Field Journal

Stories Behind the Gear: deuter
An interview with deuter’s Head of Marketing, Christina Völlinger, and Head of Quality Management and CSR, Marco Hühn, about the brand’s 125-year heritage and all-encompassing approach to sustainability.

deuter has been engineering the highest-quality equipment since 1898. Founded by Hans Deuter in Augsburg-Oberhausen, Germany, the brand has been supplying backpacks, sleeping bags, and outdoor gear to sports enthusiasts and families for more than a century. We speak to the brand’s Head of Marketing, Christina Völlinger, and Head of Quality Management CSR, Marco Hühn, about the brand’s 125-year heritage and all-encompassing approach to sustainability.

deuter has three clear values on which they base all of their decisions. ‘It’s mountain sports; that’s our DNA and where our focus is. It’s craftsmanship; we are well known for our quality because we have always paid attention to detail. And it’s responsibility; our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department is an integral part of the whole company,’ explains Christina Völlinger, Head of Marketing for the brand. ‘It’s the combination of these three pillars and 125 years of expertise that makes deuter stand the test of time.’

deuter was founded by Hans Deuter in Augsburg-Oberhausen, Germany, in 1898. The brand was originally set up to supply the Bavarian Royal Mail with mailbags and post sacks. The first outdoor backpack, the Tauern, was made in 1930 and later supported mountaineer Hermann Buhl in his successful ascent of Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest mountain in the world, in 1953.

Innovation continued in the years that followed. deuter produced the first range of nylon backpacks in 1968, and it soon became the new fabric norm. They patented Aircomfort, a mesh carry system that redefined the rucksack market by allowing ventilation between the wearer and the backpack in 1984. They brought the first Bike backpack to the market in 1991 and invented the kid carrier in 1996. Then in 2006, a team of passionate female athletes, including award-winning mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, produced SL Fit, a perfectly optimised backpack for women’s anatomy. ‘These are all inventions that really shaped the mountain sports business and where we are now,’ Christina says.

People have always been at the heart of the business. In 2015, deuter received the Best Practice Award from the Fair Wear Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works to improve conditions for workers in garment factories. In 2021 deuter also won the German Sustainability Award for Global Corporate Partnerships with their Vietnamese partner company Vina Duke, whom they have worked with for 30 years. ‘This rarely happens in the textile business,’ says Marco Hühn, Head of Quality Management and CSR. ‘We have a real partnership with our main supplier, so we look at the problems and find the best solutions together.’

The brand brought Marco on to accelerate the speed of change in the industry. He believes that sustainable practice starts with the mindset of everyone involved. ‘It’s very important that we empower people and give them information about the impact of their decisions,’ he says. ‘It’s about working towards the same goal and considering sustainability in everything we do.’

Most of the impact lies in designing and making products using materials and suppliers. So deuter developed a 360° responsibility vision, which represents a holistic, all-encompassing approach to doing business sustainably. ‘We needed a strategy to look further into the future than a few years to really improve our suppliers’ labour conditions and environmental performance.’ The strategy translated into the deuter Promise, which has six actionable areas: Climate Protection, Environmental Protection, Animal Welfare, Employees, Customers, and Society.

The biggest challenges are mapping the complete supply chain, making the lowest steps of production transparent, and measuring their sustainability when there isn’t a direct business influence. deuter is now implementing the Higg Index, a suite of tools to measure and set the standard of sustainability to help better understand the supply chain’s impact. ‘The important point is the whole industry is now working towards something together,’ he says.

Marco also helps to steer the quality of the materials they use. ‘We established the minimum requirements of materials to become a part of our products. Having high-quality materials and the best workmanship for a product will make it last longer, which is better for the environment.’

Every aspect of the product is made to a high standard and is tested by their athletes, including elite alpinist Fabian Buhl, climber Mélissa Le Nevé, and mountain bike legend Hans Rey. In addition to athletes, they also work with mountain and mountain bike guides who spend 365 days a year outdoors and need lightweight and durable kit. With the Alps just 45 minutes away from the head office in Gersthofen, deuter’s designers, developers, and product managers not only create the product but test it too. ‘They know what it needs to deliver and they have a direct impact on the development of the product,’ Christina says.

A priority when designing products is that they have to be easy for the seamstresses to repair. Their long-running Repair Service, designed to keep backpacks in the mountains and out of landfill, fixed nearly 5,000 backpacks last year. ‘Even after 10 years, we will repair a product for our customers – the service is there for the product’s lifetime. We may not be able to make the product perfect again, but we can make it functional. And that is what we strive for,’ Marco says.

deuter also uses the service to improve products. Marco explains, ‘We look at what is coming back more often. We can see if the construction is not good or the design is not optimised yet. And we can make any changes and improvements.The #deuterforever campaign celebrates the old backpacks that people are still getting repaired. ‘People don’t want to throw away the bags that might have been their only companion on their trips,’ Christina says. ‘They are totally, emotionally attached to their backpacks.’

A Child Carrier Rental Service gives parents the chance to test the product before buying it. ‘This is the future,’ Marco says. ‘More and more people don’t want to own a product anymore. They want to hire it and give it back after a certain amount of time and try something else because we have a lot of specialised products.’ deuter is looking at expanding the service into other product categories. ‘Some of our more technical backpacks are very expensive,’ Christina adds. ‘By renting them out, we make alpine sports more accessible as people save money while keeping them safe.’

deuter has helped to redefine mountain sports for over a century. Putting people and the planet at the centre of everything they do, they continue to inspire adventure with new ideas and innovative solutions. Christina says, ‘We’re always thinking ahead while honouring our legacy of mountain sports, craftsmanship, and responsibility for the future.’