Japanese watersports-apparel maker chooses Beaverton


Mobby’s USA headquarters to be located in Portland suburb.

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BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR

Mobby’s USA headquarters will be located in Beaverton.

The Japanese company makes diving suits and other watersports apparel.

Initially, the company will market only dry suits — which keep the wearer warm and protected from water while submerged — in the U.S. market. Founded in 1963, it also makes and sells diving suits and dive accessories for recreational, commercial and technical uses in Asia, Western Europe and Russia.

The company maintained a U.S. headquarters in Texas from the late 1980s to 2004, but left the United States to focused on its Japan business between then and now because of economic conditions, said Mark Ross, general manager for the  its new North American office. The company is based in Ishinomaki, Japan. Its president is Mamoru Yasuda, son of the company founder.

For at least the next year, Ross will be the sole employee working in the Beaverton office at 1800 N.W. 169th Place. The 500- to 600-square-foot office is attached to a 3,000-square-foot warehouse.

(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)

The company intends to hire five people in the area by next year.

“Mobby’s decision shows the strength of Oregon’s athletic and outdoor industry,” said Vince Porter, Business Oregon’s interim director, in a release. “It also shows how our work to recruit foreign investors can drive job growth in Oregon.”

Business Oregon is the state’s economic development agency. The division worked with Beaverton officials to recruit Mobby’s since last spring.

(SOURCE: Portland Business Journal)

“We’re at the epicenter of the outdoor sport and leisure market,” Mobby’s North American general manager Mark Ross said in a news release. “There’s a strong core business here in Beaverton, and the talent in this area is really strong.”


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