Upcycling – we save valuable materials from the trash bin.

Shopping bags made from material remnants from the Manufaktur

Together with refugees, we made shopping bags from material remnants in sewing workshops at our Manufaktur in 2016. We sold the bags at a sales event in the VAUDE store Ravensburg and in our outlet in Metzingen. The proceeds flowed back as donations for a joint project on the refugee program, Asylnetzwerk Tettnang. A market check showed that the bags were well accepted by consumers. We are now planning to produce the bags in our new Upcycling Manufaktur by creating new posts for refugees. 

Learn more about our commitment to refugees here

Cool gym bags from used advertising banners

You can buy cool upcycled gym bags in our VAUDE stores. These are made from used advertising banners in a sewing shop in Germany.


You can find our stores here

For several years we have worked with students from the Technisches Gymnasium Ravensburg on the development of a sustainable business model within the framework of the project “Umweltprofis von morgen.” In 2016 and 2017 students dealt with ideas for upcycling VAUDE material remnants. Read more here

In 2016 four students used recycled advertising banners and returned products that couldn't be repaired by our service department to develop and produce new bags that were used as pencil cases or for cosmetics.

Used tent materials from VAUDE tents that couldn't be repaired at our Repair Service get a new life as a pocket companion from Roterfaden.

These innovative products are 100% handmade in Germany.
Find the pocket companion with used VAUDE tent materials here

Upcycling Manufaktur and material exchange

Of course, we accrue remnant materials. For example, in our factory: Pure-sort polyethylene and PP are given to plastics processing for the production of valuable secondary raw materials. Nevertheless, the majority of waste from our production facility ends up in the garbage bin. This is primarily composed of textile remnants, defective goods and general waste.
Other examples: waste also accrues in our product service department when items are returned that can’t be repaired. In addition there are old product prototypes and recyclable waste from the kitchen and logistics. 

Read more at "Waste".

So we have asked ourselves how we could reuse these residual materials without a loss of value. We have gained experience and ideas from a variety of projects. Now we are planning to build an in-house Upcycling Manufaktur with material storage and manufacturing with its own upcycling products and, in a second step, to create an external material exchange in cooperation with other companies and schools. We have already many production ideas, such as shopping bags (see below), that we will implement in 2017.

We want to set a good example and establish the meaningful use of residual materials from an ecological, economic and social point of view.

New products from production remnants

Material remnants also accrue in the production facilities that make our products. We produce special models from larger amounts of remnants.

We also rely on upcycling from leftovers in the outfitting of our VAUDE stores. For example, the curtains for the changing rooms are made out of remnants packs ’n bags materials. The clothes hanger labels for sale items are also made from remnant materials.

Unfortunately, we still don't have a recycling option for smaller remnant amounts. This generally comes with significant effort and costs (such as those due to customs regulations) when processing them or bringing them to our headquarters. After we have built up our internal structure for upcycling and the material exchange, we want to concentrate more intensively on this issue.