Where we do not own the factories, we make sure to pick our production partners carefully and to install fruitful and long-term partnerships.
Factories best in class social & environmental
We promote safe and fair working conditions by empowering workers and creating solid relationships with our partners.
A main priority at Oberalp is the health and wellbeing of everyone who makes our products - not just our own employees. We dedicate a lot of effort and resources with the goal to make garment production more fair and equal worldwide.
Factories & people highlights
At first, we focused on promoting fair working conditions in our factories. We have and will continue to strive for improvement, and aditionally, we are working towards having partner factories that are "best in class" also environmentally. We have set standards, are auditing our suppliers and actively engaging them, to jointly improve their environmental performance.
Code of Conduct
tells the world how we work as a company and the standards we follow.
Fair Wear Foundation
Leader status for Salewa, Dynafit, Wild Country & LaMunt
Collaboration
73% of our production volume came from Long-term suppliers (+5 years)
Worldwide production
41% Europe
57% Asia
2% Africa & Middle East
Communities
We give back to the communities, nature and wildlife where we work and live.
Oberalp code of conduct
Our code of conduct tells the world how we work as a company and the standards we follow. Every one of our suppliers has to sign and commit to it.
Wages must enable decent living standards
Working conditions must be decent and safe
We do not tolerate child labour. Ever.
Employees mus choose to work, no forced labour.
The employment relationship must be formally established in a written contract.
All employees must be treated with respect and dignity.
Hours of work should be reasonable and overtime must be voluntary and adequately paid.
Workers have the right to join unions.
People must be employed based on their ability and never be discriminated against.
Business must be free from corruption.
Environmental protection through a precautionary approach, the mindful use of resources and waste management systems.
Fair Wear Foundation
Back in 2013, we chose to partner with the most rigorous labour conditions expert in textiles that we know of: Fair Wear Foundation (FWF). This helps us ensure that the wellbeing of people in the factories where our products are made, remains a top priority. FWF is an independent, non-profit organization that aims to improve labour conditions in the textile industry. It performs and shares research on workplace-related issues, provides a platform for open exchange of information with other brands and stakeholders, and has available local teams in various countries, who carry out worker trainings, seminars, and audits. After each factory audit, a corrective action plan (CAP) is made and shared with management, and a timeline for improvements is set jointly. Another important part of FWF's work is to collect worker complaints filed by workers in their own language and communicate them to us. Partnering with FWF is a big commitment. They don’t just audit our factories – they also verify that we walk our talk through the yearly Brand Performance Check. Through this check, they review our work to see whether we're implementing our code of conduct in an effective way. They assess our internal organization and processes, our approach and handling of the year's main events, worker complaints and audits, and give us a rating in a report which is published on their website. Read the results in our latest Brand Performance Check.
In 2022, Salewa, Wild Country, and Dynafit were awarded the highest distinction, "Leader" status, by FWF for the sixth time in a row. The latest member of the Oberalp Group, LaMunt, a premium mountain sports brand by women for women, also joined as a "Leader" for the second year since it was founded. It’s only given to brands who are “doing exceptionally well and operating at an advanced level” and “showing best-practices on complex issues”. This tells us we’re going in the right direction.
FWF’s requirements get higher every year, and we’re continually being challenged to try harder. It's tough, but that's also what we like about them.
Collaboration & worldwide production
We always look for the best production location, considering technical expertise and knowhow. Many factories with cutting and sewing skills are located in Asia, and we select the partners that follow strict social requirements and collaborate with them to reach even higher standards of working conditions.
Asia
Most of our apparel, textile equipment, and some of our footwear are produced in Asia.
Europe
Our ski-touring skins production for Pomoca is in Switzerland.
Bindings, skis, ski boots, via ferrata sets, ropes and some apparel are produced in Italy, Germany, Moldova, Lithuania and Slovakia.
Velotex: our mohair-velvet production in Germany makes the main component of Pomoca skins.
Droker: our Salewa “Mountain Trainer” production in Romania.
Africa & Middle East
Dynafit jeans are produced in Tunisia and Turkey
We care for our community
With our 12 locations, we actively integrate into many communities. In addition, various causes close to our hearts are supported by our brands, subsidiaries and colleagues. Here is a selection of projects we currently support.
We never run out of good stories
Because we live them, day by day, and so do our athletes and friends.