Independent Complaint System

The factory based complaint system is inadequate at many production sites. So it is very important to us that workers have the opportunity to contact a neutral entity – the FWF complaint helpline. Complaints may either be made anonymously or personal identifying information can be included. The complaint offices are supervised by local FWF employees who speak the same language as the workers, are in the same time zone and come from the same culture. This is crucial for building trust.

Once VAUDE learns of a complaint, it is immediately addressed following the FWF guidelines. The FWF forwards the issue to us and we are obligated to resolve it together with our producers. In turn, we report our resolutions measures to the FWF. The FWF checks whether the complaint was adequately resolved and then publishes the report on its website. Read more here

Every production site is obliged to post the FWF complaint system contact information for its workers in a public place. This is checked regularly by FWF employees and our own CSR employee on-site.

All of our production sites in China, Vietnam and Myanmar have already participated in the FWF's Workplace Education Training program (WEP). More here

One component of the WEP training is the complaint system. The complaint system is explained to workers as well as to the management and contact information is distributed on small cards. The focus is also on internal communication between workers and management and factory-based complaint systems. The goal is to solve problems within the factory and to resort to the FWF complaint system only when additional help is needed.

VAUDE received six complaints from workers through the FWF, 50% more than the previous year. All FWF complaints are published on the FWF website and you can find them here