Accessibility statement

We want every visit to Gössl to be a pleasant one, including in our online shop. That is why we want you to be able to use www.goessl.com without barriers: with a mouse or keyboard, with a screen reader or with enlarged text. This page explains how our online shop works, which accessibility requirements apply to it, how far we meet them today and how to reach us if you encounter a barrier.

What this statement covers

This statement covers our online shop at www.goessl.com in its German and English versions. The provider is Gössl Gwand GmbH, Plainbachstraße 4, 5101 Bergheim, Austria.

Our online shop

In our online shop you will find Gwand and Tracht for ladies, gentlemen and children. You can browse by category or search, choose colour and size, and order and pay online. You can also create a customer account, sign up for our newsletter, register a return and find our Gwandhaus stores with their addresses and opening hours.

How an order works

  1. Choose an item: On the product page, choose colour and size. Sold-out sizes are struck through; you can ask to be notified as soon as they are back in stock.
  2. Basket: "Add to basket" places the item in your basket. There you can change the quantity or remove items again.
  3. Checkout: "To checkout" takes you to the checkout. There you enter your delivery address, choose the shipping and payment method and submit your order.
  4. Confirmation: After submitting, you receive an e-mail confirming that we have received your order.
  5. Delivery and returns: Where we deliver, what shipping costs and how to register a return on the "Returns & sending back" page are explained in our payment and shipping terms.

All legal details on the contract, payment and withdrawal can be found in our Terms, our Payment and shipping terms and our Right of withdrawal. For personal advice on cut and size, you are also welcome in our Gwandhaus stores.

Which requirements apply

Our online shop is aimed mainly at consumers in Austria and Germany. In particular, the Austrian Accessibility Act (Barrierefreiheitsgesetz, BaFG) and the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, BFSG) with its implementing regulation (BFSGV) apply to it. Both laws implement Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, known as the European Accessibility Act. The detailed requirements for online shops are set out in Annex 1 (sections 3 and 4) of the BaFG for Austria and in sections 12, 13 and 19 to 21 of the BFSGV for Germany.

As our benchmark we use the European standard EN 301 549, version 3.2.1. For web content it refers to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at conformance level AA. Under these guidelines, content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust: text must stand out clearly from its background, every function must work with a keyboard, images need a text description, and forms must be clearly labelled.

How far we meet the requirements

Our online shop is partially compliant with these requirements. Much already works, and some barriers remain. We describe both openly here.

What already works

On the pages we tested (see "How this statement was prepared"):

  • You can go all the way from a product to the checkout – choosing colour and size, adding the item to your basket and going to the checkout – using only the keyboard.
  • When you press the Tab key for the first time, a "Skip to main content" link appears. It takes you past the header and navigation straight to the content.
  • Every page is structured with headings and page regions that screen readers recognise.
  • All images have a text description or are marked as purely decorative.
  • Colour and size selection are built so that screen readers can recognise the colour, the size and your selection. Screen readers also announce sizes and colours that are sold out or not available in that combination.
  • Windows that open over the page – such as the filters, the menu on smartphones, the basket and the quick view – keep keyboard navigation inside them. The Escape key closes them, and the keyboard returns to where you were.
  • Checkboxes, drop-down lists, the buttons on product tiles and the quantity field in the basket clearly show when you have selected them with the keyboard.
  • When you add an item to the basket, screen readers announce the new number of items in the basket.
  • The maps on the pages of our Gwandhaus stores are labelled for screen readers, and their zoom buttons are labelled in the language of the page.
  • Pages adapt to strong magnification and to narrow screens without horizontal scrolling.
  • If you have reduced motion or animations in your device settings, rotating images and videos stay still.

Known barriers

Our test found the following barriers. We are working to fix them in the coming weeks and will update this statement as soon as anything changes.

  1. Text too pale: Struck-through original prices, length details on product tiles and sold-out sizes are shown in light grey. They do not stand out enough from the background.
  2. Input fields without a visible label: In the newsletter sign-up and in the search field, the hint about what to enter appears only as pale text inside the field. It disappears as soon as you start typing; screen readers do, however, read out a label.
  3. White text on bright images: On the home page (desktop layout) and on the Members Club page, the white heading over bright photos is hard to read in places.
  4. Moving content without a pause: The large image on the home page changes every four seconds, and in some sections videos play automatically. There is not yet a button to pause them; the movement only stops if you have reduced motion or animations in your device settings.
  5. Generic image descriptions in the product gallery: For screen readers, the images on a product page are described only by the product name and a number (in the German version, for example "Bild 8"). Colour and view, such as front or back, are not given.
  6. Newsletter and cookie notice on smartphones: On your first visit, the newsletter invitation and the cookie notice appear together and partly overlap.

Areas not yet tested

Our test covered the central pages of the shopping process. Other areas, such as the English version, the wish list, the returns registration, the configurator and our story pages, have not yet been tested separately; there may be barriers there too.

Checkout and customer account

The checkout as well as sign-in and the order overview in the customer account are provided by Shopify, the provider of our shop system. We can change their structure only to a limited extent, and we have not yet tested these areas ourselves. Shopify publishes its own accessibility conformance report for the checkout. In it, Shopify states that the checkout meets some requirements only partially, for example the visibility of keyboard focus, some text that is too pale and the order in which elements can be reached with the keyboard.

We remain your point of contact for your order. If you encounter a barrier at the checkout or in your customer account, call us or write to online-shop@goessl.com. We will help you personally to complete your order.

Report a barrier or request information

Have you noticed a barrier in our online shop, or do you need content in a different format? Please get in touch; we will be glad to help.

Please tell us the page where the barrier occurs and the device or assistive technology you use, for example a smartphone, a screen reader or magnification software. We will reply as soon as possible. On request, we can also give you the information on this page by telephone or in another format.

Complaints to the competent bodies

If you are not satisfied with our reply, or if you believe that our online shop does not meet the accessibility requirements, you can contact the following bodies. They are listed separately for Austria and Germany; their websites and forms are in German.

Austria

The market surveillance authority under the Austrian Accessibility Act is the Sozialministeriumservice (Bundesamt für Soziales und Behindertenwesen), the Austrian federal office responsible for social affairs and disability. You can report possible breaches of the Act there.

Sozialministeriumservice – Marktüberwachungsbehörde Digitale Barrierefreiheit
Landesstelle Oberösterreich, Abteilung OÖ6
Gruberstraße 63, 4021 Linz, Austria
E-mail: marktueberwachung-bafg@sozialministeriumservice.gv.at
Telephone: +43 732 7604-0
Online form and other ways to report: "Kontakt für Hinweisgeber:innen nach Barrierefreiheitsgesetz"

If you feel discriminated against because of a disability, you can also apply for a free conciliation procedure (Schlichtungsverfahren) under the Austrian Federal Disability Equality Act (Bundes-Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz) at the regional offices of the Sozialministeriumservice. You can find their contact details at www.sozialministeriumservice.gv.at.

Germany

The market surveillance authority under the German Accessibility Strengthening Act is the Marktüberwachungsstelle der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Produkten und Dienstleistungen (MLBF), the joint market surveillance body of the German federal states for the accessibility of products and services. You can report barriers there or apply under section 32(1) BFSG for the authority to open proceedings.

Marktüberwachungsstelle der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Produkten und Dienstleistungen (MLBF AöR)
Carl-Miller-Straße 6, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany
Telephone: +49 391 289 230 23
E-mail: kontakt@mlbf-barrierefrei.de
Forms "Meldung von Barrieren" (report a barrier) and "Antrag nach Paragraf 32 Absatz 1 BFSG" (application under section 32(1) BFSG): www.mlbf-barrierefrei.de/Kontakt

Under section 34 BFSG, you can also apply for a free conciliation procedure at the Schlichtungsstelle nach dem Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz, the conciliation body under the German Disability Equality Act. It mediates out of court between you and us.

Schlichtungsstelle nach dem Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz bei dem Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für die Belange von Menschen mit Behinderungen
Mauerstraße 53, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Telephone: +49 30 18 527-2805
E-mail: info@schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de
Website: www.schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de

How this statement was prepared

This statement was prepared on 15 October 2026. It is based on a self-assessment carried out on 14 October 2026: an automated test against WCAG 2.1 (levels A and AA) and a manual test in which we operated the online shop using only the keyboard, each in the desktop and smartphone layouts.

We tested the German version of the home page, a category page, a product page with colour and size selection, the basket, the search, a store page and the Members Club page, each with the windows that open on them. We have not yet carried out tests with screen readers; we checked how the pages are structured for screen readers in the source code. The barriers we found in that test in windows that open over the page, in the visible keyboard focus, for sold-out sizes and colours, in the maps and headings of the store pages and in the basket status message have since been fixed and were tested again on 15 October 2026.

Last reviewed on 15 October 2026. After every significant change to our online shop we test the affected pages again and update this statement, and we review it at least once a year.

This English text is a translation of the German statement. In case of doubt, the German version applies.