The vast majority of our products (around 95 percent) are produced outside of the company headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach. In contrast to the situation at the company headquarters, VAUDE has very little control over how the upstream supply chain handles energy.
The preparation of materials and components, such as fabrics or zippers, the production of chemical products such as dyes and substances which are required for the functionality of the products (water repellency, UV protection and the like), as well as sewing the products themselves all require energy.
Still there are no statutory provisions relating to the designation of energy consumption in the manufacture of outdoor products, let alone legal requirements for their energy efficiency.
VAUDE commissions independent producers to manufacture its goods. We do try to influence energy-saving production by stipulating which materials are to be used, for example, those with the bluesign® standard.
However, we must clearly recognize that our influence has been quite limited in the supply chain thus far. It has not been possible to obtain reliable data on energy consumption from producers and suppliers that would create a reference base for the manufacturing of VAUDE products.
We know that we have an urgent need for action on this issue, both in terms of creating data transparency, as well as in terms of energy management in the supply chain. We are pursuing these two strategic approaches: with the expansion of the bluesign® standard and by using the Higg Index to build a database that collects all environmental data - see "bluesign ®: Worldwide strictest standard" and "Higg Index ".
