Meaningful product labeling
Customers need information about a product’s material composition and the place of manufacture in order to be able to accurately compare products and have a true purchasing choice. This is a genuine concern for us here at VAUDE – informing our customers as extensively as possible.
There are, however, different regulations and guidelines for labeling products. The requirements for the labeling of textiles and shoes are complex and not always easy to realize in practice.
VAUDE offers more information than required by law
According to textile labeling laws, fiber percentages and percentages of materials of animal origin must be listed on the label. Additional information such as organic or recycled are no longer permitted and must be in a different form such as on a product hangtag. All of our textile products are subject to this labeling law. In addition to the textile labelling law, our textile products have a care label in accordance with ISO 3758, an international standard for care labelling of textile products. We provide the following information for our products:
Additional information on the product
We offer our customers additional valuable information on product hangtags. These hangtags provide information about environmental and technical aspects, as well as information on our system suppliers such as Polartec® and Sympatex®, sketches and photos of the product, and information about awards and patents.
In addition we label those products that fulfill the strict ecological criteria with the VAUDE Green Shape label. Details on Green Shape here.
Starting in the Summer Collection 2016, we will also label products with that consist of at least 30% recycled materials or at least 30% renewable materials in addition to Green Shape and bluesign® labels.
We want to make it even easier for our customers to recognize eco-friendly products and make informed purchases.
However, to avoid creating a "label jungle" on the product, we have established a hierarchy of labels. VAUDE products only carry one of the following eco-labels:
- Green Shape - if the product meets the strict Green Shape criteria.
- bluesign® product - if it hasn't met the Green Shape criteria, but meets the criteria of the bluesign® system.
- Recycled materials - if the product isn't a Green Shape or bluesign® product, but consists of at least 30% recycled materials.
- Renewable materials - if the product isn't a Green Shape or bluesign® product, but consists of at least 30% renewable materials.
Our customers can recognize that ecological added value of a product right at the point of sale. At the same time, we evaluate our products in these four categories - for example, by market segment or product groups in sales and volumes.
Technical products - child carriers, panniers, avalanche backpacks and tents - are given additional product-specific instructions on use, assembly, maintenance and special safety instructions.
Care instructions as ecological as possible
We make sure that our care instructions are as ecological as possible and recommend, for example, washing at low temperatures and, whenever possible, air drying. We also work with our material suppliers on this issue. Every season, we check all labels to ensure that the material compositions and therefore the care instructions have not changed.
In 2015 no violations of labeling
To label our products properly, we work very closely with our material suppliers. They provide detailed information on the fiber composition and provide us with the specific care instructions. In our Product Lifecycle Management system (PLM), this information is stored in a separate workflow, including control loops, so that we can reliably manage queries and labels.
Product labels are checked each season. When there are small changes in the materials used, we pass along this information.
Consumer protection and competition law
The regulations for product labeling must be respected to avoid distortion of competition and to meet consumer protection requirements.
