Fair Wear Foundation

VAUDE has a long tradition of business relationships that are based on partnership and responsibility. As a rule, we always work directly with our producers and do not order over agencies. We are very interested in long-term relationships with our producers. Instead of a „hire and fire” policy, we have established an extensive collaborative understanding of our quality requirements over the years.

This creates a degree of mutual trust that makes it possible to have an open and construction collaboration.

In this report year, we have worked together for five or more years with almost 51 percent of our producers. In addition, the production volume at 67 percent of all of our producers is more than ten percent of their total capacity.

In order to guarantee independent monitoring of working conditions in our production facilities, VAUDE has been a member of the independent „Fair Wear Foundation” (FWF) organization since 2010. Our goal is to achieve improved working conditions in our production facilities through exchanges with the experts of the „Fair Wear Foundation” and other member businesses.

The Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization that works with brand companies, retailers and producers to improve working conditions in the sewing textile industry.

The FWF focuses exclusively on these producers because this is where labor-intensive sewing processes take place that require many workers. An automation of this process is scarcely possible. Material suppliers are not evaluated.

As a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, we have committed ourselves to complying with the strict rules based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) in all of our production facilities. 

• no use of forced labor – see „Good working conditions for employees“
  
• no discrimination against employees – see „Equal opportunity in the supply chain“
  
• no use of child labour – see „Say No to child labor“
• freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining – see „Freedom of association – a major challenge“
• payment of a living wage – see „Fair Wages“
• excessive hours of work – see „Working together against excessive overtime“
  
• safe and healthy working conditions – see „Verification by the FWF“
  
• legally binding labour contracts – see “Verification by the FWF“
  

The full Code of Labour Practices from the Fair Wear Foundation can be downloaded here: „Code of Labour Practices” (PDF-Download).

VAUDE made the decision to join the FWF for two main reasons: Firstly, the monitoring of the producers’ working conditions is not based on occasional audits, but on a holistic management system.

All work processes, timelines and responsibilities for production at the company headquarters are successively optimized so that the respective production facility can plan over the long term. We want to ensure, for example, at the very beginning of our collection planning process that overtime in production due to late orders will be avoided.

Secondly, the Fair Wear Foundation system is based on the principle of shared responsibility between our company as the contracting entity and the management of the production facility, without whose understanding and active participation, improvement measures can never be sustainable.

The Fair Wear Foundation summarizes the results after an audit in a Corrective Action Plan (CAP), in which necessary improvements are identified. We implement the CAP together with the producer. The Fair Wear Foundation regularly verifies the progress made.

Secondly, the Fair Wear Foundation system is based on the principle of shared responsibility between our company as the contracting entity and the management of the production facility, without whose understanding and active participation, improvement measures can never be sustainable.

The Fair Wear Foundation summarizes the results after an audit in a Corrective Action Plan (CAP), in which necessary improvements are identified. We implement the CAP together with the producer. The Fair Wear Foundation regularly verifies the progress made.

Besides the quality handbook, all producers also have to sign the „Code of Labour Practices“ of the „Fair Wear Foundation“ as part of the contract. Further we inform them in detail about the FWF and our membership. When considering new producers we take into account whether they have other ecological and social certificates or not.

Before signing a contract with a new producer, a VAUDE Head of Production who is also a member of the VAUDE CSR team at the company headquarters in Tettnang visits the production facility – read more about this at VAUDE CSR-Team in „CSR Team as a driver of sustainability”.

Any system is only as good as the extent to which it is put into practice. As a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, the principle of shared responsibility applies to VAUDE and its producers. We support our suppliers in the continuous improvement of working conditions.

At the same time, we are working on our own procedures in the planning and ordering process, to create the conditions necessary for our contractors to plan at an early stage for the capacity of their workers. This helps them to provide timely deliveries, safely and without depending on excessive overtime.

Our monitoring system complies with the Fair Wear Foundation. We determine which producers will be audited in the following year in an annual work schedule. We place priority on suppliers with a high production volume or with many years of collaboration as well as producers with whom we know that collaboration will continue, even when our production volume is currently small.

The FWF also provides information about those countries where the risk of poor working conditions is particularly high - see „Strict controls in risk countries". The FWF stipulates that from the 3rd year of membership, 90 percent of the suppliers must be audited. This ensures that most producers are audited.

The percentages listed here in accordance with the guidelines of the FWF-assessment relate to the year 2014. The work plan created in 2014 was implemented. All other results refer to the audits that took place in 2014.

During each audit, the producers’ overall implementation of the monitoring is evaluated based on the Code of Labour Practices social standards in respect to labor practices and human rights, and other aspects. The audit team consists of independent, local auditors or agents of the Fair Wear Foundation.

The audits consist of three parts:

1) a document check
2) the inspection of the production facility with a focus on occupational health and safety
3) interviews of persons working within and outside the facility

In addition, local stakeholders are consulted on each point. 

After each audit, a binding action plan (CAP) is jointly agreed upon with the audit team and the management of the respective production facility. VAUDE takes the responsibility for ensuring that the measures referred to therein are implemented.

VAUDE employees in China and Vietnam who are specifically responsible for FWF issues actively support the local producers. In case of implementation difficulties, a solution is sought in dialogue with the producers.

During the year, each producer is visited personally by VAUDE. Additional quality issues are determined regarding how the CAP will be implemented, which further action is necessary (if any) and when the next audit will take place.

After three years, a new audit is carried out by the FWF to evaluate progress made. If necessary, a new action plan is then developed.

In order to improve the tracking of audits and the implementation of measures resulting from the audits and action plans, and to better systematize them, we have incorporated our own employees on-site in China and Vietnam to a much greater degree in this issue since 2012. These are our quality assurance team leaders in Vietnam and China, as well as our office in Shanghai.

All employees on-site are locals, so they know the language and culture, including national, regional and local conditions and regulations.

We have reinforced the teams’ personnel and trained the team leader of quality assurance in Vietnam and China intensively in this respect. In both offices additional personnel for implementing the corrective action plans and supervision of the producers were hired.

With these training measures, we offer our production facilities direct assistance in the implementation of social standards. The implementation of action plans is coordinated through our offices in China and Vietnam. Our audited facilities report to these offices on all actions taken and obtain support for continuing problems.

To anchor the Fair Wear Foundation’s monitoring system throughout the company and in particular in the entire product development and production process, we have carried out a series of internal information events and offered training classes at our head office in Tettnang-Obereisenbach.

To this end we use the intranet, the VAUDE Academy and our biannual Collection Introductions to the entire international sales workforce. Furthermore, the FWF and all corresponding issues are an integral part of the internal Update Meetings for all VAUDE product segments. All necessary action plans are reported annually to the Board.

„The management approach is evaluated annually by the „Fair Wear Foundation" during the „Brand Performance Check" and is a component of our membership. Thus independent evaluation and assessment are ensured.
Brand Performance Checks (BPC) evaluate the following two main aspects.

Efforts that VAUDE intends to implement in the coming year are listed with corresponding measures in the Work Plan. This includes the following:

• Purchasing Practices – see „Responsible for the products´ end of life”
• Monitoring and Remediation
• Complaints Handling – see „Independent grievance system”
• Training and Capacity Building
• Information Management
• Transparency
• Evaluation

The FWF has determined how many production units per year will be audited and actively supervised. This percentage refers to the total purchasing volume for VAUDE with the producers per year.

• First membership year = 40 percent
• Second membership year = 60 percent
• Third membership year = 90 percent

Both aspects are examined and rated in a point system.

The following table shows the measurements for 2014 at the „Brand Performance Check".

This results in a „benchmarking score" resulted in 78 percent, which put us in the „Leader" category. 

In 2014 we achieved 96 percent monitoring of our production chain. 

Despite our good results, some weaknesses and opportunities for improvement were identified during the audit. We will work even harder on their implementation now.

• Further work on implementing „living wages” – see also „Fair Wages".
  

• Educational work in the production facilities on this topic must be promoted
  
• Production in Myanmar requires a separate procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Fair Wear Foundation – see „production country Myanmar".
  

• Educational work in the production facilities on this topic must be promoted – see „Independent grievance system".
  

• Identification of knowledge gaps in the factories.
• Implementation of training units with the help of local stakeholders.

The task is now to introduce these points in 2015 and actively promote them.