Repair, don't replace
We are proud of our high-quality and durable products. They are your dependable, day-to-day companions, and are manufactured for intense use. But even the best product can break at some point.
Just because a product has a problem doesn’t mean its life is doomed. Our own VAUDE repair shop has long fixed minor and major damage, exchanged defective parts and prolonged the life of your beloved products.
Many of our retailers have spare parts for your VAUDE products in stock or they can order them. They can also give you good advice for the proper care of your product. Click here to learn more about our repair service.
Do-it-yourself with iFixit
With a little craftsmanship, many repairs can often be easily made yourself. If you enjoy sewing and fixing thing and want to save yourself the time and effort needed to send in your product for repairs, you can use the do-it-yourself repair instructions at iFixit.
You can order any spare parts you need or special tools and have them delivered directly to your doorstep.
»We think this do-it-yourself idea is fantastic – which is why we are collaborating with iFixit to create repair manuals for many VAUDE products and have made the necessary spare parts available. We would be delighted if this helps our products be used even longer.«
Hilke Patzwall, CSR-Manager VAUDE
»Ideally, manufacturers should already be thinking about the repairability of their products during the design stage and promoting this by providing repair manuals and spare parts. VAUDE is one of those producers, which is why we at iFixit are very happy about this collaboration.«
Matthias Mayer, Managing Director iFixit Europe
VAUDE cooperates with Repair Cafés.
Need help with a repair? Try visiting a local Repair Café !
The Repair Café concept fits perfectly with VAUDE's sustainable alignment. Repair Cafés are a great place to get support for your do-it-yourself project.
Repair Cafés can order VAUDE spare parts directly for you, or you get them yourself at a specialized retailer or through iFixit.
If you can't fix a VAUDE product yourself or with the help of a Repair Cafés , then you can turn to the VAUDE Product Service.
UPDATE, October 2, 2017: VAUDE Repair Café in the Obereisenbach factory outlet
In October 2017, we opened our own Repair Café at our factory outlet in Obereisenbach, near our VAUDE headquarters. Here customers can sew and repair their own jackets, backpacks, tents or bags -– even from other brands – with the help and support of our VAUDE staff. Our on-site specialists and the use of our equipment and tools are at your disposal, free of charge. You will only be charged if you need extra material or spare parts. Further information and our opening hours can be found here
Nearly everything is designed so that it can be repaired
Repairing rather than replacing is fantastic. But what happens if a product can’t be repaired? Sometimes, this is actually a problem – even though reparability is playing an increasingly important role as a criterion in product development, and our designers are working hard to find meaningful solutions to make ever more products repairable.
Some types of functionality are a trade-off. For example zips in the high-stretch materials of cycling jerseys or soft shells: Clearly, we can replace a zip, but taking out the original sometimes leaves behind stitching holes that can turn into a run in the fabric.
We still have potential for optimization in these cases, or rather, we have to make uncomfortable decisions what we think will be more is more important in the future: technical performance or good reparability.
Donations with small defects
Our goal is to repair and continue to make useful even more products with the help of clearly defined repair decision criteria in our VAUDE Repair Handbook.
Products that cannot be repaired but essentially still “work” (such as when a zip on an inside pocket no longer functions but the jacket is otherwise in good shape) are donated to FairWertung, an umbrella organization of non-profit organizations. Read more here
Within the guarantee period, VAUDE has the right to repair every defective article. Sometimes, however, customers expect the item to be replaced or to be given a store credit rather than a product repair.
Customer product claims by type of processing
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The data in this graph shows all customer product claims and includes products returned after their warranty period. Data with “no data assigned” is not calculated in the EDV system, for example, for products that were made long ago. Many of these products are donated to FairWertung.
In 2016 we repaired fewer products than in 2015. This had several reasons. The repair rate changes from year to year depending on the products we receive and what was wrong with them. In 2016 we donated more products to FairWertung than in 2015.
