Columbia Sportswear Co. has signed a multiyear deal with NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace as a brand ambassador that will “also put the company on the No. 43 at Dover later this month and one of two other races not yet announced,” according to Jenna Fryer of the AP. This marks Columbia's first venture into NASCAR, and Columbia Brand President Joe Boyle said that the company took notice of Wallace “during the coronavirus pandemic when NASCAR was one of the first sports to return to competition in May.” Boyle: “Everything he stood for, in terms of his fortitude, courage, conviction around what he is standing up for, that's what really Columbia has stood up for all these years.” Fryer notes as talks with Columbia began, Wallace sent the company “photographs of himself wearing a prized bright yellow ski jacket that was his first Columbia apparel purchase." Boyle said, “It wasn't the (activism) that stood out for us, it was that he grew up in the outdoors.” Wallace’s current contract with Richard Petty Motorsports expires after this year, and the Columbia deal “would follow him to a new team in 2021” if he does not return to RPM. Wallace in recent weeks also has signed a personal deal with Beats By Dre, while his team has landed new sponsorship from Cash App (AP, 8/12).
