year. It looks like effectively that is more than a 300 basis point hit in the second half to your U.S. gross margin structure. Are there any other potential offsets you are contemplating for this year? Is that sort of a one-time step down, or are you thinking about looking to recapture some of that next year depending on all the scenarios? Just trying to get to how you're thinking about that margin impact this year.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

That is based on an assumption that the president does not increase the size of the current 10% additional tariff. That is our assumption, and that is how we're modeling the business. Who knows? The guy may wake up tomorrow, and the whole world has changed. We're providing you information we think we have.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

John, we believe that to be a one-time. We're absorbing the lion's share of that $40 million-$45 million this year. Our belief and expectations we plan for next year is premature in terms of all the steps. Tim touched on all the different levers that we have available to us. As we begin that planning for next year, certainly, we would look to make various decisions to absorb and recover any incremental tariffs that were then occurring.

Jonathan Komp (Senior Research Analyst)

Okay. Great. Best of luck. Thanks again.

Moderator (participant)

Up next is Paul Kearney with Barclays. Please proceed.

Paul Kearney (VP of Equity Research)

Hey. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. You mentioned that you're pulling in inventory during the pause period and rationalizing buys for the back half. Can you clarify if that is on a dollar basis? And can you talk about your expectations on the cadence of ending inventory for Q2 through Q4? Any detail on region would be helpful.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

As it relates to rationalizing inventory, that is looking at that both in dollars and in units. Of course, we're not providing specifics on that. As it relates to pulling in inventory, certainly, what we're seeking to achieve there is knowing that July 9 and the risk of these incremental tariffs then becoming in place, we want to pull forward as much as we can from a production standpoint, being able to receive that inventory and pay the duties at the current known universal 10% incremental rate. To the degree we can work closely with our factory partners, with our logistic partners, we're doing everything we can to pull that inventory in from that vantage point.

Paul Kearney (VP of Equity Research)

Great. Thank you. With regards to pricing, obviously, you're making the decision to not take pricing up for the fall. Are you seeing other non-private label competitors take up prices, or do you anticipate that they will in the fall? Is that potentially an opportunity to take further share? Thanks.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. I mean, again, I think we're one of the first reporting companies. We know that many small competitors that we deal with and also many of our customers' private label products emanate from China. Those products, we believe, will be, if they're successfully imported to the United States, which is a question, we believe we can easily compete with them. Our expectation is that we'll be taking share from that.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. There's very little known today in terms of what either our competitors or our customers' private label, what everybody's doing with their own pricing. TBD.

Paul Kearney (VP of Equity Research)

All right. Thank you very much. Best of luck.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Thank you.

Moderator (participant)

Next, we have Alex Perry with Bank of America. Please proceed, Alex.

Alex Perry (Director of Equity Research)

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions here. I guess just to ask sort of in a different way, the decision to pull guidance, was that more of a factor of the uncertainty in the demand environment or cost environment? Are you seeing volatile trends in DTC in particular that make it hard to predict? It sounds like the wholesale business is relatively stable and with a similar view as the last time you got it. What is sort of going on in the demand environment that makes it hard to predict? Thanks.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

I would just say this, Alex. What we're indicating to you, and we've provided a Q2 outlook that, by and large, is maintaining the prior first-half outlook that we would have. Pulling a full-year guidance, nobody knows. There are so many uncertainties with regard to how the consumer and the retailer behaves and acts in the second half of the year. For that reason, we've made the decision to withdraw the guidance. Not to mention the numerous variables when you think about it from an overarching earnings standpoint. We're not seeing anything today in the trend of our US business, either from a wholesale or DTC business perspective, that would suggest a downtrend, if you will.

Alex Perry (Director of Equity Research)

Yeah. That's really helpful. Can you just sort of remind us of sourcing penetration by country and where you have the most exposure as it stands today, just as we're sort of thinking about reciprocal tariffs? Obviously, there's the ability to shift. As it stands today, where do you have the most exposure?

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. I just recommend, Alex, you look toward 10K. It's pretty—we just filed that a month or two ago, and it's got all of the relevant data points that are in there. Obviously, we've provided quite a bit of clarity here on the call as it relates to our China exposure specifically.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Yeah. And Alex, I would just point out that we believe we're among the most distributed apparel companies. So we're sourcing from many, many countries, and we're quite adept at moving production around the world to take advantage of tariffs and specialties in certain markets.

Alex Perry (Director of Equity Research)

Perfect. Really helpful. Best of luck going forward.

Moderator (participant)

Next question comes from Mauricio Serna with UBS. Please proceed.

Mauricio Serna (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Great. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I joined a little bit late, so pardon me if I ask something that you may have already answered. First, on the guidance for Q2, I know it implies the first half is you're keeping the guidance stable. Just want to understand, for Q1, does that mean there was some type of pull forward that happened there? On gross margin, on Q1, I see it was up 30 basis points. Was that in line with your expectations, or was there anything that surprised you to the upside or downside? Thank you.

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. As it relates to the guidance for the second quarter, so first half, we've more or less held. We've widened the range out just given the risks associated with what's going on from a trade standpoint. Our Q1 beat was a combination of things. There is some pull forward that we delivered slightly earlier on our spring 2025 wholesale orders relative to what was in our outlook at the time. To an extent, we also had some favorable cold weather in many geographies that helped aid in the top line. That gives you a bit of overview on that. As it relates to the Q1 gross margin, it was only up 30 basis points for the quarter. That is more or less in line with where we thought it would come in, maybe slightly under. There is no significant driver one way or the other, and there are several items that have contributed to the improvement there. Nothing significant to call out.

Mauricio Serna (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Just a quick follow-up. Just thinking about the guidance that you provided for the first half, you only talked about the sales outlook. Just wondering, given that the tariff looks like a second-half impact, why not give a full EPS guide for the first half? With that in mind, I mean, should it still be fair to see a better gross margin expansion in Q2 relative to Q1, just given the much easier comparison you have?

Jim Swanson (VP and CFO)

Yeah. I don't want to get into a ton of details on that, but suffice to say that the reason we haven't given first half or Q2 earnings is there's far too many variables once you start getting down into the P&L. Whether that's tariff costs that you incur, there's a lot of unknowns with regard to the health of the retailer, the deeper we get into this, and whether there's downstream bad debt risk that we need to book provisions on. There's just countless variables providing an outlook for any period of time right now that I would caution that the reason we haven't done it. We'll provide updates along the way to the degree we can, but there's just too much risk out there right now and too many uncertainties.

Mauricio Serna (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Makes sense. Understood. Very lastly, you said $40-$45 million impact on cost on second half. Is it fair to assume that first half of next year, that number should just be lower because by that point, you're implementing some mitigation strategies, right? Just want to double-check.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

We've been very focused on July 9, I think it is, when the pause lapses. We have no idea what July 10 is going to be or July 11, for that matter. It is very difficult to be projecting large global business results.

Mauricio Serna (Executive Director of Equity Research)

Understood. Thank you so much. Best of luck.

Moderator (participant)

We have no further questions in queue. I'd like to turn the floor back to management for any closing remarks. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today.

Tim Boyle (Chairman, President, and CEO)

We faced many challenges during the company's 87-year history, and every time we persevered and became stronger. I'm confident we can weather this storm and emerge with an improved position in the marketplace. We look forward to talking to you next quarter.

Moderator (participant)

This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.