Veja Sneakers

Veja is a French footwear and accessories brand.
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 employs between 180 and 190 people.
Materials.
The Veja trainers and accessories are made of organic cotton, wild rubber 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 pesticides. Veja buys organic cotton at around twice the market price.
Wild rubber from the Amazon.
The soles of Veja trainers are made from wild rubber from the Amazonian Rainforest. The Amazon is the only place on earth where rubber trees grow in the wild. Veja buys Amazonian rubber at a premium. This allows the rubber tappers to live decently from rubber tapping, reducing the financial appeal of land clearance.
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 and Rio de Janeiro and are later crushed and transformed into fiber.
Social responsibility.
Veja claims ecological and fair trade 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. 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.