The majority of materials used in the production of VAUDE products are vegan, since they are made of synthetic materials such as polyester or polyamide.
When advertising products, each manufacturer can decide whether or not to take the primary materials alone or all of the components in a product into consideration for its vegan labelling. They also have to decide how far into the upstream production stage is included and whether these items can be verified at all.
That’s what makes it so difficult to identify a product as ‘vegan’, unless it is food. And the label can be prone to greenwashing.
VAUDE does not market our polyester bags or synthetic footwear, for example, as vegan. We only describe the primary fabrics as vegan because some of the textile components like glues or dyes can contain animal-based substances. There is no transparency with these product components and we cannot guarantee that they are vegan.
As members of the BSI (the German Sports Industry Association) we are working together with a range of animal welfare organizations to come up with a comprehensive definition of the term vegan for the industry. Read more here (German)
These days, it is a matter of course for many people not only to eat vegan food but also eliminate purchases that include animal-based products. It is a request we increasingly hear from our customers and we take the matter very seriously.
We do, however, still use animal-based products such as down to insulate jackets and sleeping bags, leather for footwear and wool to make warm and cozy clothing.
Using these animal-based materials, we make amazing products that enable you to experience their natural comfort. After all, mother nature has tested and fine-tuned the functionality of these raw materials over thousands of years.
In the long run, we would like to rely less on materials based on fossil fuels like crude oil. The natural, renewable raw materials that nature has to offer are an important element in this pursuit.
True to the VAUDE ethos, this will naturally involve the highest levels of animal welfare and comprehensive traceability.
