Your sustainable outdoor outfitter from Upper Swabia
[fau ` de:] -- is the German pronunciation of the initials of the company founder’s last name, Albrecht von Dewitz, who founded the company in 1974 in an old hops barn. The company is 100% family owned, now in the second generation of the von Dewitz family – see "Antje von Dewitz at the summit".
VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG develops, produces and sells outdoor gear under the VAUDE brand: functional outdoor apparel, backpacks and bags, sleeping bags, tents, footwear, camping accessories.
The VAUDE brand and its products stand for mountain sports expertise, innovation, and social and environmental responsibility. Our vision is to be thoroughly sustainable, both objectively and measurably – see "Sustainable company strategy".
Our employees are our most important resource
VAUDE’s headquarters are located in Obereisenbach, a village in sunny southern Germany close to the bordering countries of Austria and Switzerland. With a view of the Alps and Lake Constance, VAUDE employees work for the “Spirit of Mountain Sports” – see also "Our employees".
Our headquarters are in Obereisenbach near Tettnang
VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG is primarily located on two sites: the headquarters in Obereisenbach with various buildings, and a sales branch in the Netherlands.
In addition, there are two factory outlets - one in Metzingen and one in Wadgassen - and various leased order rooms nationwide. The figures in this report are based exclusively on the company headquarters. There is one production facility at the headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach. More at Made in Germany.
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Company headquarters near Tettnang
The VAUDE company premises are located in sunny southern Germany near Lake Constance.
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You can read more about our buildings and our working environment here
International subsidiaires and offices
Another sales office in Spain, VAUDE Franchise GmbH and our teams in Vietnam and China are organized in subsidiaries (joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries). One employee is employed with us through the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce. The Shanghai office was closed in 2017. The production facilities in China were sold to a former partner; we no longer produce there.
Product development in Tettnang
The development of the entire collection takes place in Tettnang-Obereisenbach, including initial ideas for products, evaluation of materials in our own testing laboratory, prototypes and finished engineering.
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Rigorous testing
Our materials are rigorously tested at our on-site testing lab.
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The entire administration department is also located here: in addition to management, you’ll find finances and accounting, human resources, marketing, IT and of course, the CSR Team (more at Interdisciplinary CSR Team). All domestic and international product sales are controlled by Tettnang-Obereisenbach. You can read more about our markets here
The headquarters includes product services, with a strong repair service to repair used products. More about it here
Global supply chain
One of our most important suppliers is VAUDE Vietnam. This production facility was founded in 2008 by VAUDE founder Albrecht von Dewitz. This company does not belong to VAUDE Sport GmbH &Co.KG and is thus not included in this report. Data from the production facility is taken into account with the information on the supply chain.
In 2017 VAUDE manufactured 3,185,229 products. About 4 % of VAUDE products are manufactured in the factory in Tettnang-Obereisenbach. About 29 % at VAUDE Vietnam. All other products are made on behalf of VAUDE by independent suppliers in Europe and Asia.
More about the supply chain here
Headquarters are EMAS and ISO 14001 certified
Central logistics is also located in Obereisenbach. Products for the European market are delivered here, tested, warehoused, commissioned and shipped to retailers – see also "Emissions compensation". North America and Asia are directly supplied by third party deliveries from the producers to distributors within each respective country.
The entire headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach has environmental certification in accordance with EMAS and ISO 14001. This applies to the production of waterproof bike bags and backpacks in Obereisenbach. The Obereisenbach location is located in a mixed-use zone.
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Environmentally friendly production
The entire headquarters in Obereisenbach has environmental certification in accordance with EMAS and ISO 14001.
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Organic certified organic canteen, VAUDE Café and VAUDE Kinderhaus Childcare Center
Since April 2015 VAUDE has had its own organic canteen where employees can enjoy a healthy breakfast, lunch and snacks. A few meters away from the administration building is one of our three factory outlets, which also houses the organically certified VAUDE Café.
And last but not least, both the VAUDE Kinderhaus Childcare Center (serving 31 children, it celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2011) and the Bädleverein – an open-air community swimming pool in Obereisenbach that VAUDE saved from closure and continues to lease – are found in Obereisenbach. See also “Create added value through commitment”.
