VAUDE, Jack Wolfskin and Salewa win Fair Wear Foundation Award

The cooperation venture saw the three outdoor brands developing a training concept for the improvement of working conditions in sewing factories in Myanmar. Fair Wear Foundation honoured the three brands for their engagement in the upholding of social, secure and fair working conditions in their production locations.

The winners of the Fair Wear Foundation‘s Best Practice Award are announced at the multi stakeholder organisation’s yearly Conference. Each member may submit a project, which is then evaluated by an independent jury. This year, the joint initiative presented by VAUDE, Jack Wolfskin and Salewa was among three winners. The outdoor brands developed a training programme for the improvement of working conditions and active communication between workers, management and local stakeholders in Myanmar. The prize is a video, in which the three brands will have a chance to present their Best Practice.

Planning began mid-2015 and the trainings took place in November 2015 in the factories. At the time, FWF did not have offices in Myanmar, which meant the resources usually offered to members were not available. There were neither guidelines on the country and its legal framework (so-called „FWF Country Study“), nor local training staff, audit teams, or a functioning complaints hotline. The three brands took the courage to fill this void. Essential steps in the process were the search for a competent local partner to carry out the trainings, deep research into the current legal system in Myanmar, setting up a complaints hotline and most importantly, setting the bases for effective inter-stakeholder dialogue in all directions. All the results of the three brands’ research, the training materials and contacts data base were handed over to the FWF, helping to enlighten and accelerate the organisation’s setting-up of local offices in Myanmar in 2016.

The successful cooperation of the three competitors shows that VAUDE, Jack Wolfskin and Salewa are seriously engaged in the implementation of better working conditions in the facilities where their products are made.

For years, each of these companies has been working individually towards the advancement of working conditions along their own supply chain. This cooperation project sets new standards. It shows that joining forces improves the chances, at shared suppliers or in new sourcing countries, of contributing to help factories and workers to reach better, safer and fairer working conditions, by increasing the awareness of workers’ rights and the setting up of mechanisms for effective social dialogue.