Environmentally friendly use of materials

We created a voluntary commitment for all supply purchases for our Tettnang-Obereisenbach location in 2011 and we focus on using our purchasing influence to support companies which, like VAUDE, incorporate sustainability as a corporate philosophy.

This is why it's so important to us to purchase and use products that are as environmentally friendly as possible including office supplies, cleaning products, furniture and everything else we need for our business operations at VAUDE.

And of course also at the VAUDE organic canteen – delicious, healthy, regional and environmentally friendly! More here.

The bulk of our paper consumption involves sales documents such as our Dealer Order Books. The remainder includes printer and copy paper, training documents and business cards.

We have significantly reduced harmful emissions stemming from printed materials and paper consumption since 2011. Firstly, we have consistently conserved paper, for example, by doing away with our consumer catalogues.

Secondly, recycled paper creates significantly less emissions than conventional paper. By transferring most of our paper stock to eco-friendly recycled paper, we put this leverage to use for our climate footprint. Find out more here.

In addition to having a collection that’s sustainable, presentation in a sustainable shop design is also important to us. With our shopfitting concept, customers can experience our environmental commitment at the point of sale as well. Our goal of keeping our ecological footprint as small as possible applies to both material selection and shop design. CO2 stemming from store construction is offset so the entire project is climate-neutral.

Shop design is focused on the use of fewer materials due to an open floor plan and a recyclable, modular shopfitting concept for high flexibility. In the case of materials, easily detachable connections are used so that, if necessary, the materials can be separated by type for reuse or recycling.

Using a limited variety of materials supports this:

• Untreated wood panels made from FSC-certified ash wood from the fast-growing raw material of domestic ash trees. Regional wood from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg is used.

• MDF (medium density fiberboard) is produced from wood waste and is treated with vegetable oil (linseed oil).
• Steel: The steel used is 50 % recycled steel. 
• Linoleum: is produced from up to 98 % renewable raw materials (linseed oil, natural resins, wood and limestone flour, jute as well as ecologically harmless color pigments). Two thirds of the raw materials used grow back within a few years. 

Our flooring is also made of linoleum. Since its production is CO2-neutral, it doesn’t contribute to global warming. In addition, it has been awarded the "natureplus" quality label for sustainable residential and building products and the "Blue Angel" quality label.

The lighting concept used in most VAUDE stores is focused on energy efficiency: Only energy-efficient LED lighting and 100 % green electricity are used. In this case, thanks to LED technology, consumption is just 14 % compared to older incandescent bulbs and 17 % compared to halogen lighting. (Source: https://ledtipps.net/stromverbrauch/)

Our clothes hangers are made from FSC-certified lotus wood.

The curtains of our dressing rooms are made of 100 % upcycled materials from production residuals. These curtains are sewn at VAUDE in Obereisenbach. And last but not least: when they’re no longer needed, we sew them into gym bags in our upcycling workshop. More about it here.

You can find information and background on the raw materials that VAUDE processes for the manufacture of our outdoor products here.

And information about the climate-damaging emissions caused by this raw material consumption and what we are doing about it can be found here.

While Green Shape is a product label that our customers recognize, VAUDE is also working behind the scenes with strict parameters for product development.

The VAUDE Material Policy delineates VAUDE's voluntary commitment to applying "Best Available Technology" (BAT) to eliminate the use of controversial technologies and materials, and to ensure maximum traceability of all materials to their origin. Finding the right balance between price and environmental friendliness remains a challenge for our product managers. Read more here.

Unnecessary packaging is truly problematic, especially if it is made of plastic. Why? Read more about it here.

Our voluntary self-regulation in the use of environmentally friendly materials echoes the latest available knowledge, even after consulting external experts such as the WWF. We are continually developing our ongoing voluntary obligations, incorporating other divisions and extending or changing content when new findings are available.

We want to use this to set an example and to fulfill our responsibility for people and nature in all of our everyday business operations. 

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