Benedikt Böhm talks about the Dynafit Lifetime Guarantee.

“The most sustainable product is what we already own. And generally what we have is more than enough.”

Doesn’t the goal of preserving a product as long as possible instead of selling a new one contradict the economic activity of a company?

For many years our main goal has been to generate higher and higher profits. It is only fair, otherwise we would not be where we are today. But this type of management is no longer sustainable for the future. For example, about twice as much fabric has been purchased in the past decade, while the time of use has halved. As a result, the amount of textiles ending up in waste has quadrupled. It is unbelievable how many resources are needed for this: even just to produce one t-shirt, an average of more than 2,000 liters of water is used. We face radical change, and change means using fewer resources! Of course, we also want to run the business profitably. It is a responsibility we have first and foremost to our employees. We have to find new ways, even if it means selling less. This is how we make our contribution to improving product durability and countering consumerism. In return we get customer trust and loyalty, so it is worth it. Our journey does not end when the customer buys our product; in fact, this is where it begins. Our goal is to accompany the customer through the entire product life cycle, to create a partnership. I think this is the future of brand management.

The topic of sustainability is now ubiquitous in the outdoor industry. How does Dynafit deal with it?

The Oberalp Group, of which Dynafit is also a member, has set a goal of achieving zero impact by 2030. We aim above all for the creation of products and processes that fit into a circular economy and close cooperation with suppliers, factories, and partner companies. We believe that an essential part of our sustainability strategy is the long life and high quality of our products. Thus, we want not only to provide mountain sports enthusiasts with absolutely reliable and high-quality equipment, but also to preserve the environment, because extending the life of products decreases the resources used for production, logistics, and disposal of a new item. The most sustainable product is the one we already own. At Dynafit, we face specific challenges in each product category and take different measures from time to time to make them more durable and environmentally friendly. These range from material selection to design and production efficiency. But we wanted something that would apply to all products, something that would serve as a benchmark to measure our actions, something that would distinguish us as a brand. And so we created our Lifetime Guarantee.

From October 1, 2023, Dynafit will grant Lifetime Guarantee for ten years on most of its products. What does this step mean for Dynafit?

With the Lifetime Guarantee, as of October 1, we guarantee that all of our products-with few exceptions-will be restored to functionality for a period of 10 years. For us, this news is the biggest internal transformation we have made so far, and it even surpasses that of converting from an exclusively winter brand to an all-season brand. Because the new Lifetime Guarantee affects basically all departments and all product categories. We had to change processes and structures, reconfigure Customer Service, reduce and unify components, and reorganize the entire spare parts management. For example, we have greatly reduced our range of zippers and decreased the number of inner booties from 30 to five. We also had to ensure that we could provide the same quality and technical specifications in all markets. To this end, we have also hired a Warranty Manager who is in charge of the Lifetime Guarantee, evaluating and promoting it for all products and in all countries.

What were the biggest challenges you faced?

One of the biggest challenges was to have the full participation of all employees in this common goal, as the new Lifetime Guarantee required great commitment from many of them. At first we encountered resistance, skepticism and fear in some areas. But we actively involved employees in the process and spent a lot of time answering all the concerns and questions that were raised. Every single department and every single staff member had to give full support in this journey, otherwise it would not have been possible to manage such a mammoth project. At the same time, retailers feared that the new Lifetime Guarantee could adversely affect sales. DYNAFIT is primarily a B2B company. We present our products primarily to our business partners, and until now we had always had relatively little contact with end consumers. With the new Lifetime Guarantee we will create new touch points along the product life cycle. Our retailers will still remain the main touchpoints for advice and sales. In this respect, too, it was up to us to dispel any fears.

In 2019 Dynafit granted Lifetime Guarantee on all bindings for the first time. What has changed over time?

We have seen a substantial change in the importance of spare parts: in the past, spare parts were something secondary; today they play a key role as early as during product design. In ski mountaineering boots, virtually everything can now be replaced without compromising either quality or functionality. In addition to this, with the new Lifetime Guarantee we can involve our customers more: especially in textiles, end consumers can find a solution themselves, in their own homes, and do not have to ship the products. For this purpose, we also provide adhesive patches with casual patterns and lettering to be easily applied to tears or holes. Repairing is essential to generate less CO2 emissions, consume less water and produce less waste.

Doing business in an environmentally friendly way is a process. Have you planned any intermediate goals for the first season of the new Lifetime Guarantee?

First of all, we want to make sure that we can deliver on our Care & Repair promise and move even more toward service. Each case covered by warranty is a personal matter and should be handled accordingly. In addition, we want to extend to the entire market the standards of care that we apply to Italy and the Dach region. An important milestone is the relocation of our headquarters to Kiefersfelden at the end of 2023. There will be a large Care & Repair department, which should be a kind of benchmark for the whole Oberalp Group.

How do you see the outdoor industry in general and Dynafit specifically 10 years from now?

In general, I hope we will finally abandon Fast Fashion and consumerism and evolve in the direction of a circular economy. With our Care & Repair system, we are not reinventing the wheel. Many other outdoor brands are moving in a similar direction. This shows us that this is an important issue to which more and more attention is being paid and that the industry is on the right track. I think the outdoor world could lead the way for the future and also be an inspiration for other industries. Probably sooner or later it will become normal to use things as long as possible and repair them when necessary. We want to develop solutions that make repaired products look modern and attractive and give them a unique personality. Every repair should be an opportunity to revalue, not devalue, a product. Each repair tells a story. It must turn out better afterwards than before. We dream that people will find our repair ideas and offerings so appealing that they will prefer them to a new product. We observe a trend toward Second and Multiple Life becoming a way of life. And DYNAFIT, as well as the entire mountain sports industry, can become the driving force behind this trend. Our vision for Dynafit is to build even stronger relationships with our end customers. And the Lifetime Guarantee is only one aspect among many. We want to create many different touch points along the entire product lifecycle and position ourselves as a reliable partner for all questions concerning mountain sports, starting with the question “How does my product work?” and ending with “What do I need to know before I start ski mountaineering?” and “How should I train for a trail running race?”