Extensive sampling for more product safety

Phthalate continue to be an issue in textile production

Voluntarily recalled products

During the reporting period, there were no nonconformities that led to a fine.

However, two components of our ABS avalanche backpacks had to be removed from retail stores and recalled from customers due to quality problems of a component supplier. In both cases, VAUDE had no possibility to detect the problem and was dependent on the upstream quality assurance system of its supplier.

VAUDE continues to work closely with ABS in order to achieve optimization of quality assurance.

During internal random sampling, two articles with higher levels of phthalates were detected. Further analysis was immediately undertaken, confirming the values for one article. The affected batch of shoes had to be completely destroyed. This was done under the supervision of customs authorities. However, the first analysis results for the other article – a shoe cover - turned out to be unrepeatable and all other samples were normal. This product continued to be sold.

Findings in this year show that systematic monitoring of health and safety aspects in our complex supply chain is important.

Nr./Date	Type and incident	Information from	Analysis and action taken	Communication	Consequences
01/14 March 2014	safety aspect, holding strength of food (Child carrier) too low	internal Quality Control	stop of delivery, 100% control, recall of affected batch from retail, rework	statement, letter to all retailers	no legal consequences but damage to image (retailers)
02/14 Aug 2014	harmful substances in shoes	internal random check during production	destruction of affected production, re-production with new contaminend-free materials	only internal and with manufacturer	delay of delievery, absorption of costs through manufacturer, Supplier meeting, strict control of next production batches
03/14 November 2014	harmful substances in shoes covers	internal random check during production	second analysis contaminant-free, batch can be sold	only internal and with manufacturer	none
04/14 November 2014	wrong labelling (date of expiry) at Carbon cartridge Airbag-Backpack by airbag-system supplier	during internal product testing	supplier used wrong labelling (date of expiry), no danger for end-comsumers, recall from retail, replacement free of costs	with retail, website, all other communication done by system supplier ABS	no legal consequences but damage to image (retailers, end-consumer)
05/14 December 2014	safety aspect, ABS steel cartridges (avalanche backpack system)	system supplier	contamination in steel cartridge (ABS system) can block the airbag inflating, recall from retail and end consumers	letters to all retailers, letters to all end consumers, websites ABS and VAUDE, ads taken out by ABS. notification legal authorities	no legal consequences but damage to image (retailers, end-consumer), delay of delieveries