Not only have a series of unscaled 5000 and 6000 peaks been recently discovered by Chinese mountaineers, but trends once bitterly frowned upon such as consumerism, recreational enthusiasm and brand awareness are now also being discovered in China. Vaude says that it has established itself as one of the fastest growing outdoor brands in this enormous outdoor county and also claims to have taken a “remarkable” share of the market in the high-end segment.

Outdoor activities such as hiking and mountaineering are experiencing a true boom in China and this straight through all age brackets, meaning the industry is also growing strongly. Numerous outdoor clubs and stores are opening throughout the country to meet the growing demand for equipment and apparel. Vaude is one of the most successfully growing leaders in this future market, and a dynamic and powerful Vaude team in China actively ensures that this growth doesn’t abate.

At the beginning of 2004, Vaude started up sales and distribution in China by forming their daughter company Vaude Nanjing China. Knut Jaeger – former CEO of Big Pack – is in charge of marketing and sales politics on site.

The Vaude China team, based in the company headquarters in Nanjing – a city of 7 million inhabitants in the Jiangsu province, about 350 km from Shanghai – was able to build up a stable sales and distribution network of trade retailers in the shortest amount of time. This network reaches from Haribin in farthest northern China all the way to Shenzhen in the south, and from Shanghai on the east coast to Chengdu (Sichuan Province) and Lhasa in Tibet in western China.

Currently business volume is growing at a rate that one could only dream of in Europe. This growth is based on a solid foundation: the development of the entire Vaude product range is 100 % “Made in Germany”.

In China, Vaude produces a large part of their products in their own production facilities in Jiangxu, which lies about 80 kilometers from the distributor. The success of the Chinese daughter enterprise is based on the same principles of Vaude Germany, with excellent fast delivery service and a comprehensive merchandising offer that reaches from advisory services to outfitting complete Vaude shop and store solutions. Vaude provides end consumers with a Chinese catalogue introducing their latest summer and winter collections.