Puma and Columbia Sportswear are extending their outsourced logistics relationships with A.P. Moller-Maersk and contract-logistics specialist GXO, according to WWD, signalling continued migration among apparel and footwear brands toward third-party control of warehousing and freight forwarding.

WWD reported the expansions but did not disclose contract values, facility counts, or commitment durations in the headline-level coverage distributed via Google News. The deals place two publicly listed brand owners further into the hands of dedicated logistics specialists at a moment when ocean-freight volatility, nearshoring debates, and U.S. tariff uncertainty are pushing sourcing teams to reassess inventory positioning.

What the partnerships cover

Maersk operates end-to-end ocean and landside logistics, including customs brokerage, contract freight, and integrated warehousing through its Logistics & Services segment. GXO focuses exclusively on contract logistics — warehousing, fulfilment, e-fulfilment, and reverse logistics — and reported roughly 190,000 team members across more than 1,000 facilities worldwide at the end of 2023.

Puma, headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, has progressively shifted distribution toward third-party operators as its direct-to-consumer e-commerce share has grown above one-quarter of group sales. Columbia, based in Portland, Oregon, runs a more wholesale-tilted model but has invested in B2B and DTC fulfilment capacity across North America and Europe.

Neither brand has publicly itemised the scope of the expanded Maersk and GXO arrangements. Industry practice for such deals typically bundles ocean freight with drayage, deconsolidation, and finished-goods warehousing, but the available coverage leaves open whether the new commitments add net square footage, replace incumbent 3PLs, or simply renew existing master-service agreements at revised rate cards.

Why brands keep pushing volume to 3PLs

Three structural pressures are driving the outsourcing wave across mid- and large-cap apparel and footwear companies in 2024-2025:

• Inventory dual-sourcing. Buyers increasingly split production between Asian and nearshore origins, raising demand for flexible, multi-node distribution networks.
• E-commerce growth. Puma's DTC channel revenue reached roughly €2.2 billion in 2023, requiring parcel-level fulfilment capabilities that brand-owned warehouses struggle to scale efficiently.
• Automation and wage inflation. Robotics integration, warehouse labour costs, and real-estate thresholds have risen sharply, favouring 3PLs that amortise capex across multiple clients.

Sourcing and compliance implications

For supply-chain executives, deeper Maersk and GXO commitments carry several direct consequences worth verifying in the contract language:

• Bonded and FTZ capacity. Maersk's North American footprint includes Foreign Trade Zone–designated facilities that brands use to defer duties on re-exported goods. Sourcing teams should confirm whether the new commitments include FTZ designation, which would affect tariff-engineering work and Section 321 de minimis routing strategies.
• Vendor compliance flow-down. GXO's standard contract terms typically cascade ISO 2859 / AQL sampling protocols and CTPAT or AEO customs-trade-partnership requirements down to brand vendors. Expect stricter on-site audit cadence at upstream Tier 1 and Tier 2 factories shipping through consolidated 3PL gateways.
• Scope 3 data capture. With the EU's CSRD in force and California's SB 253 set for fiscal-year 2026 emissions reporting, third-party logistics providers are now primary data sources for downstream transportation and warehousing emissions. Puma and Columbia will need to confirm whether Maersk and GXO provide audit-ready fuel, electricity, and refrigerant consumption records at facility granularity.
• Country-of-origin documentation. Outsourced deconsolidation nodes frequently reshape where origin declarations are issued for trans-shipped cargo, which has knock-on effects on UFLPA, EU Forced Labour Regulation, and CBP enforcement exposure.

What remains unconfirmed

The headline-level coverage stops short of naming the regions, product categories, or service modalities added under the expanded deals. Trade-press tracking of Maersk's Q1 and Q2 2025 Logistics & Services segment revenue, alongside GXO's win-of-quarter disclosures, should clarify whether the Puma and Columbia expansions contributed materially to those line items.

Sourcing directors should also watch each brand's next annual and sustainability reports, which typically itemise 3PL partner concentration and any renewable-power procurement tied to outsourced warehousing.

The decision forced by the news is straightforward: any supplier tendering for shelf space or replenishment volume with either Puma or Columbia in 2025 must now design routing — origin, transit mode, and consolidation cadence — to match the 3PL's network, not the brand's owned DCs.