Information: This report is outdated – you can find the current sustainability report here.
At our headquarters in Tettnang, water is used exclusively for sanitation and in the laboratory for waterproofing and washing tests. It is then discharged into the municipal sewage system. No water is needed in the production process. Water consumption is recorded for water utility and regularly evaluated.
Rainwater is collected in two ponds on the premises, which are available as a water source for extinguishing fires and as a habitat for amphibians. In addition, they are used as a break area for employees and as a tadpole observation area by the on-site childcare center.
The vast majority of our products are manufactured, however, at other sites. In contrast to the situation at our headquarters, VAUDE has very little control over how water is dealt with in our upstream external supply chain.
Water is needed in textile production in almost all process steps:
| GRI: | DMA water |
There are still no compulsory legal regulations on the designation of water consumption in the manufacturing of outdoor products.
VAUDE commissions independent producers with manufacturing of our products. We do, in fact, try to influence the conservative use of water through the specifications of the materials to be processed, such as by using the bluesign® standard.
Nevertheless, we do clearly recognize that our influence has been very limited in the supply chain for water issues thus far. It has not yet been possible to obtain reliable data on water consumption of producers and suppliers that allows a reference point for VAUDE’s final products.
We know that we have an urgent need for action on this issue, both in terms of creating data transparency, as well as water management in the supply chain. We are pursuing these two strategic approaches: the expansion of the bluesign® standard and building a database with the Higg Index.
