Columbia Sportswear, an outdoor clothing and footwear maker, has been a continuous supporter of Mirai no Mori for the past few years. Recently, they gave 2 LITs (high school students) an opportunity for work experience at their stores, assigning one person per store for a more in-depth experience. After arriving at each store, the participants started by cleaning and tidying up the store in preparation for opening. Next, they learned about Columbia’s history, company policies, and products through videos and other prepared material. After the lunch break, they experienced some of the actual tasks at the store, such as explaining the products to the store staff as a practice and managing the inventory. They were also able to experience coordinating and dressing the display mannequins, a task that is unique to the apparel industry.

In this program, LITs were able to learn not only store work, but also knowledge and skills that can be applied in various places in their future, such as store management and customer service. Thank you to everyone at Columbia for providing the opportunity for such a valuable experience. 

“I was able to ask a lot of questions and talk with the Columbia staff about things that I should do now, even outside of my job description. In a short amount of time, I was able to learn about the division of roles within an organization and what is like to work in a store. I even learned how to exchange business cards, which will definitely be useful in the future. I could not memorize all the names of products or speak loudly at a time, so I will reflect on this experience and improve myself for next time.”

“It was great to have the opportunity to experience and learn how to serve customers in an apparel store. There were some difficult tasks, like coordinating the clothing for mannequins and folding clothes in a special way, but I was happy to be praised for my cleaning job.”