Business operations that are ecological, fair, and successful

We want to engage in sustainable business while making fair and environmentally-friendly products for you, our customers. In order to do this, we have integrated sustainability holistically throughout the company strategy, anchoring it into the “normal” workday of all employees.

Understanding the Economy of the Common Good

The success of most of our current global economic systems is too often based on social exploitation and destruction of the environment. Our position is clear: The private sector has a significant impact on the ecological, social and economic conditions in which we all live. In order to ensure the long-term preservation of our planet and to eliminate social inequality, we need to change how we think about the economy. We need an authoritative model for corporate activity that takes on responsibility for both society and the environment throughout the supply chain.

As an outdoor supplier, we have a very close relationship with nature. VAUDE “lives” from people enjoying the great outdoors. We see ourselves as a company that is responsible for actively contributing to the protection and preservation of nature.

»We want to be a sustainable company through and through. We are coming a little closer to this vision every year.«

Antje von Dewitz, CEO

We see entrepreneurship as a contribution to the public good. This means that we would like to use our actions to make a positive contribution to making the world a better place, for both people and nature. The Economy for the Common Good captures this understanding perfectly. It measures business success not only in financial terms, but also by its contribution to the public good. Human dignity, solidarity, ecological sustainability, social justice and democratic co-determination and transparency are also included. This is why VAUDE became a pioneer company in the Economy for the Common Good with an audited Common Good Balance – more at VAUDE Economy for the Common Good Balance.

For us, sustainability is integral to corporate responsibility. Our sustainability approach is based on the United Nation’s guiding principles for sustainable development. We are therefore closely examing the goals for sustainable development adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in the fall of 2015. We understand these goals to be a comprehensive call to action and that companies will play an important role in achieving them. We take our responsibility seriously and see the sustainable development goals as an enriching perspective for the further development and assessment of our business activities.

More at "VAUDE and the sustainable development goals".

Sustainable development goals of the united nations

We have received numerous awards for our understanding of entrepreneurship over the last years. More about our awards here

Ambitious corporate strategy

What is VAUDE's vision? And what mission are we pursuing?

What does VAUDE stand for? What problems has VAUDE found solutions for? What extra benefits does VAUDE offer consumers and society – today and in the future as well?

The answers to questions like these should be guided by our vision and mission. The main purpose of the vision statement is to briefly and concisely describe the added value the company is providing for customers and a future reality. It should make clear what drives us and what we stand for. The mission contains the many individual aspects that contribute to the concept. It shows how we intend to achieve our vision of the future.

Our vision: Improving the quality of life with sustainable outdoor products and future oriented business strategies.

These are just some of the ideas behind our vision:

Improving the quality of life for our customers, employees, producers and partners as well as society at large – this is the meaning we find in our actions. The focus is on our core business. We want to make enjoyable outdoor adventures possible with sustainable outdoor products! But we go far beyond that. We think about life on our planet in terms of humanity in partnership with nature. For us, forward-looking business means leading the way and setting an example with a new way of doing business that improves the quality of life and doesn’t harm nature, but that is nevertheless successful.

Our mission: We create innovative products, solutions and services that are both environmentally friendly and socially fair. We minimize our ecological footprint with sustainable quality and circular systems that allow us to operate within planetary boundaries. We are a driving force and role model for sustainable business practices on a global level.

These are just some of the ideas behind our mission:

We create innovative products that are environmentally friendly and socially fair, taking the planetary boundaries into account. We are aware of the negative consequences of problems such as climate change, loss of biodiversity or land and water use that harms the environmentally, which is why we focus on sustainable quality, circular systems and reducing our ecological footprint. We achieve this by consistently using biobased and recycled materials and making our products as repairable and recyclable as possible as well as by efficiently transitioning to renewable energy sources and avoiding environmentally harmful substances throughout the supply chain. In addition to selling our products, we invest in low-resource growth with services that strengthen the circular economy. With business models such as the rental of outdoor gear or second-hand sales platforms, we support our customers in living and consuming responsibly. We are leading the way as a pioneer and are happy to take on a role as a driving force and role model. In the spirit of making the world a better place, we are committed to responsible business practices on a global level. To this end, we are also involved at the political level in numerous initiatives, industry associations and pass on our experience at the VAUDE Academy for Sustainable Business.

Our corporate vision and mission are implemented through a multi-level, strategic approach. This is based on the company’s mission statement, which defines VAUDE’s roots, values and motivation – more at "Corporate Philosophy".

We have developed a consistently sustainable corporate strategy that is aligned with the common good; it is designed and managed by the executive level and is integrated into the day-to-day business in all areas of the company. Our interdisciplinary Sustainability Team coordinates all sustainability activities and measures – more at "CSR Team".

We take a holistic approach in our work. Sustainability aspects are fully integrated into the corporate strategy. Therefore we do not have separate sustainability strategies that run parallel to our economic strategies.

Want to find out more about our corporate strategy?

The following elements form the VAUDE corporate strategy:

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VAUDE’s ambitious view of the future is expressed in its Corporate Vision with the goal of serving as a compass and source of inspiration for its employees.
The mission statement describes the path to achieving our vision.
Ten strategies define the foundational long-term strategic orientation both internally and externally and provide guidance.
The Corporate Goals describe what VAUDE would like to accomplish in the mid-term – more at "Our Goals".
Division Goals, Department Goals, Team Goals and Employee Goals are derived from the Corporate Goals. This means that each employee pursues and implements specific sustainability goals as a part of their job.

VAUDE’s executive board reviews the corporate strategy annually in a top-down and bottom-up process and continues to develop it.

Our goals are defined with specific target figures and timeframes. We regularly examine the extent to which we’ve reached our sustainability goals and/or analyze possible difficulties. These results form the foundation we use to continue to develop and improve.
Sustainability goals and target figures are largely derived from the requirements and key figures of external sustainability standards such as the GRI, EMAS, FWF etc. We use these to measure and direct our sustainability goals. This procedure ensures the materiality of our goal setting— more at "Our Goals".

Systematically embedding the strategy in the VAUDE Ecosystem

Sustainability has many aspects and challenges, especially for companies with a global supply chain. The VAUDE Ecosystem defines how we systematically embed all sustainability activities and measures of our business activities at the company headquarters in Tettnang and throughout the entire product life cycle. The criteria for completeness and materiality underlie the defined action fields of the VAUDE Ecosystem. This helps us guarantee that all materiality aspects and issues regarding social and ecological responsibility at the company headquarters and in the entire supply chain are identified and addressed – more at "The VAUDE Ecosystem".

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GRI:

102-14