Veja is a French footwear and accessories brand. In Brazil, it also goes by the name of Vert. As of October 2018, Veja supplied its shoes to 1,800 retailers in 45 countries. They sold 550,000 pairs of shoes, generating $21 million in revenues in 2017. In 2020, Veja employed between 180 and 190 people.

History

Founding (2003)

Veja was founded in 2004. Veja's founders Sébastien Kopp and François-Ghislain Morillion meet with organic cotton farmers in North Brazil and wild rubber tappers in the Amazon (Seringueiros) to establish the production chain behind Veja in Brazil.

2004–2011: business expansion

In February 2005, the company made its first official launch at the

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Growing its influence, the company collaborated with French fashion designer

Agnès b Agnes is a female given name derived from the Greek , meaning 'pure' or 'holy'. The name passed to Italian as Agnese, to French as Agnès, to Portuguese as Inês, and to Spanish as Inés. It is also written as Agness. The name is descended fr ...

. In 2006, the company developed their first collection using vegetable-tanned leather, and has since began curating the photography exhibition Novo Mundo(S) at Wanted Gallery, Paris. In 2007, the company began its collaboration with French label Comptoir des Cotonniers, launching its first collaborated product Veja + Christine Phung collection at the

Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Design Shop in Paris. The business began expanding into the children's trainer scene, with the launch of Veja small. In 2008, the company began its expansion to London, opening its studio there. Through time, the company has released a wide variety of different products and styles, ensuing talks of collaborations with third party organisations.

2012–present

Seeing record moves of progress, the company began its new wave of collaborations, beginning wit
Regina Dabdab
In 2013, the company released a capsule collection of printed trainers, inspired by professor Greg Asner's aerial maps recording forest cover and biodiversity in tropical forest ecosystems. With the launch of the film ''Once upon a Forest'', by French director

Luc Jacquet Luc Jacquet (born 5 December 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the film ''March of the Penguins'', which won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2005 and received a nomination for the Writers Guild of ...

, Veja commemorated its launch by releasing a custom trainer. In October 2018, the Duchess of Sussex,

Meghan Markle Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family and former actress. She is the wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III. Meghan was ...

wore a pair of Veja sneakers to watch an

Invictus Games The Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event first held in 2014, for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The word 'Invictus' means 'unconquered', chosen as an embodiment of the fighting spi ...

sailing event during the official tour she took through Australia, New Zealand and Fiji with her spouse

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

. In 2019 the brand launched a collaborations with Rick Owens, Madewell and Lemaire.

Materials

Veja trainers and accessories are made of

organic cotton Organic cotton is generally defined as cotton that is grown organically in subtropical countries such as India, Turkey, China, and parts of the USA from non-genetically modified plants, and without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals ...

, wild

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

from the Amazon, vegetable-tanned leather, and recycled plastic bottles.

Organic cotton

Veja works in the North-East of Brazil with a co-operative of organic cotton farmers. Over 320 families have adopted the agro-ecology farming model with the technical support of the local NGO, ESPLAR. Cotton and food crops are cultivated without chemicals or artificial pesticides. Veja buys organic cotton at around twice the market price.

Vegetable-tanned leather

Since 2006 Veja has used vegetable-tanned leather. Vegetable-tanned leather is a chrome-free leather tanned with organic compounds only. Leather is usually tanned using heavy metals, like chrome, which generate high levels of pollution in the waters close to tanneries. Veja has replaced heavy metals with acacia extracts, a natural tannin.

Recycled plastic bottles

Veja uses waterproof bottle mesh on the soles of sneakers. It takes three recycled plastic bottles to make a pair of shoes. Bottles are collected from the streets of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and are later crushed and transformed into fiber.

Social responsibility

Veja claims ecological and

fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...

conditions and to work with cooperatives of small producers and social associations in Brazil and France. However, Veja has not published any results of social audits for many years nor are there any certificates for the company's self-acclaimed fair-trade standards available.

Manufacturing

The factory where Veja trainers are made in South Brazil respects the standards of work established by the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

. 80% of workers at the factory are unionized.

Logistics

Veja footwear and accessories are transported by ship from Brazil to Le Havre in France, where they are then taken to Paris by boat. Logistics are managed by Ateliers Sans Frontières, a French social association which enables people who have been unemployed to return to the workforce through training.

Awards

Veja wins two awards in the UK: ''The Guardian Sustainable Business Award'' (Supply Chain Category) and ''The Observer Ethical Award'' (Fashion Category, awarded in association with Vogue UK).

References

External links

{{Fair trade Shoe brands Shoe companies of France Fair trade brands Companies based in Paris