VAUDE CSR-Report – Quality Management

We only make products that we would use ourselves.

VAUDE’s roots are in mountain sports and our customers have high expectations about the quality and performance of our products – whether it’s about how reliable they are under tough conditions in the mountains or on a bike tour, or their chemical finishes. We apply all of our experience and expertise and use the latest technologies to deliver maximum safety and performance.

»Many VAUDE colleagues are themselves enthusiastic mountaineers or cyclists. Like our customers, they demand the highest quality and exceptional functionality of their products. These should provide reliable protection from the wind, rain and sun, facilitate athletic performance, and be dependable companions, day in and day out, for years to come. «

Bettina Roth

Chemical management and product safety are top priorities

The issues of chemical management and product safety therefore have top priority in our quality management system. We work closely with the executive board regarding quality management.

You expect product manufacturing to be high quality, safe, healthy, environmentally friendly and socially responsible. This isn’t always easy to ensure in a complex supply chain. But we want to be a pioneer in this issue and not just react after legal obligations are set.

Consistently eliminating harmful substances

As a responsible company, VAUDE sets the highest standards for product functionality and environmentally friendly production. For this reason, we have been working together with bluesign® technologies ag for more than ten years.

The bluesign® system is the strictest production standard in the textile industry, which consistently eliminates harmful substances along the entire production chain by using the best possible technologies. The bluesign system limits are generally more stringent than legal limits.

In addition, VAUDE signed the Greenpeace Detox Commitment in 2016 and committed itself to transparency, greater responsibility and substituting of harmful substances with alternatives.

Specials tests when it comes to your safety

All safety-related products such as child carriers and avalanche backpacks are subjected to a detailed risk analysis and an error detection and impact analysis (FMEA). This includes the design, the system and the manufacturing process.

These risk assessments are prepared and evaluated by a team with members from the departments of design, product management, production and quality management. The goal is to find possible weakness and risks to consumer safety during the development phase and to take corrective and preventative action.

The search for potential for improvements

We obtain further information from evaluations at our product services department regarding potential improvements for our products.

Monitoring, analysis and corrective action for resulting discrepancies are important instruments in ensuring or increasing product and consumer safety. Instructions for use or special warnings are made for many of our products that provide additional protections from misuse.

Testing by independent third parties

All products that have a direct impact on customer safety, such as child carriers or avalanche backpacks, are verified by an independent third party such as TÜV Süd. These products are then labeled appropriately with a CS seal, CE label etc.

Working together to make improvements

»Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success. «

Henry Ford

The textile supply chain is very complex. Materials are usually produced more than two years before a product hits the market. This means current problems can’t always be addressed immediately.

Legislation in countries of production is often not as strict as that in European countries. So you have to always be working on raising awareness of the various participants in the supply chain.

Go ahead with strategic partners

A family-owned company like VAUDE can only hope to bring about change by working together with strategic partners and its competition. To do this we are collaborating with the Textile Alliance, bluesign® technologies ag, the BSI, the EOG (European Outdoor Group) and the ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals), an association of international textile industry members for controlling the use of chemicals at suppliers of the textile industry.

Only by working together with other, larger companies can we achieve sustainable change.

The VAUDE Quality Management Teams in Germany and Asia monitor adherence to our high quality standards at all production sites. Informational feedback sessions take place with product managers and the quality management team here as well. This information forms an integral part of our continuous improvement process.

Revision of the Green Shape criteria

To improve the sustainability and safety of our products, we regularly review our Green Shape criteria. In this process, the entire product lifecycle is reviewed and evaluated.

Intensive dialog with suppliers

Our frequent random sampling for hazardous substances is an indicator of the quality of our suppliers. The results from these tests are incorporated directly in supplier assessments and into our supplier strategy. Any anomalies are reflected back to our supply chain and corrective and preventative action is taken.

We recognize our responsibility for the conditions under which VAUDE products are made worldwide. We are happy to take on this responsibility as a permanent challenge in a globalized market.

Training for producers and suppliers

This doesn’t, however, mean that we leave our suppliers to deal with these challenges alone. Our producers are evaluated with regard to their level of knowledge and development in the areas of environmental management and hazardous substances management, and for each of them appropriate training and support programs are developed and consistently implemented.

The companies that supply materials to our producers also receive individualized training and support. Currently, a 2-year pilot project is running in collaboration with the develoPPP.de program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. More here

Our producers’ and suppliers’ awareness of hazardous substances in the supply chain and the consequent deepening of knowledge of all stakeholders is an essential factor for us in the area of consumer health and safety.

Many VAUDE goods are produced by longtime partners. VAUDE has a long tradition of partnership-based, responsible and personal business relationships in Europe as well as in many other countries.

GRI:

G4-DMA Consumer Health and Safety

Environmental-friendliness you can count on