Outodoor, indoor & digital: VAUDE Christmas party with 33 jubilarians

Glittering stars, fir branches, crackling fireplaces and the smell of mulled wine and punch created a Christmas atmosphere on the VAUDE campus when the traditional company day with evening Christmas party took place last Friday. A special highlight was the personal honoring of all 33 jubilarians for their many years of service at VAUDE. After two years of corona-related break, it was finally possible to celebrate together again, with warm hugs, delicious food, dancing and great atmosphere. Thus, the past year, which was challenging and successful at the same time, could be duly celebrated. Due to the ongoing infection, the event took place indoors, outdoors and in part also optionally digitally, so that everyone* could individually shape the participation and feel comfortable.

The day was filled with a diverse program: breakfast buffet, honoring of the jubilarians, Antje von Dewitz' annual review, joint clean-up action and much more. In between, a pop-up store with products that cannot be sold, e.g. prototypes, photo samples, etc., invited visitors to stroll around. The event raised around 7000 euros, which VAUDE will donate to the Save the Children aid organization.

Once again this year, a number of long-serving employees were honored, celebrating their 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th and even 35th anniversaries. In total, there were 33 jubilarians, some of whom were present or were joined digitally. Managing Director Antje von Dewitz and Miriam Schilling, Head of Human Resources & Organization, thanked all of them with personal and heartfelt words for their commitment. Together, they looked back on special moments and memories - there were also some funny anecdotes that reached back to the early days of VAUDE. Manuela Rosin from Sales and Brigitte Amann from Logistics have been loyal to the company for 35 years. Carmen Wendler (Manufacture) and Ilona Gergury (Customs/Import) looked back on 30 years. Elke Richter (Factory Sales), Heike Rummel (Sales), Silvia Taube (Export), Christian Schien (Manufacture), Edwin Egger (Maintenance), Sabine Rommelspacher (Returns), and Martijn Plug (Export) celebrated their 25th anniversary. Four employees were honored for 20 years of VAUDE and 17 colleagues celebrated their 10th anniversary. Some of the jubilarians have been associated with VAUDE since their apprenticeship, many have changed internally over the years, developed further and taken on new challenges.

Following the tribute, the jubilarians met at the climbing wall to toast together and receive the gift basket with regional organic specialties and a check with a special payment.

VAUDE is proud to honor so many employees* and feels strengthened in its corporate culture, which is based on trust and good cooperation. "Thank you for being part of our rope team for so long - we look forward to many more years with you," says Antje von Dewitz.

VAUDE Top Brand 2022 - a successful and challenging year

VAUDE looks back on an exciting and successful year that started with a major milestone: since January 1, 2022, VAUDE has been climate neutral with all its products worldwide. Despite the year being marked by crises, which also affected VAUDE with delivery problems, among other things, the company mastered the past year very successfully with significant sales growth of 14.5 percent. "Our sustainable orientation, which has strengthened VAUDE as a credible brand, has certainly contributed significantly to this. In this way, we are meeting the needs of consumers who increasingly want to consume consciously and responsibly," says Antje von Dewitz. In line with the strong growth in sales at the end of the year to approx. 150 million euros, the VAUDE team has also grown to 650 employees.

VAUDE has asserted itself as the industry leader in the specialist trade: in the major sports and outdoor study conducted by the trade magazine "Textilwirtschaft", VAUDE achieved first place as the "Top Brand 2022". Specialist retailers from all over Germany gave the outdoor brand from Lake Constance top marks for brand image, product quality, partnership performance, sustainability and fairness. Read more in the interview with Markus Schelkle, VAUDE Sales.

Outlook for 2023

Despite the positive development, VAUDE is looking ahead with caution to the next year, which will be marked by advancing inflation, recession and major global political tensions. Accordingly, VAUDE is prudently planning for sales growth of 6 percent. "However, we remain optimistic and are confident that we will again successfully manage the next year together with our great team, our retail partners and our suppliers," says Antje von Dewitz.