Veja (means look in Portuguese) is a French footwear and accessories brand founded in 2004. Veja's products are made with organic cotton, natural rubber, leather and recycled plastic bottles.
The business began expanding into the children's trainer scene, with the launch of Veja small.[2]
In 2008, the company began its expansion to London, opening its studio there.[3] Through time, the company has released a wide variety of different products and styles, .[4][5][6][7]
, 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.[9] With the launch of the film Once upon a Forest, by French director Luc Jacquet, Veja commemorated its launch by releasing a custom trainer.
In October 2018, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wore a pair of Veja sneakers to watch an Invictus Games sailing event during the official tour she took through Australia, New Zealand and Fiji with her spouse Prince Harry.[10] As of October 2018, Veja supplied its shoes to 1,800 retailers in 45 countries. They sold 550,000 pairs of shoes, generating US$21 million in revenue in 2017.[11] In 2020, Veja employed between 180 and 190 people.[12]
Veja trainers and accessories are made of organic cotton, wild rubber from the Amazon,[14] vegetable-tanned leather, and 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 and Rio de Janeiro and are later crushed and transformed into fiber.[11]
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.[15]
Veja footwear and accessories are transported by ship from Brazil to Le Havre in France, where they are then taken to Paris by boat.[16]
Veja won The Guardian Sustainable Business Award in the supply chain category,[17] and The Observer in association with Vogue UK Ethical Award in the fashion category.[18]
